COMMENT - This woman is actually a member of the Zimbabwean government. This is typical 5th column activity. SW Radio Africa and VOA/CIA are propaganda outfits that slant and give only one side of the story, in only one way. Like vultures, they are just trying to milk the death of 12-year old Christpower Masairi for all it is worth.
Interview: Home Affairs Minister Theresa Makone
05/03/2013 00:00:00
by Violet Gonda I SW Radio Africa
Home Affairs Minister Theresa Makone was recently a guest on SW Radio Africa’s Hot Seat programme. She tells interviewer Violet Gonda she anticipates “unprecedented violence” in forthcoming elections.
Broadcast: February 28, 2013
VIOLET GONDA: Let me start by asking you for your thoughts on the general state of affairs in the country regarding security.
THERESA MAKONE: Until very recently we had all bought into the idea of a peaceful Zimbabwe, especially after all the pronouncements that the President has been making. Without fail we were all convinced that this was going to be an election with a difference and what has been happening of late has been a rude awakening for all of us gullible Zimbabweans.
It is quite clear that the kind of violence we are going to see this time is probably going to be at an unprecedented scale. I’m saying this because this is the very chance that the two MDCs and Zanu PF were supposed to be campaigning together, preferably on the same platform for a YES vote at the referendum, but it would look like the referendum is not going to happen; that the other party has already gone into its default position which is power at all costs, never mind that we have got something that we have in common.
I personally would not be surprised to hear that we won’t have a referendum after all and everybody is now being catapulted into a rushed election, which would have had to follow a referendum.
So, if you ask me what I think – I think I am in a state of hopelessness, a state of disappointment and a feeling of betrayal because I think that when people have shared a cabinet room for four years, you must be in a position to look at each other in the eye and tell each other the truth.
The role that the police played is dictated by the role that Zanu PF plays in different areas. To me it looks like - yes instructions were given to teach people in the considered area that is criminal to support MDC but at the same time, I strongly believe that the Zanu PF leadership in that constituency (Headlands) would put pressure on the police not to act or react and try to downplay the death of a person as if it is nothing.
[Gee, do you have any hard evidence of anything, Minister, or are you just opining? - MrK]
GONDA: By the death of a person, you are talking about 12-year-old Christpower Maisiri, who was allegedly killed in Headlands?
MAKONE: Yes. While we speak free and fair elections by day, at night we are talking win at all costs, even if it means repeating or exceeding the violence of 2008.
[So the MDC is going to milk this death for all it is worth, of course without evidence that a crime and not an accident even took place. - MrK]
GONDA: How bad is the situation in the police force exactly?
MAKONE: The rank and file takes instructions from the top but how far to the top do you go because the Commissioner General Augustine Chihuri on matters of operations, he answers to the President of the country and the ministers only pronounce policy.
[She means that the Attorney General answers to the President, therefore... - MrK]
So between the two of them I don’t know who is not doing their job because if I was the state President I would insist on knowing why we are having these pockets of violence with no-one really being arrested or tried.
GONDA: As Home Affairs Minister, what have you done to find out where these instructions are coming from?
MAKONE: Well, we have meetings with the police and only last week we called the Commissioner General in and we talked to him – when I say we I mean Kembo Mohadi [Second Home Affairs Minister] and myself – we talked to him about the perception out there of police brutalising civilians, possibly under political pressure and we cited Matabeleland North and Lupane in particular. This was following the arrest of people who had come to register for voting and he gave us an undertaking that this was going to be his best policing, that there would be no nonsense as happened in 2008.
But within a few days we get a child being burnt to ashes because his father is an MDC official and it took the police more than eight hours to get to the scene and yet the police station is not far away.
So I think that in line with the Zanu PF position, which is that the party is bigger than the state, the instructions from the party are taken more than those from government. So if the policy is ‘don’t arrest’, they won’t arrest. As long as the person who gives the instruction is more senior and in this case the senior person of the constituency is Didymus Mutasa, so obviously what he says is what goes. So all the denials and all the threats of suing to me mean nothing. They will only make sense when Zanu PF switches off its violence machinery. We have come a long way, four years later to be still doing this sort of thing.
GONDA: If this is the case, as Minister of Home Affairs can you take legal proceedings against people like the Commissioner General Augustine Chihuri or even Didymus Mutasa the Minister of State in the President’s Office – as you said he has also been accused of being a perpetrator of violence?
MAKONE: It is unprecedented; in fact there are no such procedures that a Minister will take their own ministry to court because if I sue the Commissioner General and the police, I’m literally suing myself because I am the person responsible and if anyone else in the state of Zimbabwe is suing Commissioner General, the ministers are the first and second respondents and then the Commissioner General is the third respondent, so technically it’s not even a possibility. Those people who are aggrieved can sue us, but there is no way I can go and put my case against myself.
GONDA: But isn’t that the worst kind of insult though for the victims? You have already said one of the culprits is Minister Didymus Mutasa and you are then seen working with him in government? So how do you respond to people who ask why you keep working with people you know are perpetrators of violence?
MAKONE: What would they be expecting us to do at this stage, two months before a general election?
GONDA: This has been going on for a very long time and…
MAKONE: It has, it has, I agree with you except that we cannot every day that we come out of cabinet tell you the kind of wars and battles that take place in there almost on a daily basis, it would be too tedious. Because of the secrets of cabinet, as a cabinet minister you cannot go out and start saying all the things that you say in the cabinet but I can tell you it has never been a pleasant place to be in. It’s been a war zone from day one to this day.
GONDA: So what would you say you have achieved if you are powerless and would it not have been better to step down in protest?
MAKONE: Because that is exactly what they expect me to do. I’m expected to walk away and to surrender because Zanu PF has no conscience, it won’t stop anything. If I am given the two options – stand and fight or to turn and run - I would sooner stand and fight because by running away you’re just giving them free play. There are so many things that could have happened that didn’t happen because I’d taken a stand. They are violent and everyone knows it. And if we had not stared at them in their eyes and stood our ground, things could be much worse than they are now.
GONDA: Well we’ve received quite a lot of emails from Zimbabweans who are concerned that the situation seems to be volatile right now. If I can just read to you one particular email from one of our listeners, Simudzai, and basically he says ‘I want to check with you if Theresa Makone made any comment or condemned this incident regarding the 12 year old boy? She is said to be related to Didymus Mutasa, the alleged sponsor of violence in Headlands. Is this true?’
MAKONE: Well for a start I’m in my hospital bed right now as I’m speaking to you. I had an operation done on Monday before that incident took place. It’s only today I’ve started following things because I’ve been heavily sedated and as I’m speaking to you, I’m still in my hospital bed, I only leave on Friday. So there’s only so much one woman can do but I know that my colleagues went to cabinet, did whatever needed to be done and I’m sure that now that the President is talking about having those perpetrators found and arrested, it is as a result of that fight
[Thou shalt not reap where thou did not sow. Claiming credit is very cheap indeed. - MrK]
but whatever his name is, you can tell him that the minister said I’m just a normal being like anybody else. When I’m sick I’m sick and I can’t be in two places – on the theatre table and fighting the police at the same time. What was the last part of his question?
GONDA: About being related to Didymus Mutasa.
MAKONE: I don’t know how many times I’m going to say this – I have no relationship of any kind with that man except that he was in Birmingham at the same time as Ian and I were in Birmingham, and we had our daughter at Birmingham Hospital and his wife helped me with the delivery. That’s the end of the relationship.
What I did when Mutasa’s son was arrested is what I should have been able to do in all the things that followed afterwards, including the arrest of the 31 MDC activists, but I was not able to do it anymore because of this big outcry about Mutasa’s son – ‘because they are related and whatnot’ - but that was nonsensical because it’s not every day that you get a Zanu PF person being arrested. So the public made it very clear that they were agreeing with the Police Commissioner General who said that I had no business in the police station. So I stay away from now on. Now what do they want me to do?
GONDA: Obviously a lot of people want the violence to stop and… (Interrupted)
MAKONE: So do I.
GONDA: …especially as we have two major ballots coming. So in terms of trying to find ways of stopping this violence as Home Affairs Minister, what role does the Human Rights Commission for example, play in this kind of situation?
MAKONE: Well the aggrieved parties are expected, if the police don’t act, to go and report their case to the Human Rights Commissioner. For me it’s a very circuitous route. By the time you get redress it will be long, long after the action has been taken. What to me, in these circumstances would be better is – once something like that happens, the police immediately react, the people are apprehended and put before the courts.
It’s going to take forever for Mr. Maisiri to go and find where the officers on the Human Rights Commission. Has the Human Rights Commission started work at all? Do they have offices and if so where? By that time you will just be expending yourself for a very, very little result. So I don’t know. We must think before we act sometimes and people make the ministers lives very difficult.
When the police don’t respond it’s my fault and I take that because it’s my department but when I do respond, then I’m interfering with the course of justice - so I don’t know how this is supposed to work.
GONDA: So how do you think you can force the police to respond, especially when they don’t even listen to you?
MAKONE: It’s not a question of they don’t listen to me because no minister in any government talks to people below their departmental head, it’s just not done, nowhere in the world does that happen. It’s our legislation, which was made purposefully for that purpose so that the President has got the power to act on a daily basis in direct communication with the Commissioner General - excluding the Minister of Home Affairs. This is why in the past, even before the formation of the GNU, you never heard Mohadi making a statement or talking to anybody because the legislation is such that the ministers are not even in the loop.
Suddenly we have started talking because I deliberately made a point of circumventing that and making comments when I shouldn’t; making myself very unpopular with the police. But at the same time not following that procedure because you have got to make sense once in a while. You can’t just sit and watch but the legislation is made like that and it is for all the security ministers.
So all the security ministers are just ministers who pronounce policy but don’t get involved with the day-to-day process, they don’t give any direct command and you can’t say a particular ministry, minister is powerless, actually he is disempowered by the law. That is the constitution of this country as of now.
GONDA: So basically at the end of the day the buck stops with the president?
MAKONE: Exactly, exactly. That’s where the people should be getting their answers because he is the one who directs day-to-day operations according to the law.
GONDA: Well the president has called for peace – what do you make of those statements?
MAKONE: Oh well, that’s where we want a new constitution to start with. It’s one thing having a constitution and quite another following that constitution and we want people to be spared the roughness of the previous elections so that they are allowed to actually vote in peace and see which party they would rather have in a government. Under this three-headed animal, as the president calls it, it’s not going to be possible; it is not going to be possible. But we were rather naively expecting Zanu PF to be embarrassed to continue killing people that they sit with in cabinet.
We thought at some stage they would examine their conscience and do the right thing and to be quite honest with you - I said it two years ago and I’ll say it again - this election is going to be bloodier than 2008. The makings of a horror election are there in front of us for all to see. The odd place is bombed, the odd place is into raping, murder, arson – this is meant to prime people to remind them of what they are capable of doing.
GONDA: If you are saying that the violence is going to be worse than the 2008 elections violence, why are you putting up with this? You can easily walk out for example, walk out of cabinet or… (Interrupted)
MAKONE: And how would that help the country?
GONDA: Or why not name and shame them then? Why don’t you name and shame the perpetrators?
MAKONE: We did all the time.
GONDA: So in government are you saying that Didymus Mutasa is the only one who is doing it? Because so far he is the only one you’ve mentioned in this interview for example.
MAKONE: Yah it’s only because this particular one happened in his constituency and happened at this particular moment but there’s so many other things that Zanu PF ministers are doing which we are confronting them with on a daily basis in cabinet…
GONDA: Can you give us an example?
MAKONE: I cannot and the reason I cannot is because it has not gone public. We are required to keep state secrets so if it has not been publicized the only other person who can reveal that is the prime minister.
GONDA: The organization Aids Free World say the South African government has opened investigations into rape allegations leveled against Zanu PF supporters – you know those people who are said to have raped during the 2008 elections, what are the implications of this from an MDC point of view?
MAKONE: We welcome it and we encourage it. This is going to tell people, the resilience of the party, what we’ve had to put up with to be where we are, nowhere in the world do people go as far as Zanu does and now that the South African government, through its courts has been forced to reveal and investigate because they are signatories to the ICC, Zimbabwe is not, and they are required to take certain actions. We are looking forward to those actions being taken because it is about time people started behaving like people not barbarians when you are going into an election. This happens because the security sector has been forced into a situation where they have to support even the unsupportable and I think this investigation should be followed to its bitter conclusion whether Zanu PF likes it or not, people should be arrested and the necessary steps should be taken.
GONDA: But I understand that in calling for peace the prime minister appealed to Zanu PF ministers - during that explosive cabinet meeting we heard about - and I understand that he actually appealed to the Zanu PF ministers to stop the violence telling them that the MDC will not have a retributive agenda. So he was basically appealing to them to stop the violence if they were thinking that they were doing it to stay in power. So with what you’re saying, isn’t there a contradiction here?
MAKONE: When I was not in the said cabinet meeting, I was just giving you my personal thoughts. If the prime minister doesn’t want them prosecuted then that’s his position. I was giving my personal reaction to this and I will say it again – if anyone raped, if anyone killed and the ICC require South Africa to act then they should follow the signatures to the papers that they signed as members of ICC.
As far as I’m concerned because I’m a woman, if I was raped I would want justice – make no mistake about that. The only time I would think maybe let’s push this thing into the past is if this election was different, was handled differently by Zanu PF and do all the things that we have agreed should be done, then I would say well maybe there is merit for not taking this issue forward. But what we are seeing now are the tell-tale signs of even more horrors coming and in the face of that, how do we then say to people keep on murdering but we will not be taking you to court.
I mean for me it defies logic but it doesn’t mean that everybody in that party is bad, there are quite a few MPs that one can mention and in their particular constituencies, there were no deaths, nothing happened, they just won the election freely. So we know who the perpetrators of violence are. We can’t possibly say that the whole party is violent. Look at what happened in Mashonaland East and see how many people were killed in Marondera. Look what happened in Mash Central…You can literally look at the map of the country and see where, but I don’t want to be forced to start naming names right now because I don’t think that was the purpose of this interview. What I’m saying if you want to know who are the perpetrators just look at that list and it will tell you.
GONDA: So how do you respond to critics who say that there is nothing that can actually be done about violence in Zimbabwe given what we have seen in the last elections but that what you have to do is to develop strategies to combat it? Do you agree?
MAKONE: Well I don’t know what plans they have of combating. We definitely know that we have one particular agenda and ours is a non-violent method of responding to the murderers, to the arsonists, to the rapists, which is to expose their actions and hope that our neighbours in SADC and African Union in general, begin to force Zanu PF to behave like modern democracy.
GONDA: You say the African Union should force Zanu PF to stop the violence but how can they do that?
MAKONE: Well in the same way they refused to accord Robert Mugabe the presidency in 2008 after the elections. They simply refused to accept the result from Zimbabwe and that was enough to de-legitimise a stolen election forcing the three parties to come together and thrash it out at the negotiating table and for a whole year this country went without a cabinet. If the African Union had not reacted the way it did, we wouldn’t be where we are today.
GONDA: But that was a reaction after a violent election so I’m asking what can they do right now before.
MAKONE: Right now they should be talking to the president of Zanu and telling him to stick to the letter and spirit of the GPA, failing which they would have to pronounce what kind of steps they are going to take because obviously Zimbabwe cannot operate like an island; we are part of a continent, we are landlocked. All sorts of actions can be taken against this government and if need be then that is what should be done and that should be done by the Africans themselves, not waiting for people from Spain and Italy to come and fight our wars.
GONDA: But as the MDC what can you do outside what the international or regional community can do?
MAKONE: Well as MDC we can fight in court, we can fight via the public media and you know very well that there’s been issues to do with radios and phones – this is their way of stopping us from communicating with our followers in Zimbabwe and for us it was a way of countering Zanu Broadcasting Corporation and this has not worked. And then this week I think the minister in the Prime Minister’s Office did a letter scheduling all the actions of Zanu PF in the recent past, and we wait for their reaction. And quite honestly apart from talking directly to your people and telling them what they are setting themselves again by voting Zanu PF back and talking to your neighbours, the only other option is fighting and for us that is not an option. It’s not even on our agenda.
GONDA: What’s your reaction to statements that were made by vice president Joyce Mujuru saying that Zimbabwe will not allow international observers from hostile countries?
MAKONE: I personally and I know that the whole party does not subscribe to that. We have nothing to hide as MDC, there is nothing that cannot be open to scrutiny so people can come from any place on earth and observe.
GONDA: But at the end of the day isn’t it true that Zanu PF will have the final word on this whether or not the MDCs agree.
MAKONE: Well the rule in this country and the constitution in this country says that the president of the country is the one that controls the security sector and that is in black and white. It’s not meant for MDC only, it’s meant for the whole country and if the president of this country says no, then it’s a no. It doesn’t matter whether the president is Tsvangirai or Mugabe. And if the president has got a party with something to answer I do not see him allowing people to come and observe him.
GONDA: With just a few months before general elections, do you think this coalition government was worth it especially given what you have told us in this interview?
MAKONE: It was never going to be 100%. There were things that we badly needed to come out of this. Some we got, some we didn’t get. As far as I’m concerned, what we pushed for – a constitution – we got that constitution which as far as we are concerned, if implemented, will change the character of this country beyond recognition and that is if there is a government, which is constitutional in behaviour. But if we have got a government that has never been following constitutionalism then it won’t make a difference because for us fighting was never an option.
The very first few days after the formation of this government, we walked out and there was a big outcry of ‘why did you walk out, go and fight, we know that it is not easy but it’s better that things are done and you are present and you are defending us than to stay outside’, and we responded and we went back into government. So towards the end of term you can’t then say I wish I had not said no. We walked out and our party told us to go back in and we are there because the people that elected us wanted us to be in that playing field and we played the ball as well as we could and we hope that the few changes that have happened – having medicine in hospital, having food in the shops, having a few doctors, specialists – I’m here because not because I can’t afford to go anywhere – as a minister of the Republic I could have gone anywhere for treatment but I opted to be treated at home because all our experts are beginning to make their way home and some are already here.
And we tried to control inflation and the economy is ticking somewhat, better than zero growth, better than negative growth so those are the things we feel we have managed to do for the country. We have stopped it going over the precipice just in time and if that was not enough for people then people should have to remember that when this thing falls apart and the government falls back into violent hands and the world shuns us, we are going to be exactly where we were in 2007 if not worse.
GONDA: Thank you very much Mai Theresa Makone for talking to us on the programme Hot Seat especially as you are in hospital. Hope you feel better soon.
MAKONE: Thank you very much Violet.
To contact this reporter email violet@swradioafrica.com or follow on Twitter. Hot Seat is broadcast on SW Radio Africa every Thursday from 7:30pm to 8pm Zimbabwe Time on 4880khz shortwave or you can listen online www.swradioafrica.com
Labels: CHRISTPOWER SIMBARASHE MAISIRI, MDC TREASON, POLITICAL VIOLENCE, THERESA MAKONE, VIOLET GONDA
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Makone's daughter 'found hanged'
08/12/2012 00:00:00
by Staff Reporter
HOME Affairs Minister Theresa Makone and her husband Ian, an adviser to Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai, were rushing home on Saturday after one of their daughters died in an apparent suicide. Nyarai Makone, 32, was found hanged at the couple’s home in Domboshava, according to sources.
Her parents received the news while travelling with Tsvangirai in Kenya, according to one report. The MDC-T’s youth secretary general Promise Mkhwananzi, also travelling with the Prime Minister, confirmed the news on his Facebook page.
He said: “Mr and Mrs Makone, pivotal actors in our struggle for democratic change just lost one of their only two daughters. My heartfelt condolences to Ian Makone and his family. We grieve with you!!!”
The Makones had two daughters, Taneta and Nyarai.
At the time of her death, Nyarai was self-employed as an international trader of hand crafted furniture.
Nyarai, who previously worked as a manager at the National Art Gallery of Zimbabwe, graduated with a degree in Art, Design and Applied Arts from Edinburgh University, Scotland, in 2004.
Labels: IAN MAKONE, MDC, THERESA MAKONE
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West pressures MDC-T on elections
Sunday, 14 October 2012 00:31
Sunday Mail Reporters
Some embassies in Harare aligned to the European Union (EU) have over the past few weeks been summoning the top leadership of the MDC-T to formulate election strategiesahead of the forthcoming polls, it has emerged.
This move has once against exposed the MDC-T’s Western parentage, with reports saying the Western-sponsored party is inadequately prepared for the impending elections that President Mugabe has said will be held in March next year.
Impeccable sources within the faction-riddled party told The Sunday Mail last week that some embassies in Harare aligned to the EU have been summoning the MDC-T hierarchy to formulate election plans.
Despite reservations by the MDC-T that the political playing field was uneven for a general election, senior members of the party were a fortnight ago summoned by British Ambassador Deborah Bronnert who reportedly told them she was not happy with the party’s preparations for elections.
The MDC-T’s foreign backers, who include the United States, Germany and Nordic countries, have also threatened to withdraw aid if the party “does not shape up” and adopt an election strategy that they have laid on the table.
Zanu-PF and the MDC led by Professor Welshman Ncube have since blasted the move by Western embassies, saying it is “divisive and immoral”.
The sources revealed that Mrs Bronnert gave the MDC-T top hierarchy a tongue-lashing, accusing them of failing to prepare for the forthcoming polls.
“The British Ambassador summoned the MDC-T top hierarchy and fervently expressed her disappointment with the party ahead of the elections. Britain is very angry that the party has not managed to keep the faith and trust of its sponsors and it wants a strong say on the election strategy that the party adopts,” the sources said.
The sources revealed that the British Ambassador particularly grilled MDC-T Women’s Assembly chairperson and National Council member Mrs Theresa Makone over the party’s affairs.
“Theresa Makone was the last to be summoned to the meetings and she was particularly grilled. This is not surprising, given that she is one of the ministers who are close to (Mr Morgan) Tsvangirai so she was basically given a full lecture to take to her leader,” the source revealed.
Efforts to get a comment from Ms Bronnert were fruitless last week as she had reportedly travelled to her home country on business.
Questions sent to her offices on Thursday had not been responded to by the time of going to press.
MDC-T spokesperson Mr Douglas Mwonzora said he was not aware of the meetings.
“I am not privy to any of those meetings at all,” he said.
EU head of delegation to Zimbabwe Ambassador Aldo Dell’Ariccia said the EU stance does not favour any political party.
“The EU does not favour any party over any other. We will work with any government formed as the result of a credible electoral process. The EU is not supporting any political party. Since February 2010 we have further broadened the scope of our co-operation to include support to GPA reforms and we have been doing so, for instance, in supporting the Copac process,” he said.
However the sources revealed that the MDC-T’s Western handlers are riled that the party will lose the forthcoming elections if it “does not step to the plate”.
“The consensus between Britain, America, Germany and the Nordic countries is that the MDC-T will lose the forthcoming elections if they do not change their way of doing things. They want to see changes that will redefine the party come elections,” the sources said.
Zanu-PF spokesperson Cde Rugare Gumbo said the clandestine meetings between the MDC-T and the Western countries were nothing new.
He said it was surprising that the MDC-T is “not reforming”, yet is had been at the forefront of calling for reforms ahead of the elections.
“This is nothing new to us. People are always talking about reforms, but they do not want to reform themselves,” said Cde Gumbo.
MDC spokesperson Mr Kurauone Chihwayi said Western nations are being divisive by siding with a political party.
He said the West held “the warped view that only the MDC-T is the democratic party in Zimbabwe”.
“These nations have always been meddling in our internal political affairs and they are divisive. Why is it that they are choosing to engage with one political party? If they have Zimbabwe’s interests at heart, as they want us to believe, they are supposed to involve every party and not one party. The Western countries have got a problem because they believe Tsvangirai is the only person who can deliver democracy to Zimbabwe. They are basically leaving the playing field unfair ahead of the elections,” he said.
Political commentator Dr Lawton Hikwa said former US Ambassador Christopher Dell had exposed the United States stance of giving election strategies to the MDC-T.
“This has become something that it synonymous with the MDC-T and Ambassador Dell once revealed that he was giving election strategies to the party,” he said.
Labels: 2013 ELECTIONS (ZIMBABWE), DEBORAH BRONNERT, MDC, MDC TREASON, THERESA MAKONE
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Indigenisation: Tsvangirai on the wrong side of history
By Psychology Maziwisa
Last updated on: April 11, 2012
FOR almost every political party there comes a very unfortunate moment after which things are never quite the same again. As for Zanu PF, that moment came when it failed to properly tackle the economic challenges of the early 2000s; for Zapu it was the irresponsible decision by Dumiso Dabengwa to pull out of the Unity Accord.
A great possibility now exists that
history will judge the events of the past week- namely Morgan Tsvangirai’s continued vilification of Zanu PF’s indigenisation and economic empowerment policy and the looming visit to America for celebrations of Zimbabwe’s Independence Day by Nelson Chamisa and Theresa Makone – as the undoing of the MDC-T.
First, let’s take the indigenisation and economic empowerment policy. Last Thursday, as on many other occasions preceding it, Tsvangirai belittled Minister Saviour Kasukuwere’s bold and long over-due statement on indigenisation, describing it as meaningless and unworthy of recognition.
That would have been a fair assessment if Minister Kasukuwere was fighting an unjust cause or if he was acting outside the law or if his motives were selfish rather than genuine. Quite the contrary, Kasukuwere has proven himself to be a man of integrity, an upholder of the law who has absolutely nothing but love for this country. In my view, he deserves everyone’s trust and confidence. Yet he is the very man Tsvangirai has criticised and condemned at nearly every corner.
This sort of behaviour from the Prime Minister is hurtful, perhaps even unforgivable, but, in truth, it is hardly new. It is part of Tsvangirai’s well established tendency of sucking up to the West.
For instance, he has regurgitated the nonsense that, like the land reform, the indigenisation drive is good only in principle and not in practice. He has even gone so far as to emulate his sponsors in making the ridiculous accusation that the policy is a looting exercise meant merely to benefit a few individuals.
Not only is this grossly sycophantic, it is palpably untrue. The indigenisation policy in its present form does not make provision for individual businessmen or people to benefit.
If Tsvangirai was a man of integrity, which quite evidently he is not, he would know by now that the structure and form of our empowerment policy is such that only communities, employees and groups such as the youth, the elderly, the disabled and women can benefit.
He would also be aware of the fact that over and above these beneficiaries, there will soon be a National Indigenisation and Economic Empowerment Fund whose main thrust will be to broaden the beneficiation process to include national areas like infrastructural development and the provision of basic services like clean water and sanitation.
It’s quite clear that Tsvangirai’s claims are just smear tactics intended partly to appease his handlers, partly to forestall much-needed development in this country and partly to cover up for his party’s lack of ideas.
Because he is without policies of his own, ideas that can resonate with the once disadvantaged people of Zimbabwe, he has resorted to a campaign of ridicule and smear and to being the voice of opposition. This tired tactic may have worked in 2008 but, hell, it will not work in 2012.
If Tsvangirai and his now discredited party want to be taken seriously, they need to put an urgent stop to this outmoded strategy.
Now let’s turn to Nelson Chamisa and Theresa Makone. In Zimbabwe we have long regarded Independence Day as embodying the true spirit of what it really means to be Zimbabwean. Every year we celebrate this day on the 18th April and this year’s celebrations are barely a week away.
As far as this important national day goes, MDC-T officials are notorious for treating it with disdain and very little patriotism. Chamisa and Makone are about to provide the most shameful example.
In the coming days, the pair will travel to the United States of America to celebrate this year’s Independence Day there. If this turns out to be the case (God forbid), then it will be a huge disaster for Zimbabwe.
Throughout its 12 years of existence, the MDC-T has been known to be dependent on foreign ideas, foreign funding, foreign friends and even foreign ideologies. Part of this reprehensible culture came about because some of MDC-T’s original members were chiefly of foreign origin. And so a sense of internationalism was entrenched – at times knowingly, sometimes subconsciously.
To a degree it became normal, even acceptable, for MDC-T officials to have friends in foreign nations. It was expected that now and again a working visit might be necessary. But to celebrate Zimbabwe Independence in America?
If anything else, this should be a cause for great national embarrassment. Over the years I have noticed very little sense that the MDC-T is an independent, proud, patriotic and genuinely Zimbabwean party with values and ideas of its own. Instead of striving to be their own men, they have taken to praising the West like ecstatic teenagers surrounding a pop star.
This is ridiculous and somebody has got to put a stop to this. If Zimbabweans give a damn about their nation, they will not for a moment longer tolerate this kind of unpatriotic behaviour from Chamisa, himself a useless politician who has been showered with a lot more praise than his mediocre performance in government justifies, and Makone, a problematic politician within the MDC-T ranks who should know better as our interior Minister.
The notion that the party of Chamisa and Makone can hereafter lead this country in any capacity whatsoever is preposterous. In fact, should Chamisa and Makone proceed with their disloyal plans, both should do the honourable thing and resign immediately upon return. If for some reason they are unwilling or unable to do so of their own accord, they should be made to give up their jobs in government under compulsion.
If we fail to insist on this, we will have failed this great nation and future generations will look back and wonder why nothing was done about this sickening act of treachery- possibly the most disgusting in the history of this country.
They will ask why Registrar General Tobaiwa Mudede and all the other relevant authorities did not nullify Chamisa and Makone’s entitlement to Zimbabwean citizenship. They will ask what ghosts, what evil spirits blinded us from seeing Chamisa and Makone in their true light. And then none of us will be able to explain the inexplicable.
Labels: INDIGENIZATION AND EMPOWERMENT ACT (ZIMBABWE), MDC, MORGAN TSVANGIRAI, NELSON CHAMISA, SAVIOUR KASUKUWERE, THERESA MAKONE
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Chamisa, Makone set for UK rally
29/02/2012 00:00:00
by Staff Reporter
MDC-T organising secretary and Information Technology Minister Nelson Chamisa arrives in England on Thursday ahead of a weekend rally which the party says is aimed at “refocusing” its external structures in preparation for elections.
Chamisa, his deputy Abednico Bhebhe, the party’s women’s assembly chair and Home Affairs Minister Theresa Makone, youth leaders Costa Machingauta and Promise Mkhwananzi, Mkoba MP Amos Chibaya and Harare Central MP Murisi Zvizai will attend the rally in Birmingham on Saturday.
An estimated 600,000 Zimbabweans moved to the United Kingdom over the last decade, and Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai’s party sees the exiles as an important constituency, although they are denied a vote under current laws which President Robert Mugabe's Zanu PF is reluctant to reform.
Speaking to New Zimbabwe.com ahead of the trip, Chamisa – who took up the position at the party’s congress in May – said they intended to use the meeting to brief exiles about the state of play in the coalition government; moves to draw up a new constitution and elections which could be held within a year.
The delegation from Zimbabwe will meet with the party’s external assembly council on Saturday morning followed by a rally which will open to the public. Chamisa will also speak at a fund-raising dinner later in the evening.
He said: “This trip is intended to reenergise, refocus, revitalise and repackage our party to deliver ultimate victory when election time comes.
“There have been a lot of developments in the country and we would like to engage with Zimbabweans around the issues of democratic reforms, the constitution and the elections, so that they feel they are part of the national discourse. It's their country too."
The rally will take place between 2PM and 6PM on Saturday at the Ladywood Arts and Leisure Centre in Birmingham [B16 8TR]. The fund-raising dinner [8PM-11PM] costs £30 per head and attendance is by registration. For further information call Grey Samakande on 07805925038 or Victor Karonga on 07403128801
Labels: MDC, NELSON CHAMISA, THERESA MAKONE
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City clashes: Makone's driver in court
Wednesday, 18 January 2012 00:00
Court Reporter
FOUR MDC-T activists, among them Home Affairs co-Minister Theresa Makone's driver and five vendors who recently ran amok in the city centre, assaulting policemen and damaging property at First Street mall police post, appeared in court yesterday charged with public violence.
The nine are Taurai Nherera (18), Simbarashe Makaha (35), Jefias Moyo (39), Leonard Dendera (29), Muchineripi Muzengeza (34), Patson Murimoga (32), Samson Nerwande (40), Murambiwa Dzwenge (38) and Kudakwashe Usai (20).
One of the accused, Jefias Moyo, has a pending case of murder of a policeman in Glen View where he is jointly charged with other MDC-T activists in a case recorded under CR376/5/11.
Lawyer Mr Aleck Muchadehama represented the vendors, while Mr Tarisai Mutangi represented the MDC-T activists.
Both defence counsels' made bail applications and magistrate Mr Donald Ndirowei will make a ruling tomorrow.
The gang will be in custody pending the ruling.
Prosecutor, Mr David Magwegwe alleges that on January 11 Harare Central police operations conducted an operation, arresting illegal vendors along Nelson Mandela Avenue, Sam Nujoma Street and Julius Nyerere Way in Harare.
The operation was a result of previous cases of assault on municipality police by MDC-T activists and vendors.
Also targeted were Zanu-PF supporters wearing party regalia, Zimbabwe National Army Officers in uniform and members of the public perceived to be aligned to Zanu-PF.
Musicians checking on their pirated music being traded by the vendors were also not spared. On January 11 in the afternoon the accused persons and others still at large teamed up and assaulted uniformed police officers, Knowledge Madeyi, Kudakwashe Dumba, Moses Mude, Shingirai Zinhawa, Vitalis Madziwana and another one identified as Majon F to prevent them from executing their constitutional duties.
The group was armed with stones and iron bars.
They went on to assault other policemen who were not in uniform but on duty. These include Tatenda Zhou, Aaron Mutsengi and Shadreck Matare whom they located along Nelson Mandela Avenue.
Labels: MARKETEERS, MDC VIOLENCE, THERESA MAKONE
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Makone launches shock attack on police
13/01/2012 00:00:00
by Staff Reporter
CO-HOME Affairs Minister Theresa Makone launched an extraordinary attack on the police last night as she admitted she had limited powers to curb their excesses.
Makone labeled Nkayi police “notorious” rights abusers and expressed exasperation at the lack of support from President Robert Mugabe and police chief, Augustine Chihuri in trying to reign in the “bad apples”.
“I wish to register my displeasure at the deplorable action by the police in Nkayi who have also become notorious for dispersing lawful gatherings sanctioned by the courts,” she said.
“It does not bode well for the image of the police if they are seen as being at the forefront of assaulting and harassing people instead of protecting them
Police fought running battles with vendors in Harare during the week and stormed the MDC-T's Harvest House head office in the capital on Thursday, arresting at least six party members.
The party claimed that a youth leader is now hospitalised with a broken leg after being assaulted by officers during the raid.
Makone – a member of the MDC-T – blamed the disturbances on “a few bad apples” in the ZRP.
“There are a few bad apples that are tarnishing the image of the entire police force,” she said.
“(But) I am aware that there are many professional men and women in uniform whose reputation is being dragged through the mud by those who have chosen to pursue a politically partisan line.”
Makone took over the tough Home Affairs portfolio in June 2010 as MDC-T leader and Prime Minister, Morgan Tsvangirai reacted to concerns within the party that her predecessor, Giles Mutsekwa had failed to reign in partisan elements within the ZRP.
But in her statement Friday, Makone effectively admitted that her own efforts had been equally futile.
“I have engaged the Commissioner-General on many occasions about all these issues and nothing has changed,” she said.
“I have alerted the President, to whom all these service chiefs report to on operational issues, and there has not been any shift in the general conduct of some members of the police.
“It is a fact that as Minister of Home Affairs, I have not been spared the embarrassment of having my own lawful rallies dispersed by unruly elements while the police watched,” she said.”
Labels: MDC, POLICE, THERESA MAKONE
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Makone absolves Zanu PF in Harare violence
24/02/2011 00:00:00
by Lebo Nkatazo
HOME Affairs Minister Theresa Makone has put herself on a collision course with Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai after
appearing to question the latter’s claims that a recent wave of violence in Harare was instigated by Zanu PF.The claim was the centerpiece of Tsvangirai’s New Zimbabwe Lecture Series in Harare on February 15, and the violence was cited by the European Union as a reason for extending sanctions on Zimbabwe.
But answering a question by Magwegwe MP Felix Sibanda [MDC-T] on the violence, Makone – whose ministry is in charge of the police – told MPs in Parliament she was not satisfied the thugs represented any party.
“It took everyone by surprise because they do not seem to have been precipitated by any particular action or move by either government or political party,” said Makone, a member of Tsvangirai’s MDC party.
She added: “As a ministry, we have put a mechanism through our structures that we can now anticipate where trouble is going to be and people are deployed on the ground.
“An effort is being made to contain this and it is not above the Zimbabwe Republic Police, and you will agree that the incidences are now sporadic and not as concentrated as they were when they started.
“So, action is being taken, but you cannot rule out the fact that merchants of evil will always be there, and that is why we always have the police. In general, they take advantage of situations like this one.
“So, be rest assured that anyone who tries to imitate what has been happening in the last two weeks will be dealt with in no uncertain terms.”
Thugs raided houses in Mbare township, and the MDC-T claimed its supporters were targets.
Prime Minister Tsvangirai used a February 15 address at the Ambassador hotel in Harare to accuse Zanu PF supporters of the attacks, and subsequent violence targeting foreign-owned businesses in Harare’s central business district.
“… the violence that gripped Harare in the past few weeks,” Tsvangirai said, “Everyone knows that Zanu PF mobilised its youths to take over foreign-owned shops in the city. But the public media have gone into overdrive misleading the nation that the MDC was at the centre of that violence.”
Zanu PF strategist Jonathan Moyo, also the MP for Tsholotsho North, claimed last week that the MDC had engineered the violence “in its quest for bad news about Zimbabwe”.
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Moyo said: “Firstly, and in order to provide the EU with a neo-colonial pretext for renewing and extending its illegal economic sanctions against Zimbabwe, some MDC-T mouthpieces and their associated puppets in the NGO community converged in Addis Ababa for the 2011 African Union (AU) summit last month as part of an underground operation whose failed objective was to scare the AU into including Zimbabwe on the agenda of ‘nations in crisis’ along with the likes of the Ivory Coast, Tunisia, Egypt and Somalia.
“After being rebuffed in Addis Ababa, the sell-outs came back home to cook up sporadic incidents of political violence in Harare and nobody was surprised that those incidents were predictably used by the EU in its official statement to justify its shameless decision to extend the illegal economic sanctions.
“On this point, and given that everyone knew that the EU was due to review its illegal sanctions against Zimbabwe on February 15, it would take a foolish or mad person to think or believe that Zanu PF was behind the unacceptable political violence that rocked Mbare and other parts of the capital city.
“The only political party which had a beneficial interest in that violence … is the MDC-T and it indeed benefited treacherously as the EU specifically cited the Mbare violence as a justification for the extension of its illegal sanctions on behalf of the MDC-T.”
Labels: MDC, MDC VIOLENCE, THERESA MAKONE, ZANU-PF
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Co-Minister Makone hails police force
Friday, 16 September 2011 02:00
Herald Reporters
HOME Affairs Co-Minister Theresa Makone yesterday lauded the Zimbabwe Republic Police as a disciplined and professional force. This is a major climbdown by an MDC-T senior official, whose party for a long time has been condemning the force.
Minister Makone said while the media had portrayed the ZRP as an unprofessional body, the force was indeed a professional entity that was a "source of pride". The Minister said this during a welcome reception for the ZRP team that brought 55 medals from the Southern African Regional Police Chiefs Co-orporation Organisation held in the DRC recently.
Minister Makone said she was happy that the force had continued to raise the country's flag high. She lauded it as a disciplined force.
"ZRP has been quoted in some sections of the media for wrongdoing but today we are happy that this is a disciplined force because without discipline, you will have not achieved results like these," she said.
MDC-T has been at the forefront of castigating the ZRP as an unprofessional unit, accusing it of applying the law selectively.
The party's chief whip, Mr Innocent Gonese has since come up with amendments to the Public Order and Security Act, which seeks to limit powers of the police.
The Bill, which sailed through the House of Assembly, was shot down in Senate after it emerged that it was not consistent with the spirit of the Global Political Agreement. In presenting the Bill, Mr Gonese submitted that POSA, as currently constituted conferred too much powers to the police.
Labels: POLICE, THERESA MAKONE, ZRP
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Violence rears ugly head at MDC-T rally
Saturday, 10 September 2011 23:42 Top Stories
Sunday Mail Reporter
INTRA-PARTY violence once again rocked the MDC-T when
its youths engaged in frenzied fist fights in full view of more than 20 foreign diplomats who were part of the crowd attending the party’s 12th anniversary commemoration at Harare’s Gwanzura Stadium yesterday.
Party leader Mr Morgan Tsvangirai was left with egg on his face following the violent clashes which he sought to downplay in his address by blaming Zanu-PF for the political violence that has erupted in some parts of the country recently.
Mr Tsvangirai’s efforts to shift blame to Zanu-PF were, however, in vain as the diplomats had first-hand experience of the MDC-T’s propensity for violence.
The ugly scenes erupted after youths clashed along the Biti-Tsvangirai factional lines. A mob of Chitungwiza youths, who were led by their organising secretary Tyson Ngwena, forced entry from the northern stands into the playing field which was reserved for VIPs.
All hell broke loose when the youths fought fiercely against other supporters and security officials who tried to control them.
MDC-T organising secretary Mr Nelson Chamisa had to rush from the podium where he was addressing the crowd in an attempt to control the youths whilst other officials who included Deputy Media, Information Publicity Minister Mr Murisi Zwizwai also intervened to stop the melee.
The commotion continued at the stadium when Mr Tsvangirai was delivering his keynote address as some supporters in the western stand engaged in fierce fighting and also attacked anyone whom they suspected of being Zanu-PF supporters.
Again, the MDC leadership was forced to intervene when deputy organising secretary Abednico Bhebhe went into the crowd to address the hooligans.
In an interview at the end of the celebrations, Mr Chamisa tried to downplay the violence, saying it was not serious.
“They were just youths from Chitungwiza who were over-excited,” he said.
Harare police spokesperson Inspector James Sabau said the MDC had denied police officers access to the stadium.
“We did not have an opportunity to deal with the violence because the MDC said they had their own security officials. We only deployed officers outside the stadium and surrounding areas,” he said.
In his speech, Mr Tsvangirai ironically blamed Zanu-PF for perpetrating violence in the country.
“For 12 years, you and me survived violence and intimidation. For 12 years we have braved brutality and entrenched dictatorship,” he said.
Mr Tsvangirai, however, conceded that the inclusive Govern-ment had made great strides in improving the lives of ordinary Zimbabweans.
“The inclusive Government is a collective government and it is not Zanu-PF or MDC.
“We have a lot of frustrations in the inclusive Government, but what cannot be denied is that the GNU has improved the lives of Zimba-bweans.
“However the inclusive Government has not created jobs and the biggest time bomb that we have is that young people are educated but unemployed,” he said.
In her speech, Women’s Assembly chairperson Mrs Theresa Makone courted controversy once again when she urged women in the party to fight Zanu-PF youths.
The violent scenes at Gwanzura came soon after the MDC-T announced that it had launched an investigation into several incidents of intra-party violence that occurred before the party’s congress in Bulawayo in April.
Labels: MDC, MDC VIOLENCE, MORGAN TSVANGIRAI, POLITICAL VIOLENCE, THERESA MAKONE
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Chamisa, Gutu tear Tsvangirai to pieces
Saturday, 03 September 2011 23:47
By Kuda Bwititi
TWO of Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai’s closest confidants labelled him an inept and indecisive leader during a meeting with US embassy officials, a secret cable released by the whistle-blowing website, WikiLeaks, revealed last week.
The cable shows that the Minister of Information Communication Technology, Mr Nelson Chamisa, and the Deputy Minister of Justice and Legal Affairs, Senator Obert Gutu, questioned Mr Tsvangirai’s leadership credentials during a meeting with US ambassador to Zimbabwe, Mr Charles Ray, in January 2010.
While many perceive Mr Chamisa as a Tsvangirai loyalist, the cable shows that in private, the MDC-T’s organising secretary made the disparaging remarks against his boss whom he described as a weak leader.
Chamisa allegedly said that the Prime Minister “is weak and has failed to play a co-ordinating role for Government ministries”.
According to the cable, Senator Gutu concurred with Mr Chamisa on Tsvangirai’s ineptitude during the same meeting with US embassy officials.
The two senior MDC-T officials also took a swipe at Mr Tsvangirai’s right-hand man and chief of staff, Mr Ian Makone, whom they said was a bad influence on the Prime Minister.
“Gutu also stated that Tsvangirai had a tendency to listen to the wrong people. He pointed to Ian Makone, Tsvangirai’s chief of staff, and Makone’s wife, Theresa, who is the Minister of Public Works.
“He opined that neither was a good strategist, and that the Office of the Prime Minister was weak due to Ian Makone’s lack of leadership,” reads the cable.
Mr Gutu also claimed that PM Tsvangirai practised nepotism and cronyism when it came to appointing senior people to party and Government positions.
“Gutu noted that (Murisi) Zwizwai and Tsvangirai are cousins and this is another example of friendship getting in the way of governance,” reads the cable.
Mr Zwizwai was then the Deputy Minister of Mines and is now the Deputy Minister of Media, Information and Publicity.
Mrs Makone is now the co-Minister of Home Affairs while her husband has maintained his influential position.
The cable is one of the hundreds released by WikiLeaks last week and is likely to sow the seeds of discord within the ranks of the MDC-T.
Earlier in the year, the WikiLeaks cables revealed that the US government saw Mr Chamisa and Mr Tendai Biti as promising future leaders while describing Mr Tsvangirai as a leader who needed “massive hand-holding”. -The Sunday Mail
Labels: CHARLES RAY, IAN MAKONE, MDC CORRUPTION, MORGAN TSVANGIRAI, NELSON CHAMISA, NEPOTISM, OBERT GUTU, THERESA MAKONE, WIKILEAKS
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Tsvangirai violence utterances irresponsible: Zanu-PF
Posted by By Our reporter at 12 July, at 01 : 39 AM Print
MDC-T leader Morgan Tsvangirai has come under fire for making reckless public utterances that incite violence and create animosity at a time when Government has initiated a national healing and reconciliation process.
This follows his statements at
a rally in Masvingo on Sunday where he reportedly
urged his supporters to retaliate using violence against political opponents. Senior MDC-T official and
co-Home Affairs Minister Theresa Makone vindicated Tsvangirai’s call for violence, saying it was
time they extinguished fire with fire.
Said Makone: “Zanu-PF used to beat us like drums and you expect us to say ‘thank you’. When I was young, my mother told me that if someone beats you, you should hit back,” she said.
Makone exonerated Tsvangirai for inciting violence, saying it was her and other members of the party’s youth assembly who wanted revenge.
“My Prime Minister never said such words. It was myself and the youth that spoke about violence,” she said.
However, Zanu-PF yesterday condemned the MDC-T leadership’s call for violence and urged its supporters to be peaceful in the face of open hostility from a partner in the inclusive Government.
“This is unacceptable. As Zanu-PF, we do not subscribe to violence and we do not encourage our people to engage in violence. We want peace and stability in the country and we are totally opposed to violence,” said party spokesman Rugare Gumbo.
Gumbo said instead of taking the law into their own hands, MDC-T should report any incidences of violence against its supporters to the police or take legal action where necessary.
“What we want in Zimbabwe at the moment is to maintain the dignity, sovereignty and independence of our country. We must be seen as a credible and independent State. We want unity in Zimbabwe and that can only be achieved when we talk to each other.
“We want stability and that can only be achieved when people are not fighting,” Gumbo said.
He, however, said the call by the MDC-T leadership was neither new nor surprising.
“The MDC-T has always been a violent party. Their call for violence is deliberate and well orchestrated,” Gumbo said.
He added: “We expect the principals to handle the issue since we are in an inclusive Government. We are also meeting on Wednesday as Politburo and the issue could be discussed,” he said.
MDC deputy spokesperson Kurauone Chihwayi said it was unfortunate that some leaders who were signatories to the Global Political Agreement were inciting violence.
“As a democratic party, we do not believe in violence and we do not support anyone who incites violence.
“That was a very irresponsible statement from a partner who happens to be a Prime Minister in the inclusive Government,” he said.
By making such statements, Chihwayi said, Tsvangirai was defying the operations of the Joint Monitoring and Implementation Committee (Jomic), a multi-party taskforce that was set up to monitor the implementation of the Global Political Agreement.
Political analyst Professor Jonathan Moyo also said the call for violence by Tsvangirai was not new.
“The statement is a reminder to all Zimbabweans of the violent culture of the MDC-T and goes back to a statement he (Tsvangirai) made in 2000 that the President should leave office outside an election or risk being removed violently,” he said.
“Since that time the MDC-T has shown its true colours of violence not only against Zanu-PF but even within itself leading to the 2005 split,” Prof Moyo said.
He said a culture of violence within MDC-T was evident in the run-up to its April Bulawayo congress.
“In all these instances, nothing has been done to curb violence within the MDC-T,” Prof Moyo said.
He castigated Mr Tsvangirai for always making irresponsible public utterances.
“You give him a microphone and a crowd and he will say the most irresponsible thing.
“He will not talk about land utilisation or paying of civil servants.
“He will not talk about defending our minerals or selling of our diamonds. He will not talk about anything constructive. He is Mr Bad News,” he said.
Labels: MDC VIOLENCE, MORGAN TSVANGIRAI, THERESA MAKONE
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No change in the ‘party of change’
By Our reporter at 2 May, at 02 : 50 AM Print
Comment by Tendai Midzi
THE MDC-T party was built on a change agenda but ended its third Congress yesterday with no change, real change.
The same old faces have remained at the helm of the party, despite claims that they are a progressive party and “party of excellence”. We will see the same faces in the media, preaching the same old rhetoric about change.
Morgan Tsvangirai has been leader of that party for 12 years, and will have led it for 17 years at their next Congress.
The party can no longer be viewed as a party of change; except for the little change that occurs each time anyone who challenges Tsvangirai or anyone in his camp, is chopped from an influential party or Government position.
Elias Mudzuri is one such person, who has been well-known to be a ‘silent critic’ of Tsvangirai. He’s gone.
The MDC-T Congress, in fact, retained much of the MDC-T deadwood: Theresa Makone as Women’s Assembly leader and Nelson Chamisa who has not brought any ‘fireworks’ in government that he promised back in 2008.
MDC-T deputy president Thokozani Khupe, secretary general Tendai Biti and national chairman Lovemore Moyo retained their positions. The performance of the first two in government is in the public domain.
The MDC-T even elected ‘unopposed’ an absentee, Roy Bennett, who has become a token ‘symbol of resistance’ for the party. He has been used as a sign that “Zanu-PF is a racist party” that does not even want to swear in a white man as minister. Of course that is hogwash.
Bennett is more like a token that MDC-T is an inclusive party, to appease the donors who are increasingly getting wearied and fatigued. Even the loudmouthed Eddie Cross is nowhere to be seen. All the white members of the MDC-T have either been sidelined or have simply eased out of the party, having lost confidence in it.
In fact, the MDC-T party does not really know what to do with Bennett, who has become a loose cannon; vehemently opposing the “regime of Robert Mugabe” which includes the MDC-T, while at the same time remaining a treasurer-general of that same MDC-T.
He is ‘far away’ in London and Johannesburg (where he is tasked with raising funds for the broke party) away from the glare of the perks enjoyed by his party members in Government, whose waistlines have grown quicker than his in the last few years.
Interesting happenings in Zimbabwe, in the MDC-T, the party of excellence.
Tsvangirai is going nowhere. He is there to stay and that party is dead without him. That is now public knowledge, but he’s not adding value anymore to the party. Like Bennett, he is now a token leader, who once in a while, opposes the same president he reports to in the inclusive Government.
His latest rhetoric that he will make Zimbabwe a $100 billion economy in 30 years, growing 10 percent per year, is a sign of a man losing his marbles.
Interesting twist to the MDC-T elections, which were marred by a lot of irregularities and violence, was that they were presided over by the National Constitutional Assembly chairperson Professor Lovemore Madhuku.
Madhuku, like Tsvangirai, is increasingly losing his lustre. He also altered the NCA Constitution to secure his position. Both Tsvangirai’s MDC-T and Madhuku’s NCA now don’t have limits to the terms of their leaders, who are now demi-gods in their organisations.
The boys are back in town and what was, still is. No change in the so-called change party, or party of excellence.
Zimbabwean ‘opposition’ politics is going to be as boring and uneventful as it has been since the inclusive Government.
Officially the MDC-T is now the “status quo party”.
* Tendai Midzi can be reached via t.midzi01@yahoo.com. His views do not reflect the editorial policy of the Zimbabwe Guardian.
Labels: LOVEMORE MADHUKU, MDC, ROY BENNETT, THERESA MAKONE
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MDC Congress marred by violence
By Our reporter at 28 April, at 20 : 10 PM Print
The MDC-T National Congress which started in Bulawayo today has been marred by violence, vote-buying and rigging.
Theresa Makone, who is vying to retain the National Women’s Assembly chair, allegedly wielding influence on some MDC-T youths to thwart her rival Editor Matamisa’s efforts to take over the powerful post.
She is said to have threatened to close or take over the MDC-T headquarters Harvest House if not elected as she has been bankrolling activities there and paying for all bills.
At the race to elect a new executive for the MDC-T at the on-going congress in Bulawayo, violence has continued to rear its ugly head.
Journalists, who are part of the Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation crew which is covering the event, were heavily attacked by some thugs from the MDC-T party.
The crew was denied accreditation which was only given to private media journalists sympathetic to the MDC-T.
They were later force marched out of Barbourfields Stadium, the venue of the MDC-T Congress.
Reports coming from the Congress show that elections for the Women Assembly Chair have been hit by massive vote buying and rigging with the Theresa Makone family allegedly being on the forefront.
Makone is eyeing to retain control of the Women’s Assembly and has threatened to take back the Party’s headquarters Harvest House if she is not re-elected.
Kadoma House of Assembly member, Editor Matamisa, who wants to wrestle the post from Makone said in a telephone interview that her rival is using everything at her disposal to retain the post, splashing money and handing out special gifts to lure votes.
The Makone family is alleged to have resorted to use of violence to wield influence over her challenger.
Matamisa alleges people are reportedly fed up of her bossful nature.
Matamisa also revealed that the issue of Harvest House has come under the spotlight with delegates demanding answers and clarification on logic of registering the MDC-T headquarters in the name of the Makone family.
Observers noted that this issue of Harvest House could split the part apart as delegates are reportedly breathing fire about what they described as high level of looting the party’s properties by the Makone family.
Labels: MDC VIOLENCE, THERESA MAKONE
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MDC Congress marred by violence
Posted by By Our reporter at 28 April, at 20 : 10 PM Print
The MDC-T National Congress which started in Bulawayo today has been marred by violence, vote-buying and rigging. Theresa Makone, who is vying to retain the National Women’s Assembly chair, allegedly wielding influence on some MDC-T youths to thwart her rival Editor Matamisa’s efforts to take over the powerful post.
She is said to have threatened to close or take over the MDC-T headquarters Harvest House if not elected as she has been bankrolling activities there and paying for all bills.
At the race to elect a new executive for the MDC-T at the on-going congress in Bulawayo, violence has continued to rear its ugly head.
Journalists, who are part of the Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation crew which is covering the event, were heavily attacked by some thugs from the MDC-T party.
The crew was denied accreditation which was only given to private media journalists sympathetic to the MDC-T.
They were later force marched out of Barbourfields Stadium, the venue of the MDC-T Congress.
Reports coming from the Congress show that elections for the Women Assembly Chair have been hit by massive vote buying and rigging with the Theresa Makone family allegedly being on the forefront.
Makone is eyeing to retain control of the Women’s Assembly and has threatened to take back the Party’s headquarters Harvest House if she is not re-elected.
Kadoma House of Assembly member, Editor Matamisa, who wants to wrestle the post from Makone said in a telephone interview that her rival is using everything at her disposal to retain the post, splashing money and handing out special gifts to lure votes.
The Makone family is alleged to have resorted to use of violence to wield influence over her challenger.
Matamisa alleges people are reportedly fed up of her bossful nature.
Matamisa also revealed that the issue of Harvest House has come under the spotlight with delegates demanding answers and clarification on logic of registering the MDC-T headquarters in the name of the Makone family.
Observers noted that this issue of Harvest House could split the part apart as delegates are reportedly breathing fire about what they described as high level of looting the party’s properties by the Makone family.
Labels: MDC, THERESA MAKONE
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Makone absolves Zanu PF in Harare violence
by Lebo Nkatazo
24/02/2011 00:00:00
HOME Affairs Minister Theresa Makone has put herself on a collision course with Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai after
appearing to question the latter’s claims that a recent wave of violence in Harare was instigated by Zanu PF.The claim was the centerpiece of Tsvangirai’s New Zimbabwe Lecture Series in Harare on February 15, and
the violence was cited by the European Union as a reason for extending sanctions on Zimbabwe.
But answering a question by Magwegwe MP Felix Sibanda [MDC-T] on the violence, Makone – whose ministry is in charge of the police – told MPs in Parliament she was not satisfied the thugs represented any party.
“It took everyone by surprise because they do not seem to have been precipitated by any particular action or move by either government or political party,” said Makone, a member of Tsvangirai’s MDC party.
She added: “As a ministry, we have put a mechanism through our structures that we can now anticipate where trouble is going to be and people are deployed on the ground.
“An effort is being made to contain this and it is not above the Zimbabwe Republic Police, and you will agree that the incidences are now sporadic and not as concentrated as they were when they started.
“So, action is being taken, but you cannot rule out the fact that merchants of evil will always be there, and that is why we always have the police. In general, they take advantage of situations like this one.
“So, be rest assured that anyone who tries to imitate what has been happening in the last two weeks will be dealt with in no uncertain terms.”
Thugs raided houses in Mbare township, and the MDC-T claimed its supporters were targets.
Prime Minister Tsvangirai used a February 15 address at the Ambassador hotel in Harare to accuse Zanu PF supporters of the attacks, and subsequent violence targeting foreign-owned businesses in Harare’s central business district.
“… the violence that gripped Harare in the past few weeks,” Tsvangirai said, “Everyone knows that Zanu PF mobilised its youths to take over foreign-owned shops in the city. But the public media have gone into overdrive misleading the nation that the MDC was at the centre of that violence.”
Zanu PF strategist Jonathan Moyo, also the MP for Tsholotsho North, claimed last week that the MDC had engineered the violence “in its quest for bad news about Zimbabwe”.
Moyo said: “Firstly, and in order to provide the EU with a neo-colonial pretext for renewing and extending its illegal economic sanctions against Zimbabwe, some MDC-T mouthpieces and their associated puppets in the NGO community converged in Addis Ababa for the 2011 African Union (AU) summit last month as part of an underground operation whose failed objective was to scare the AU into including Zimbabwe on the agenda of ‘nations in crisis’ along with the likes of the Ivory Coast, Tunisia, Egypt and Somalia.
“After being rebuffed in Addis Ababa, the sell-outs came back home to cook up sporadic incidents of political violence in Harare and nobody was surprised that those incidents were predictably used by the EU in its official statement to justify its shameless decision to extend the illegal economic sanctions.
“On this point, and given that everyone knew that the EU was due to review its illegal sanctions against Zimbabwe on February 15, it would take a foolish or mad person to think or believe that Zanu PF was behind the unacceptable political violence that rocked Mbare and other parts of the capital city.
“The only political party which had a beneficial interest in that violence … is the MDC-T and it indeed benefited treacherously as the EU specifically cited the Mbare violence as a justification for the extension of its illegal sanctions on behalf of the MDC-T.”
Labels: JONATHAN MOYO, POLITICAL VIOLENCE, SANCTIONS, THERESA MAKONE, ZANU-PF, ZDERA
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Makone should resign or pull up her socks
By: Peter
Posted: Tuesday, February 8, 2011 9:25 am
THE incidents of looting and all the disturbances that have been taking place in Harare should be deplored by all Zimbabweans, regardless of their political affiliation.
On Monday, Harare came to a standstill when Zanu-PF youths' demonstration in the city turned into chaos and ended in the destruction of property worth thousands of dollars, according to reports from the capital.
When Zanu-PF, MDC-T or any supporters of an political party in Zimbabwe engage in such deplorable behaviour the law should descend heavily on them.
Such barbarism has no place in our society.
The same also applies to politicians and members of the media who try to gain political capital by taking advantage of the situation.
The media in Zimbabwe has remained largely an anti-State instrument, hence the acrimonious relationship that exists between the two.
There is a dearth of proper non-partisan reporting in Zimbabwe with virtually every problem in the country blamed on Zanu-PF even though it is now in an inclusive Government with the MDC-T.
MDC politicians have remained largely outside the scrutiny of the media.
In fact, the distinction between the two has been blurred. They feed on each other and such protests as we saw in Harare tend also to target the independent press as they are seen as anti-Zanu-PF instruments.
The media has remained silent and mum when MDC-T party leadership has displayed their ignorance of the law on several situations.
Regarding these disturbances, the MDC-T and its accompanying media once again got a chance to attack Zanu-PF, calling the young people hired mobs, thugs, etc, but failing to recognize their demands.
The MDC-T is "allowed", at least by the media, to engage in unruly behaviour and that is reported as anti-Government protests and not thuggish behaviour.
This is the sorry state of the media in Zimbabwe - failing to get to the root of the problem. Lazy journalists grab headlines using stories concocted in front of the keyboard, as spread as the truth.
Media organisations like the Voluntary Media Council of Zimbabwe rush to issue statements when it is Zanu-PF youths who demonstrate, but never when it is MDC-T ones.
Such polarised interplay will continue until our media can accept that they should neither align with, nor advance the interests of, one political party.
Attacks on media companies by these youths like we saw with NewsDay, deplorable as they are, will continue as long as the general perception is that they are an extension of anti Zanu-PF instruments.
The leaders of the MDC-T party, including Home Affairs co-Minister Theresa Makone, have also put a spin on Monday's story blaming it on Zanu-PF leadership and the Office of the President.
Once again the un-inquisitive media published her version of the story without a balancing one from state media.
She said that if President Mugabe gave instructions to the police to act decisively on violence 'it will end instantaneously.'
For a start, the Police Force does not need orders from the President to arrest criminal. Police are the enforcers of the law and they know the law well, such that they do not need to be told when to act and when not to.
Makone heads the Home Affairs ministry which includes the ZRP, and she reports directly to her boss, Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai.
She is the immediate 'boss' of the Police and is mandated to ask for an explanation when incidents such as these being highlighted have taken place.
What has she done, to date, to arrest the situation? What does she report to Cabinet and the Council of Ministers? Does she ever say this to President Mugabe in Cabinet meetings?
These questions are never asked by the media who have their own agenda to advance.
This is another case of the MDC-T leadership failing and trying to find someone to blame for their failures.
It also calls to question Tsvangirai's ability to select a strong leadership to run key portfolios.
The last co-minister of Home Affairs from the MDC-T, Giles Mutsekwa, was reassigned or demoted because he was said to be complicit with Zanu-PF.
Makone thought she was "tough" and would find the job a walk in the park.
Home Affairs is one of the most important, most dangerous and most difficult portfolios even in countries like the UK and US.
The UK has had at least six Home Secretaries in the last ten years
Makone should either resign from that post or start doing some work.
She took an oath to serve the Government of Zimbabwe, not pander to the whims and interests of a highly partisan media.
*Tendai Midzi writes from the United Kingdom. He can be contacted via: tendaimidzi1 *** yahoo.com
Labels: MDC VIOLENCE, THERESA MAKONE
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Chinamasa threatens MDC-T minister with arrest
by
11/12/2010 00:00:00
HARD-LINERS in Zanu-PF are pushing for the arrest of Home Affairs co-Minister Theresa Makone, alleging she interfered with the judiciary by questioning the fraudulent grabbing of farms by officials using fake offer letters. The fake offer letters are still in circulation and being used to evict the few remaining white farmers and foreigners who own farms in Zimbabwe.
After the discovery of the fake offer letters, Makone raised the issue with the attorney-general, Johannes Tomana, in a letter dated October 20, which was copied to Justice and Legal Affairs Minister Patrick Chinamasa and Chief Justice Godfrey Chidyausiku.
However on November 9 Patrick Chinamasa wrote a letter to Makone, threatening her with arrest for copying her letter to the chief justice, saying it was a criminal offence.
Chinamasa said: "I feel compelled to draw your attention to the fact that writing or copying communication to the chief justice, raising issues which have been argued before the Supreme Court and over which judgement is pending, constitutes a serious contempt of court.
"Contempt of court is a criminal offence and renders you liable to arrest and prosecution.
"The worst thing in your communication was regurgitating arguments almost verbatim submitted to the Supreme Court by the legal counsel representing white farmers and resubmitting, as it were, these same arguments to the Supreme Court.
"I write to ask that you desist from sending communications to members of the judiciary. Such behaviour is unethical and unacceptable and constitutes a direct interference with the work of the judiciary."
Makone took issue with the way Zanu-PF officials and those connected to the ruling elite of Mugabe's party were moving from farm to farm using fake offer letters.
Makone did not get a response from the attorney-general, but the letter was leaked to the state media, which attacked the Movement for Democratic Change minister, accusing her of siding with white farmers and of trying to influence the judiciary.
Zanu-PF is said to have been angered by Makone's letter, and said she was crusading to reverse land grabs.
Makone defended herself, saying she wrote to Tomana as a government lawyer seeking clarification on the law pertaining to land allocation.
In her letter to Tomana, Makone said her ministry had been receiving complaints from members of the public as well as foreign missions about general lawlessness in the conduct of land distribution.
Labels: LAND REFORM, MDC CORRUPTION, PATRICK CHINAMASA, THERESA MAKONE
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Interview: Home Affairs Minister Makone
by Lance Guma
13/07/2010 00:00:00
The new joint-Home Affairs Minister Theresa Makone was in the spotlight after allegedly conniving with Presidential Affairs Minister Didymus Mutasa to intimidate police officers into releasing his son Martin Mutasa. Martin was arrested alongside Zanu PF activist Temba Mliswa and George Marere after trying to seize shareholding worth US$1 million in a company owned by white businessman Paul Westwood.
SW Radio Africa's Lance Guma spoke to Makone and offered her a chance to put forward her side of the story:
Broadcast: July 8, 2010
Lance Guma: Hello Zimbabwe and welcome to Behind the Headlines. This week we look at the saga surrounding the detention of Martin Mutasa, the son of Presidential Affairs minister, Didymus Mutasa. New co-Home Affairs Minister Theresa Makone dismissed reports accusing her of conniving with Mutasa to intimidate police officers into releasing his son Martin.
State media reported that Makone and Mutasa visited Mbare, Matapi and Stodart police stations in Harare last week to demand the release of Martin. The 47 year old was arrested alongside notorious ZANU PF activist Temba Mliswa and George Marere after trying to seize shareholding worth US$1 million from a company owned by white businessman Paul Westwood.
So of course what we decided to do on Behind the Headlines is to track down the new co-Home Affairs minister Theresa Makone and ask her to respond to the initial story covered by the Herald newspaper.
Theresa Makone: I haven’t read the Herald. I have not listened to any news because to me it’s not even news so I don’t know what the comment has been or what the excitement has been about. If you can just put me in the picture?
Guma: OK the allegation is that you in the company of Presidential Affairs minister Didymus Mutasa, went to Matapi, Stoddart and other police stations trying to intimidate junior officers into releasing Martin Mutasa, Temba Mliswa and the other gentleman George Marere.
Makone: (laughs)…oh yeh, so that’s what they are saying? Anyway I will tell you what happened. Didymus Mutasa did not come to ask for assistance to have his son removed from police detention. He came to ask for assistance to locate his son who had been arrested the day before and he had failed to find where he was being held.
So it was in that spirit that as co-Minister of Home Affairs, I actually went about locating the son of the minister. In MDC we have had so many people go missing – some after police arrests and others after abductions and there is no way that I, as Minister of Home Affairs will sit and do nothing when a member of the public, be it ZANU, MDC, Ndonga, Dawn Kusile I don’t care which one.
If they come and want to know about the location of their relatives who have been taken by the police, of which I’m minister, I will make it my business to find that person and when we located his son, I left him in police custody to go through the normal motions that everybody else goes through when they have been arraigned for any criminal activity.
No-one of the police can ever say Mai Makone asked me to release Martin Mutasa. What I did was to locate him and to make sure that the father knew where his son was. What happened after that, if there were any further conversations between Mutasa and people holding his son, I cannot be answerable for that but I will do my job for any Zimbabwean who loses their relatives or their friends to the police.
Guma: Now we are hearing, especially from the interview that Minister Mutasa gave to the State-owned media that police commissioner Augustine Chihuri is heavily involved in this matter and that he is an interested party. Do you think that’s part of the problem why Martin and his colleagues have been incarcerated this long?
Makone: You know what – I have not even taken an interest in all the machinations and all the intricacies in the relationships of the factions in ZANU PF. That is really not my interest. If they have got personal problems, that is another issue. I really honestly am not interested, my interest stopped in locating the accused. Once we have known of their whereabouts, that is where I stop. The rest is really up to the police to follow the normal police procedure.
Guma: There is an interview with Temba Mliswa where he’s saying he wrote a letter complaining about police commissioner Chihuri and that this letter was addressed to the Home Affairs Minister. Did you receive this letter?
Makone: I have not received any letters from Temba Mliswa. If I receive it I shall treat it the way that it deserves and I’ll respond to him.
Guma: The other query was coming mainly from MDC supporters, who as you rightfully pointed out, a lot of MDC activists have gone through this police system where they are victimised, detained for quite some time and they are rather puzzled that you have shown this much energy to helping the son of a ZANU PF minister. Would you think they are justified in thinking this way?
Makone: Well I really don’t blame them, I would have thought the same too, but when now you have the responsibility of a nation you cease to be an MDC minister, you are just a minister and when you are approached by members of the public, it does not matter what party you belong to, you just administer justice, that’s all you do. If Mutasa loses his son and if you lose your son, I will treat you exactly the same.
I can understand them wanting me to sit back and enjoy when a ZANU PF person has lost their son in the system. It is not like that. I would cease to be a proper minister. But if that is the way we are going to run the country, then God help us, we cannot be like those people that we have blamed in the past for not administering justice. We should show the difference.
So really it’s not a question of energy, if anybody has got any complaints and things that they think that the minister should get involved in or should know, they know where to find me – at Mukwati Building, 11th floor. I will act as a Zimbabwean for another Zimbabwean in my capacity as minister.
Guma: Now I’m sure Mai Makone you will have read some of the publicity you have been receiving in some of the private media, particularly one Zimbabwe Independent report that quoted you in 2007 saying Jocelyn Chiwenga, the wife of the army commander Constantine Chiwenga was a close friend of yourself so probably people are trying to put two and two together and saying that she has close links to ZANU PF? Would they be justified in feeling this way?
Makone: I always find it very funny that if you do happen to be in a business like the one that I am in, and I’m a beauty therapist, that is the business that I am in, if a person comes into my business and gets treated then they become my friend. If that is a definition of a friend, then I’m a friend to a lot of women in Zimbabwe, ZANU, MDC, white, black, Indian – because let me tell you what, I run a professional and very busy joint which is used by all women who want to look nice, so because she comes to my salon and then she is my friend, it’s absolutely, the definition of a friend, well that’s it then.
But the truth of the matter is that I did not go to school with her, I don’t know where she went to school, I don’t know where she lives, I don’t know her surname, her maiden surname, maybe her married surname I know it because she is Chiwenga’s wife and that’s about it. So but I can’t stop people speculating and quite honestly I’m very busy, I really cannot concern myself with frivolous things like this, it’s a real waste of my time.
Guma: You’ve been in the Home Affairs Ministry a few days now, how are you finding the job? What are most of the challenges that you are facing?
Makone: It is very, very busy and there is more to Home Affairs than police. You know we’ve got Immigration, we’ve got the Registrar General’s Office, we’ve got Registration of Births and Deaths and Citizenship, we’ve got all sorts of things including the lottery so there is a lot to learn. There are about 41 Acts that I have to familiarise myself with and get to know how the system operates. There is a lot of things that one has to do, but I guess, I will take it in my stride and deal with situations as they arise. It’s not really such a big deal but it is quite involved.
Guma: You are leaving a Ministry where you were the sole minister in charge and going to a ministry where you are sharing responsibility with another co-Home Affairs Minister, Kembo Mohadi, is that a workable relationship?
Makone: It is workable. There is not much, in fact the Minister of Home Affairs, the Ministry of Home Affairs is a very big ministry and I must say to be very honest it is almost four times bigger than the Public Works that I was doing. In Public Works, I was administering four Acts and now I’ve got 41 Acts, so you can imagine. And the departments that we run, I mean Immigration is almost a ministry on its own.
The Registrar General’s department with all the work that it does is almost a ministry on its own, so there is no shortage of work, therefore there is no question of two ministers stepping over each other. We do consult each other on all the things that we do but I must say we are both just really knee deep in work.
Guma: Now the person that you replaced, Giles Mutsekwa, I think the week before Mr Mutsekwa left, he was complaining that police were not listening to his orders and there were complaints that there were a lot of farm invasions, farm invaders onto farms that had Court Orders protecting the farmers who were there. Is this something that you will be able to deal with Mai Makone?
Makone: You can’t say that I will be able to deal with it, because on what premise do you say that? I mean all you can say is that you will do your best to engage the people that are supposed to execute orders and use your own methodology of engaging people. I don’t know whether or not I’ll be more successful than him but what all I can say is that I can give it my best effort because at the end of the day, what I want to see when I leave is an efficient police force, that does police work which is apolitical and implements the rule of law the way it should be. That is what I’d like to see.
But you know this thing works both ways. Sometimes you also have to look at the police themselves and say to yourself – why are they behaving like this? And sometimes we have also really short-changed them as a government. Look at their conditions of service, look at their remuneration, look at their welfare.
Have we really extended the human rights that we want them to extend to the citizenship? So we really have to think of the way that we treat others so that we know what to expect from them. So there is a lot of things that I’d like to see happen to the police. In turn I would expect them to do those things to the people of Zimbabwe.
Guma: And my final question for you Mai Makone – conditions in the holding cells – many complaints coming from students, many complaints also coming from Temba Mliswa and others who are detained, sewerage system not working, the conditions are deplorable as some are saying – is there anything that can be done about this?
Makone: I, that I cannot blame on the police. That really is now a problem for government as a whole. Government buildings as a whole including my own facilities at the Ministry are not working and it’s got nothing to do with the police. It’s that we don’t have money and we don’t have resources and you can imagine that if we cannot extend this to government offices or people that are not under incarceration, what about those that are under incarceration and generally not respected as citizens because they have been arraigned for one thing or another?
So you will find that the conditions yes are difficult but I would like to see a situation where, when money is made available, that there is a budget for looking after prisons, for looking after people in holding cells and for looking after the police stations themselves. So really, I don’t want to say that the conditions are horrible because there is an effort by anybody to make the conditions horrible.
It is because the situation in the country is that we are really stuck up for cash and that is the truth of the matter. I can talk with authority because I am coming from Public Works, that was my responsibility actually in my previous assignment, to make sure that government buildings are up to scratch, but I can tell you that where I needed a budget of ninety million to maintain government buildings throughout the country, I was lucky if I got more than two million in a year. So really, it’s as bad as all that.
Guma: I suppose the problem is people always say, well look at these politicians – only last year they were buying cars for members of parliament and things like that so people will never be convinced by that sort of explanation.
Makone: Yah they will never be convinced by those kind of explanations because that is the nature of the beast. The truth of the matter is that there is no money. You only have to look at the economy and say to yourself from which part of the economy could the money be coming from? There is no viable agriculture, there is no viable industry, there is no viable anything.
We are practically a nation of traders who buy and sell so where is the money? We just need to get our act together, we need new investment to come into the country, we need to start looking at investment laws, we need to look at the things that affect investments, (inaudible) the indigenisation act etcetera, etcetera, so I think it is very complex and I don’t think actually that can be addressed from the Home Affairs point of view.
Guma: That was the new co-Home Affairs minister Theresa Makone joining us on Behind the Headlines.
You can listen to this programme on the link below: CLICK HERE. Feedback can be sent to lance@swradioafrica.com or http://twitter.com/lanceguma
Labels: LANCE GUMA, MDC, SW RADIO, THERESA MAKONE
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