Zimbabwe’s Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai has joined President Robert Mugabe in dismissing calls to enshrine gay rights in the new constitution.“I totally agree with the president,” he told a meeting near Harare.
Homosexual acts are currently illegal in Zimbabwe. Mr Mugabe once said gays were “worse than pigs and dogs”, sparking international condemnation.
Gay rights has become a controversial issue in several African countries in recent months.
Mr Tsvangirai joined his long-time rival Mr Mugabe in a power-sharing government a year ago but relations between the two men remain tense.
President Mugabe told a belated celebration of International Women’s Day that he had recently learned of moves to introduce gay rights in the new constitution currently being discussed.
“That issue is not debatable, it’s not up for discussion,” he said.
“It is just madness, insanity. The ancestors will turn in their graves should we allow this to happen.”
And Mr Tsvangirai said he agreed.
“Women make up 52% of the population… There are more women than men, so why should men be proposing to men”