Recently, Robert Mugabe hasn't done much to live up to his British knighthood. He did provide us with one of our very favourite websites (loving the clipart animated flag, keep up the good work) but even that can't make up for the 3000% inflation, the beatings, the collapse of agriculture, land confiscation and mass starvation. In short, the man is a gigantic knob.
Of course, Robert likes to blame all these things (the dire problems, not the website) on Blair and we Brits which is why we thought it was strange yesterday when it was revealed in parliament that Robert's daughter, Bona, was studying at the LSE in Holborn. Foreign Office minister, Ian McCartney was asked by Conservative MP, Tony Duddridge, whether the rumours that he had heard that Bona was studying in London are true. Mr McCartney confirmed that they are true.
But they aren't.
The LSE, recent study home of Colonel Gaddafi's son, Saif al-Islam, has confirmed that Mugabe is not enrolled at the university. The Foreign Office later suggested that McCartney had "misrecollected his briefing". Sikhanyiso Ndlovu, Zimbabwe's Minister of Information said, "This is just one of a thousand lies they have been peddling against Zimbabwe."
However, despite Bona Mugabe not being in the country, this debacle has prompted the Foreign Office to consider taking steps that would mean that a wider travel ban would be applied to more of the Mugabe family instead of the current travel ban on just the president and his wife. This could prevent a Mugabe family member having an education in Britain.
Although there are some valid issues to take into account, for example whether any British taxpayers' money should go towards the education of a Mugabe, we think it's a shame that there is travel ban on his children. It smacks of tokenism. Yes it may stop members of the Mugabe family spending Zimbabwe's money on expensive handbags in Paris boutiques but it also denies the likes of Bona from coming to Britain and perhaps learning about the value of democracy and tolerance. What a mess.
Cracking website though.
