Maravi

Protesters beseige Zimbabwe finance minister’s office

COMMENT - Tendai Biti will not sign the anti-sanctions petition. Of course, economic sanctions were created by the MDC to maximize the damage done to the Zimbabwean economy, to make the lives of Zimbabweans so bad that they would vote for the neoliberal MDC. According to the GPA, both sides must fight against Sanctions, and Tendai Biti is clearly failing to do so, not only by refusing to sign this petition 'because he has better things to do'.

Not contented with trying to steal the pension money to give to his friends failing private bank (isn't that corruption?) (see: Biti tries to use civil servants’ money to bail out Timba
), to trying to get hold of the nation's diamonds (see: Biti’s diamond plot uncovered), the MDC is a tool for transnational capital like Anglo-American De Beers, whic owns most of the world's diamond trade. The MDC tried to get to power by committing treason, by helping foreign powers draw up economic sanctions against Zimbabwe. And they still want to use those sanctions to keep the pressure on the Zimbabwean people, as well as to avoid the blame, especially with elections coming up this year.

Protesters beseige Zimbabwe finance minister’s office
By Kingsley Kaswende in Harare
Thu 16 June 2011, 13:40 CAT

Protesters on Wednesday afternoon besieged finance minister Tendai Biti’s office in a bid to get him to sign a petition calling for the lifting of international sanctions against the country. The group, which called itself the Anti Sanctions Trust, chanted songs as it surrounded the ministry.

The group waited at Biti’s offices for more than an hour but failed to see him as he was reportedly in a meeting with IMF and World Bank officials, two of the institutions that are barred by the US sanctions law - the Zimbabwe Democracy and Economic Recovery Act - from extending lines of credit to Zimbabwe.

IMF officials are in Zimbabwe to help the country come up with the mid-term budget for this year.

Fanuel Mutasa, the leader of the group, told ministry staff that the group had been sent by Zimbabwe’s Information Minister Webster Shamu to demand the signature of Finance Minister Tendai Biti on the petition.

President Robert Mugabe launched the anti-sanction campaign petition in March this year to petition Europe and the US to remove sanctions slapped on the country as well as close to 200 senior members of his ZANU-PF party.

To date, more than two million signatures have been collected countrywide.

The western nations slapped sanction on Zimbabwe, accusing President Mugabe of human rights abuses and poor governance when his government forcibly took over 4000 farms belonging to white farmers.

President Mugabe has argued that sanctions, which include lack of credit extension and balance of payment support, have hurt Zimbabwe’s economy while his critics say it is his policies which have hurt the once vibrant economy.

“We are the ones who are suffering and as you have just seen, he was just having a meeting with the same people who are making us suffer.We want him to sign ... because we noticed he has not appended his signature to the petition. After him, we will go to the higher offices,” said Mutasa, making an apparent reference to MDC leader and Prime Minister, Morgan Tsvangirai.

ZANU-PF argues that the sanctions were instigated by MDC, an accusation the party flatly denies.

[Not 'merely' ZANU-PF, but also Johnnie Carson, and mrs. Lindiwe Zulu - (ZIMPAPERS) MDCT asked us not to lift sanctions, but tighten the screws-Jonnie Carson, I quote: It is understood that the revelation that the MDC-T had officially asked the US to keep and tighten the illegal sanctions to ensure that people continue to suffer was communicated officially to the GPA negotiators by Ms Zulu in Cape Town on May 6 in the presence of Mr Tendai Biti and Mr Elton Mangoma, who remained in embarrassed silence during the disclosure." - MrK]

Biti later told journalists after the group had dispersed that he would not sign what he called a partisan document.

“I will not sign any petition that belongs to any political party. I will not do that,” said Biti.

“What this country needs to do is to concentrate on the issue of putting food on the table of Zimbabweans, putting jobs in the homes of our people,” he said.

“Why should I sign the forms . . . As a party we don’t give legitimacy to individual party programmes. I will not sign any petition because we have got better things to do,” he said.

Labels: MDC CORRUPTION, SANCTIONS, TENDAI BITI, ZDERA

posted by MrK @ 5:11 AM