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(ZIMBABWE GUARDIAN) No agreement yet with MDC: President Mugabe

No agreement yet with MDC: President Mugabe
By: TH-tzg
Saturday, March 27, 2010 6:46 pm

PRESIDENT Mugabe has dismissed reports that the principals in Zimbabwe's inclusive Government have reached an agreement on 'outstanding' issues as stated in the media last week.

Media reports suggested that Zanu-PF and the two MDC formations, had agreed that Roy Bennett - MDC-T's deputy minister of agriculture nominee will be allocated another portfolio, apart from agriculture and the MDC-T would field another candidate. Reserve Bank Governor, Dr Gideon Gono and Attorney General, Johannes Tomana were said to have agreed to step down.

A report in The Standard newspaper suggested that South African President Jacob Zuma had agreed a "package of measures" with the principals; and that President Mugabe had agreed to restore the mandates of MDC ministers, which he took reallocated recently.

President Mugabe refuted these claims, saying there would be no more concessions until the issue of sanctions is fully addressed.

The president made these remarks whilst ddressing the 80th Ordinary Session of the Central Committee at the party’s headquarters in Harare on Friday.

"Reference to (RBZ Governor Dr Gideon) Gono, (Attorney-General Mr Johannes) Tomana and (Roy) Bennett is nothing because it has never been part of the agreement.

"The reply from Zanu-PF has always been the same: Gono and Tomana have no case to answer while Bennett has a criminal case in the courts.

"The position is that they cannot be any further concessions from us unless the illegal sanctions are gone," President Mugabe said.

He also dismissed reports of agreement on re-appointment of provincial governors.

"They (the MDC-T party) are just paying lip service to the issue of sanctions and they need to do more.

"It is not true that we have reached an agreement. I do not know where these journalists who write in papers get these stories. Tomana and Gono are not going anywhere. The sanctions must go first!"

BE MASTERS NOT SLAVES

On the Indigenisation and Economic Empowerment Act, President Mugabe said "a backward mentality" of servitude to whites informed opponents of the law and its accompanying regulations.

"There are a lot of companies that are being set up in the country but our people still want to be workers and they have never sought to rise above that and become entrepreneurs.

"You are not looking at being the owners of the businesses and when you rise to management levels you get blinkered because that is what the owners want you to be.

"They will continue to be what they have been since 1890, being masters, while you are content to being the chief executive officer.

"These CEOs will oppose empowerment programmes we are trying to push.

"They will oppose because they have been conditioned to being below someone.

"If there are some of us (in Zanu-PF) who oppose it, then they are backward members of the party.

"You do not want to be owners of the means of production. This is astonishing! But I hope they are not many among us who are opposed to the drive.

"I can assure you that that it (indigenisation) is the right arm that will rope in young people to be empowered," he said.

President Mugabe said the indigenisation programme was designed to benefit young entrepreneurs and not established businesspersons.

"Right now we are talking about Chiadzwa, Chimanimani but we still haven't seen some blacks who have put together their resources to constitute a company to participate in the mining activities.

"We have a lot of geologists who are working for white people. We have been forced to make a choice between companies that are non-Zimbabwean. Where are the young men we educated over the years?

"You should never say ‘We don't have money’. All those people who come here do not have money.

"They come together and look at opportunities of borrowing that exist and indicate that they have the capacity to go into business.

"They do not draw from their pockets but draw from these facilities. Come to us and we can assist you," he said.

President Mugabe expressed disappointment at non-participation of Zimbabweans in the mining sector.

"Let’s grow out of the slave mentality and be our own masters. We have been mentally enslaved to a point where we cannot help ourselves succeed.

"Even the companies that are mining our diamonds are not our people.

"Everything being done is not an initiative from our own people. Let’s be awake. The sun has already risen!"

President Mugabe implored the Zanu-PF leadership to move with the times.

He said the party should develop in tandem with practicalities while maintaining its founding ideologies.

The Central Committee resolved and supported the stance taken by the President of the Republic of South Africa, Jacob Zuma, on the matter of the immediate removal of illegal sanctions imposed on Zimbabwe with immediate effect.

The Central Committee demanded that those countries that imposed sanctions on Zimbabwe, particularly UK, US and EU should immediately remove the illegal sanctions they have unlawfully imposed.

The grouping further resolved that the resolutions of all the outstanding issues should be concluded concurrently with the removal of the illegal sanctions imposed on Zimbabwe.

Labels: GLOBAL POLITICAL AGREEMENT, INDIGENIZATION AND EMPOWERMENT ACT (ZIMBABWE), MUGABE, SANCTIONS, ZDERA

posted by MrK @ 9:21 PM