HARARE, March 2 (Xinhuanet) -- Positions of leadership are not bought but are bestowed on individuals after people recognize one's good deeds and astuteness, Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe said on Wednesday.

    He was saying this at the burial of a late government official at the National Heroes Acre in Harare.

    "You don't organize groups of people to arrange for the ascendancy of someone to a leadership position," he said.

    Departing from his prepared speech and in a direct reference toformer Information and Publicity Minister, Jonathan Moyo, Mugabe criticized those who were new in the party but were over ambitious.

    Moyo was sacked from the government recently after he announcedhis intentions to stand as an independent candidate in Tsholotsho in the forthcoming parliamentary elections.

    He fell out of favor with the ruling Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front (ZANU-PF) for allegedly organizing an illegal meeting in Tsholotsho, suspected to have been intended to plot leadership changes in the party ahead of its congress last December.

    Turning to the impending parliamentary elections, Mugabe appealed to the people of Harare not to vote for the opposition Movement for Democratic Change and to vote for his ruling ZANU-PF party.

    "ZANU-PF is a revolutionary party, a party for the people, for the nation," he said.

    Zimbabwe is to hold the parliamentary elections on March 31. Enditem