PRESIDENT Mugabe yesterday presented $1 million - proceeds from his 2015 cattle donation pledge towards the capacitation of the African Union Foundation - during the official opening of the 29th Ordinary Session of the African Union Heads of State and Government here.
Presenting the donation, President Mugabe said he had received support from Zimbabweans to expand from the initial 300 cattle he had pledged to the foundation at a fundraising dinner on the margins of the 24th Ordinary Session of the Assembly of the AU in Johannesburg, South Africa in 2015.
AU Commission chairperson Mr Moussa Faki Mahamat received the $1 million cheque from President Mugabe who received a round of applause from fellow Heads of State attending the Summit.
The President said the 24th Assembly, which he presided over as chairperson of the continental body at the time, was dominated by the debate on alternative and innovative ways of financing the AU to which he pledged 300 head of cattle from his personal herd.
He said as an African and farmer, a donation of cattle came naturally to him, "given that our continent is rich in cattle and cattle are held as a store of wealth."
"When I returned to Zimbabwe and informed my party (Zanu-PF) and people of this pledge, they said to me, 'Comrade President this is a very innovative idea, for a very noble cause, and we would like to be a part of it.' They therefore joined hands and mobilised more cattle, over and above my personal pledge," said President Mugabe.
He said the AU Foundation Chief Executive, Mr Dumisani Mngadi, visited Zimbabwe in May and witnessed firsthand some of the cattle sales.
"I was most gratified that this noble cause had resonated well with my Party and people who made it possible for my initial pledge to be more than doubled," said President Mugabe.
"I'm aware that this humble gesture on our part has no universal application but it demonstrates what is possible when we apply our minds to the most urgent task before us, of finding alternative and innovative ways of funding our Union in particular our Agenda 2063."
"As I've said before in this Assembly, unless and until we can fund our own programmes, the African Union will not be truly our own".
President Mugabe said the historic decision taken in Johannesburg to progressively increase members' assessed contributions to the African Union was commendable.
"This is so that we can, in the next five years, finance 100 percent of our operational budget, 75 percent of our programme budget and 25 percent of our peacekeeping budget. This is the beginning of the restoration of our dignity and integrity as a continent," he said.
President Mugabe said it was never going to be easy for the continental body to wean itself from the donor dependence syndrome but there was a need to forge ahead for the sake of the present and future generations and his contribution was a symbolic step in that direction.
"And so today, as I honour the pledge I made almost a year and a half ago, I would like to challenge all of us here present, and the African Union Foundation for the development of this great continent of ours.
"Together let us build our continent brick by brick, stone by stone until we achieve 'the Africa we want' as envisaged on our blueprint Agenda 2063."
For his efforts President Mugabe was hailed by AU chairperson Professor Alpha Conde who called on other leaders to emulate his gesture.
President Mugabe immediately got praise from neighbouring South Africa which highlighted that solutions for Africa lay with Africans themselves.
During his AU Chairmanship from January 2015 to January 2016, President Mugabe advocated for the bloc's self-financing as roughly 60 percent of its budget is donor-driven.
In 2014, the budget was $278 million, 44 percent of which was financed by member states.
Themed "Harnessing the demographic dividend through investments in the youth," the two-day AU Summit ends today.
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