Maravi

(NEWZIMBABWE) Marange must benefit from its diamonds: Dabengwa

Marange must benefit from its diamonds: Dabengwa
by Staff Reporter
01/02/2011 00:00:00

ZAPU leader, Dumiso Dabengwa has said, if elected, his party would introduce devolution of power to ensure that areas such as the diamond-rich Marange district benefit from their natural resources instead of losing everything to Harare. Dabengwa was addressing party supporters at Nkulumana Hall in Bulawayo over the weekend.

“People must benefit from the resources that God gave them in their respective areas. They must control the exploitation and benefits of the resources,” Dabengwa told some 500 supporters who attended the meeting.

He said it did not making sense that school children in Matebeleland North were attending lessons sitting on pieces of rock while the region’s vast forests are cut down by commercial loggers from Harare.

“There is timber being logged all over Matabeleland North but when you go to schools in the province you find pupils squatting on stones during lessons. Someone from Harare just gets a concession and brings cutting saws and big trucks and takes all the wood to Harare, leaving children without even a piece of plank to sit on,” he said.

“The people of Marange must benefit from their diamonds. That is what devolution of power will address.”

The Zapu leader also said his party would revisit the land reforms to address anomalies in the distribution of farmland.

“Zapu will revisit the land reform exercise when we get into power and audit how the land was distributed, who got what and what are they doing with the land? Are they serious farmers?” he said.

Dabengwa however, emphasized that devolution of power and the empowerment of communities was not the same thing as federalism, insisting that his party did back the break-up of the country.

“Our fear though is that if the forthcoming constitution does not address the issue of systems of governance in a manner that satisfies all the people of Zimbabwe, that will give impetus to those calling for dividing the country,” he said.

“Zanu-PF wants to rule forever and have a leader who rules until he dies. That is what leads to what we see in Tunisia and Egypt today. God never created anyone to rule for ever like Him.”

Dabengwa – who led the Zapu pull-out from President Robert Mugabe’s Zanu PF party -- also ruled out the prospect of working with other opposition parties ahead of elections widely expected later this year.

“MDC thinks what is important is to remove Mugabe only. That is why some of them are saying to us ‘wait, don’t revive Zapu now, let’s remove Mugabe and put Morgan, he will be a walkover, he will be out soon after’.

“You take away power from a lion and give it to a leopard! Do you think the leopard would be easy to deal with?” he said.

Labels: DIAMONDS, DUMISO DABENGWA, MARANGE DIAMOND FIELDS

posted by MrK @ 10:24 AM