(TALKZIMBABWE) Tsvangirai's govt-in-govt: more details emerge

Tsvangirai's govt-in-govt: more details emerge
TSM/TZG
Sun, 13 Sep 2009 00:43:00 +0000

THE Prime Minister’s Office has allegedly employed partisan civil servants who are getting very high top-up salaries amounting to about US$7 000 per month that are being paid by USAID and other donors through the World Bank, it has emerged.

It is understood that these civil servants are now co-ordinating efforts with some non-governmental organisations to build a parallel government in the country. The move was first exposed by former Information and Publicity Minister and only independent MP, Professor Jonathan Moyo.

Last week, the Minister of State in the Prime Minister’s Office, Mr Gorden Moyo, confirmed that the World Bank has been paying salaries to staff in the PM’s Office, giving credence to reports that the MDC-T is trying to run a parallel government in the country.

The World Bank went on to issue a statement saying it was only paying salaries to technical experts. Asked to comment on the matter yesterday, President Mugabe said he was still to discuss the reports with Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai.

“I don’t know. I’m yet to ask the Prime Minister whether it is true.

“If true, it brings an imbalance in Government’s systems of rewarding our ministries. It would not go down well with the side that is not being rewarded as such,” he said.

Investigations by The Sunday Mail newspaper reveal that these civil servants include Mr Martin Rupiya, a former Selous Scout who is understood to be co-ordinating the security details of the scheme.

Before Independence in 1980, Mr Rupiya was an aide to Lieutenant-Colonel R. F. Reid-Dally, who is understood to be not just active but also at the centre of Rhodesia World Wide movement, which is an association of Rhodesian ex-servicemen.

Also in the scheme is Mr Jacob Mafume, who recently joined the Prime Minister’s Office from the US Embassy.

Reports say Mr Mafume, who has been co-ordinating MDC activities at the embassy, has moved to the PM’s Office to co-ordinate the US funding in the plot.
The other civil servants include Ms Rosemary Ann Zigomo (who recently moved to the PM’s Office from Artherstone and Cook), Andrew Chadwick (who is responsible for the PM’s newsletter), Mr Ian Makone, Conrad Dube, Columbus Mavhunga (who doubles as an undeclared employee of CNN), Farai Mutsaka (who works for Zimonline) and Jealous Mawarire (who is being rehabilitated after leaving ZESN in explosive circumstances.

In Bulawayo, the PM’s civil servants include Pandi Hlabangani (who is a former senior assistant registrar at the Faculty of Commerce at NUST, where Deputy Prime Minister Thokozani Khupe is a student).

Hlabangani now works in DPM Khupe’s office. The other civil servants include Thabang Nare (PA to the Minister of State in the Prime Minister’s Office Mr Gorden Moyo), Dumiso Matshazi (director in PM’s Bulawayo office), Thamsanqa Ncube (PM’s Office Bulawayo) and Eddie Cross.

Interestingly, in Bulawayo, the PM’s offices recently moved to the fifth floor of Fidelity Life Centre on Fife Street.

Investigations revealed that these offices do not belong to the MDC-T, they do not belong to Government and neither do they belong to Gorden Moyo’s organisation, Bulawayo Agenda, which is housed at Pioneer House.

In Bulawayo, the MDC-T has come up with new offices at the corner of Second Avenue and Fort Street, moving away from offices at a supermarket run by Sipepa Nkomo.

Investigations revealed that these civil servants are working with over 2 000 non-governmental organisations, with at least US$500 million having gone into the project since February this year.

Well-placed sources privy to the grand scheme told The Sunday Mail that the objective is to overwhelm the civil service and subvert it in order to replace it with the PM’s civil servants.

It is understood that MDC-T treasurer Roy Bennett is actively fund-raising for the project and, not surprisingly, his party wants to present him as an outstanding issue in the GPA.

“Roy Bennett is MDC’s ‘Horn of Plenty’, given his excellent contacts with donors. He runs a war chest which has been funding most of the MDC projects, especially outside the country, the most recent one being a Sadc-wide lobby led by Martin Rupiya and Pearson Mbalekwa to influence the outcome of the Sadc Summit in Kinshasa,” said a diplomatic source.

Mr Rupiya and Mr Mbalekwa visited Mozambique, Zambia, Angola and the DRC as they tried to lobby the region against President Mugabe. The two were staying at the Grand Hotel in Kinshasa. Their efforts were futile as the Sadc Summit ignored their campaign and went on to call for the removal of sanctions against Zimbabwe.

Asked to comment on these latest developments, a lecturer in political science at the Midlands State University said: “The trouble with the MDC is to ever imagine that they are at the point of taking over Government and that this rag-tag army wielding very low skills is the takeover force.

“What one must concede, though, is that foreign interests do have several listening posts, ndosaka kuchinzi tamba wakache- njera.

“Remember at one point Chamisa (MDC-T spokesperson) said ‘we are sharing power to grab it’. This parallel government could be their way of trying to grab power.”

This move by the PM’s Office has caused a lot of discomfort in the civil service. Other civil servants are questioning why the Minister of Finance, Mr Tendai Biti, is refusing to increase their salaries yet the PM’s Office is paying its selected civil servants salaries of up to US$7 000.