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(HERALD) Mutambara disrupts retreat

Mutambara disrupts retreat
By Sydney Kawadza and Morris Mkwate in NYANGA

Deputy Prime Minister Arthur Mutambara yesterday caused disruptions at the Second Ministerial Retreat to review the 100-Day Plan here after his attack on President Mugabe and Zanu-PF caused a furore — which saw some delegates including Cabinet ministers walking out of the meeting in protest.

DPM Mutambara, who was the first plenary speaker on the second and last day of the retreat, gave highlights of the previous day’s deliberations and also presented a paper on the country’s national vision and branding.

In his presentation, he proposed investment- stimulating measures, which Zimbabwe could adopt in order to attract foreign capital inflows.

He, however, provoked the ire of some of the delegates after he criticised last year’s harmonised elections and subsequent presidential election run-off on June 27, saying the polls were "fraudulent, a nullity and a farce".

Zanu-PF ministers were visibly angry over the remarks and promptly registered their displeasure by marching out of the conference room never to return.

Ministers Patrick Chinamasa ( Justice and Legal Affairs), Webster Shamu (Media, Information and Publicity), deputy ministers Andrew Langa (Public Service ), Aguy Georgias (Public Works), Mike Bimha (Industry and Commerce), Douglas Mombeshora (Health and Child Welfare) and Walter Chidakwa (State Enterprises and Parastatals) were among the protestors.

The Deputy Prime Minister later tried to make conciliatory gestures, but the ministers would have none of it and checked out of their rooms at the conference venue and left for Harare.

DPM Mutambara cut a lone figure as even MDC-T ministers also expressed displeasure at his utterances and seemed to snub him during plenary breaks.

They did not want to listen to his story.

The MDC leader was nowhere to be seen at the close of the meeting as his fellow Cabinet representatives mingled with delegates who seemed disturbed by the turn of events which came only a day after Acting President Joice Mujuru called on members of the inclusive Government to desist from stifling progress by issuing "reckless, unfounded and populist statements".

In an interview after the dramatic scenes, Minister Chinamasa complained that the DPM had used the retreat as a platform to insult Zanu-PF and President Mugabe, who is the Head of State and Government as well as Commander-in-Chief of the Zimbabwe Defence Forces.

"His remarks were basically undermining the legitimacy of the inclusive Government and the other partners in it," he said.

"This is also not the first time he has attacked the party and its leadership. He did so in Victoria Falls (during the launch of the first ministerial retreat in Victoria Falls early this year), at the investment conference in Harare and at other functions.

"The Cabinet retreat is a Government function and it was wrong for him to undermine a partner in the Government.

"We decided to walk out to register our anger at his utterances. The walkout was also to underscore that Zanu-PF ministers will not take that in future.

"We want to make it clear that Zanu-PF will not accept such insults from him. We are not going to accept any apologies from him because he has used every opportunity he gets to undermine President Mugabe and Zanu-PF. We are also, therefore, not going to participate at any meeting where he is given a role."

Minister Chinamasa said after walking out, he and Small and Medium Enterprises Development Minister Sithembiso Nyoni held a meeting with Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai, who was among the delegates.

He said the protest was not an act of disrespect for the Prime Minister, but an expression of "anger and frustration".

"We had an audience with the Prime Minister to explain (to him the circumstances of our action) and he understood our anger," said Minister Chinamasa. "He also acknowledged that he did not agree with what (DPM) Mutambara had done as it was insensitive to the partnership."

Prime Minister Tsvangirai later told journalists that he "appreciated" the Zanu-PF ministers’ explanation, adding that the action they took was justified.

He said DPM Mutambara made the "unfortunate" remarks despite having made significant contributions.

"First of all, I think one has to assess the objectives of the retreat and one of the objectives was to evaluate the 100-Day Plan in terms of performance, incremental developments, the setbacks and progress," he said.

"What then happened this morning was unfortunate: the comments on elections were uncalled for in that we had not discussed it.

"Although the incident was unfortunate, I have discussed the matter with the Deputy Prime Minister, who apologised and said he did not mean to cause such a furore."

Back in the conference hall, Tourism and Hospitality Industry Minister Walter Mzembi, who did not join his colleagues in the walkout, said irresponsible statements would hinder the inclusive Government’s progress.

Minister Mzembi said he did not bolt from the meeting as this would have legitimised the contentious statement.

"I am correcting the Deputy Prime Minister. His frequent habit of putting his foot in his mouth should not go unchallenged," he said to loud applause from the delegates.

Labour and Social Services Deputy Minister Cde Tracy Mutinhiri also urged the Deputy Prime Minister to promote progress by making well-considered statements.

MDC-T ministers said it was high time he handled Government matters responsibly.

"Some statements are meant for rallies, Cabinet and the principals. We fail to understand whether this is a result of his entrenchment in student politics or it is simply immaturity," said one of the ministers who declined to be named.

"He should also learn to understand when and where to say whatever he intends to because for all the positives he would have scored, he ends up messing things up."

DPM Mutambara drew the ire of African leaders in Uganda last month when he suggested that no African leader had a brand worth selling where national visions were concerned and that to be acceptable, the leaders and their countries needed Western endorsement.

Some of the heads of State and Government attending the Global 2009 Smart Partnership Dialogue criticised him for the statements.

Labels: ARTHUR MUTAMBARA

posted by MrK @ 7:06 PM