(NEWZIMBABWE) MDC suffers blow as top official quits
01/10/2013 00:00:00
by Staff Reporter
THE MDC led by Welshman Ncube suffered a blow this week after its director of policy and research, Qhubani Moyo, announced he was “retreating from politics”.
Moyo suffered a heavy defeat to Zanu PF in Insiza North constituency in the July 31 parliamentary elections, as did all the party’s other candidates.
The party managed just one seat in the National Assembly and another seat in the Senate which were won through proportional representation.
Moyo said: “At the moment, I’m retreating from politics. I’m open to any possibility given that my people in Matabeleland South voted for Zanu PF in all the 13 constituencies.
“No-one should be shocked by any move after what the people of Matabeleland South did.”
Moyo said he had spoken “at length” with Ncube before resigning his position.
“Subsequently, on Sunday I wrote a letter of resignation to the party secretary-general Priscilla Misihairabwi-Mushonga indicating that I was leaving the party. I want to focus on academia and contribute to the development of the country in a different capacity,” Moyo said.
The former university student activist said he thanked Ncube for allowing him to engage in political discussions, especially during the constitution-making process.
“I thanked him for his great team work, his high work rate and the rest of the Green Team that worked tirelessly for devolution of power. I’m one of the people, being a political scientist by training and politician by practice, who have found it hard to understand the voting preferences of the people, particularly in the Matabeleland region,” he added.
Moyo, a close friend of the Information Minister Jonathan Moyo, is said to be weighing the possibility of joining a newly formed National Constitutional Assembly party party led by Lovemore Madhuku, but sources suggest he is eyeing a government job which would move him closer to joining Zanu PF.
MDC spokesman Nhlanhla Dube said: “The MDC takes this opportunity to acknowledge and thank Moyo for the committed and sterling contribution to the party’s national agenda in the various capacities and roles in which he was deployed.
“It is indeed sad to see our esteemed comrade disembark from the devolution train, the party will sincerely miss his contribution. We, however, wish him well in his chosen path and future endeavours.”
Labels: MDC, WELSHMAN NCUBE
Read more...
(NEWZIMBABWE) Interview: Welshman Ncube on elections
17/07/2013 00:00:00
by Guthrie Munyuki I Daily News
THE MDC led by Welshman Ncube launched its election campaign in Chikomba Central, Mashonaland East Province, last Friday where Ncube defended his alliance with Zapu and United Movement for Democracy and explained reasons behind his non-participation in a grand coalition with MDC-T rival, Morgan Tsvangirai.
Below are excerpts of Ncube's interview with the Daily News' Senior Assistant Editor Guthrie Munyuki:
Q: Professor Welshman Ncube you have launched the MDC election campaign here in Chikomba yet your rivals — President Robert Mugabe and Morgan Tsvangirai — had theirs in Harare. Why the rural area for you?
A: We are a party and a coalition for devolution. We believe that the anomalous situation we have had of overly focusing the urban areas neglecting the rural areas where the majority of our people are (must be stopped).
We are a party which believes in devolution, we are a party which believes in empowering local communities, in particular rural communities which have borne the major brunt of underdevelopment and marginalisation in this country.
So we are sending a clear message as to who we represent, who we stand for and who we want to benefit for a future Zimbabwe.
Therefore, it’s not by accident that we are here in Chikomba and it’s not by accident that next week we launch the actual manifesto of the party in Binga.
A rural area, a marginalised area, which also has borne the major brunt of over centralised system of government we had.
That is why we are here and that is why we will be in Binga next week (July 20th).
Q: People are saying you still should have joined Morgan Tsvangirai in a grand coalition instead of an alliance with Zapu and the United Movement for Democracy. Don’t you stand the risk of being labelled a regional party?
A: I don’t see how we, first of all, become a regional party. We are three parties. The leadership of the United Movement for Democracy comes from Mashonaland, the leadership of Zapu, Dumiso Dabengwa, is from Matabeleland South and I am from the Midlands.
So you have three main provinces represented by the leadership at the top level but the rest of the leadership of these parties come from every corner of Zimbabwe.
We are here in Chikomba, the third- highest ranking person in the MDC is the chairman (Goodrich Chimbaira) who comes from here, who is our candidate for (Chikomba Central). The second-highest ranking is the vice president (Edwin Mushoriwa) who hails from Manicaland and resides in Harare.
So I cannot possibly see what sort of sense or logic is used to say three parties which come from three different provinces can be labelled regional when the other coalition which is thought to be national has three leaders or supposed leaders, who come from the same province, Manicaland.
How, by what logic, can you say three parties led by three men from Manicaland is a national coalition and three parties led by people coming from three different provinces of the country are regional? I cannot understand it. But what is most important is that we stand for every Zimbabwean. We are canvassing for support in every province.
We have 203 candidates in all the 10 administrative provinces of the country. And we are competitive in each and every one of those provinces.
Let those who think we are a regional party fool themselves, we are not!
Q: There has been so much talk about the differences between you and the other guys who are in the other coalition. What led to the failure to have a grand coalition?
A: First of all there was no attempt to build a grand coalition. You can’t go to the media, newspapers, and announce a coalition or discussions which never took place on the ground. So, one cannot even talk of a failure of something which was never attempted.
There was never such an attempt. We never participated in any meetings or any discussions for a grand coalition. But most importantly, you cannot have a coalition of convenience.
You cannot have a coalition of opportunists. If you are going to have a coalition it must be a coalition of people with some shared values, some shared principles and we simply don’t. The things which divide us are so numerous.
Once a humpty dumpty has broken, its pieces are scattered everywhere, you can’t re-build. And people should stop dreaming that the humpty dumpty, which was the united MDC, can be reconstructed in whatever form.
Some people will not like this but it is the truth.
Q: How deep-seated are these differences?
A: There are so deep-seated that they split the party in 2005. There are so deep-seated that in the last four years the MDC T, instead of focusing on re-building tasks between us they focused on recruiting our MPs, they bribed them. Look at where MaKhumalo (Nomalanga Khumalo) is; look at where the (Abednico) Bhebes are; that was their focus.
Look at how they treated us after our congress. Morgan and his team were saying the leader of the MDC is Arthur Mutambara; there is no other, they will work with him until the courts have determined. And we are saying the courts still have not determined.
So if Mutambara is the leader of the MDC, go and form a coalition with him, I am sure he is willing to do that. After all, he has been in coalition against us for the last two-and-half years. We disagree on just about everything. We, as a party, say there is no situation which can justify the use of violence as an instrument of political organisation.
We believe in collective democratic decision-making processes. I, as the president, cannot overrule the collective decisions either of the Standing Committee, the National Executive or the National Council. And there are so many things.
The only thing which is in common is that once-upon-a-time we were in the same party. We drifted apart and eventually split because we realised that whereas we will say the same things, we will practice different things.
Q: Doesn’t your remaining poles apart militate against what you want to achieve, to have a new dispensation in Zimbabwe?
A: The new dispensation is not a dispensation to remove (Robert) Mugabe. It is a dispensation to build a new Zimbabwe with different values in opposition to the Zanu PF values. And you cannot say let us remove Mugabe under a new dispensation when in fact we are behaving like Mugabe himself.
It doesn’t make any sense to us. And this is the opportunism; this is the coalition of convenience that I talk about.
We must have a coalition of shared values, a coalition of shared principles so that we can, if we successfully win elections, work together. But we cannot work together if we have contradictions.
Q: There are people who say there was reluctance by Welshman to form the grand coalition because he hopes there is a runoff and then he can bargain. Can you explain on this?
A: We have no interest in bargaining. We are being offered through the newspapers to be vice president this and to this ministerial post. If we wanted to bargain and we wanted power that is the shortest route to it. We are saying no; we will not be vice president in a government where we have nothing in common.
We will campaign for ourselves; we will contest in this election for the things we believe in. If the people of Zimbabwe elect us, and we hope they will, we will then form the next government. And if the people of Zimbabwe are not persuaded we are the right people at this particular time, so be it. We will happily go into opposition. We desire no bargaining with anyone, what for?
Q: How do you rate your chances in the forthcoming elections?
A: We have faith in the people. We believe in ourselves. We believe that our chances are as a good as any other candidate. And we have worked more than anybody else in the last two-and-a-half years, since our congress.
There is no village we have not been to and there is no door we have not knocked at over the last two-and-a-half years.
And we believe we have done our homework and we believe victory is ours.
Labels: 2013 ELECTIONS (ZW), MDC, WELSHMAN NCUBE
Read more...
(STICKY) (TALKZIMBAWE) US gags poll showing Mugabe win
This article was written by Againstprof Makuyana on 20 July, at 18 : 53 PM
Last week l sent an email to Professor Susan Booysen asking if there are any latest poll-findings and predictions about Zimbabwe elections from Freedom House, a polling organisation that she chairs.
She is a fellow and highly respected lecturer here at Witwatersrand University and she teaches political science to PhD students.
I pretended to be an MDC supporter so that she wouldn’t lie to me and this is how the email exchange went:
“I am an investor who is planning to invest in Zimbabwe if Dr. Richard Morgan Tsvangirai wins the forthcoming elections.
“I acknowledge the last poll-finding you conducted in February 2013 and I am now asking if you have any latest poll-findings on Zimbabwe elections because we are planning to go and invest in Zimbabwe as soon as Tsvangirai wins.”
She responded after three days and told me that there were latest poll-findings from Freedom House, but they were still to be verified. I insisted that she gave me a clue as to who was leading that poll, but all she could say was that the poll findings would be out for public consumption by Wednesday this week.
By Wednesday, I checked the Freedom House website, but there was nothing published. I decided to send her an email asking why the results were not yet out again after waiting for another week.
This is what she had to say to me in her email response:
“I humbly apologise for not coming back to you over that issue. I received the poll-prediction results that initially showed Mugabe leading three weeks ago, but I ordered our team to either look into the statistical-feasibility or re-do the whole research. They chose the later on the grounds that a lot has changed since all the political parties have already started campaigning and most people who didn’t disclose their political preference are now politically active.
“They then sent me the latest poll-finding this Monday which showed the gap between Mugabe and Tsvangirai increasing by more than 10% in favour of Mugabe. Another shocking political player is Welshman Ncube whose support has increased from less than 1% to 6.9%. It appears as if Mugabe is no longer easy to defeat. I have already advised the MDC-T to either pull out of the race or discredit the entire electoral process because if the elections continue, there is very little chances for Tsvangirai. He made a lot of political blunders during the past three years and that destroyed his brand whilst renovating Mugabe’s.”
I then asked her (Professor Booysen) why Freedom House did not release the results and she said they had been instructed by the American Embassy in South Africa never to release the results of the poll-findings.
However, she did not give me the reasons why the American Embassy in South Africa did not want the results released.
Zanu-PF is going to win even if they sit on the poll-findings. The reality is coming down on 31 July 2013.
We know the MDC wants to dispute the election results and that is why they do not want these poll-predictions published. They know that it will be difficult to say Zanu-PF has rigged the election when every poll prediction was showing a Zanu-PF win.
_______
This article was published with consent from Againstprof Makuyana.
Labels: 2013 ELECTIONS (ZW), FREEDOM HOUSE, SUSAN BOOYSEN, WELSHMAN NCUBE
Read more...
(NEWZIMBABWE) No interest in Tsvangirai VP offer: Ncube
10/07/2013 00:00:00
by Nkosana Dlamini
MDC leader, Welshman Ncube has insisted that he has no interest in the reported offer of the vice presidency by Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai as the party also denied participating in meetings to form a so-called election grand coalition.
Tsvangirai, who announced an alliance with MKD leader Simba Makoni and a Zanu Ndonga official on Monday, is reported to be dangling the VP carrot before Ncube in a bid to build a broader coalition against President Robert Mugabe in this month’s key elections.
But writing on his Facebook page Wednesday night, Ncube vehemently denied ever demanding the second most influential political job in the country as reward for backing Tsvangirai for the presidency.
“Whoever made the initial (claim that I demanded the vice presidency) post needs his head examined,” Ncube said.
“I have NOT at any time asked to be first Vice President in the so called grand coalition. I have NOT asked for any position in that grand coalition. I have no issues with Khupe being first or second or 3rd vice president or whatever else she might want to be in that coalition.
“I have no interest whatsoever in that grand coalition. I don't want any position in it. Never will. I have NOT spoken nor will I speak to anyone in that coalition.”
The MDC also dismissed as lies media reports quoting Makoni claiming that Ncube had participated in at least five meetings which discussed the proposed grand coalition.
In a statement issued on Monday, party secretary general Priscilla Misihairabwi-Mushonga said: “We want to place it on record that MDC has never been involved in any five -party talks, and more specifically that the MDC has never had any such conversation with Makoni or MDC-T leader, Morgan Tsvangirai at any one time.
“We therefore dismiss with the contempt it deserves the deliberate falsification over this matter by Makoni. This is precisely why we have no desire to be associated with political parties and political leaders who have mastered the art of politics of deception.
“For Makoni to speak about meetings in which we did not attend is totally shocking. In his self-appointed capacity of spokesperson of the tripartite coalition, Makoni is better advised to learn to tell the truth and desist from shamelessly misinforming the public and calling our reputation to question.
“We only hear about the coalition reports in the media and are shocked and appalled each time we read that we were in these meetings. These lies around the so-called grand coalition have gone on for long enough and as a party we would like to reassure the public that they are false and only created for deceiving the public and grandstanding. “
Ncube also accused hit back proponents of the grand coalition idea against Mugabe, of behaving like Zanu PF.
“All you have to do is to read the abusive, disrespectful, vile, evil, intolerant, undemocratic, vitriolic, tribalistic and hurtful posts by MDC-T and grand coalition supporters in this and other similar threads to realize that these people are only hypocritical opponents of
Zanu PF. The harder they appear to oppose Zanu PF, the more they exhibit every vice we know to be a characteristic of the Zanu PF DNA.
Ncube, who is industry minister in the unity government, last week, announced a coalition pact with Zapu leader Dumiso Dabengwa, another presidential hopeful, putting paid to hopes of a national front against Mugabe.
The former secretary general of a united MDC insisted no amount of abuse at the hands of Tsvangirai’s followers would make them alter their political decisions.
“This is exactly the reason we will never be part of a grand coalition which opposes Zanu PF only in name when in fact it has the same DNA as Zanu PF,” Ncube continued.
“The insults, the abuse, the naked exhibition of the Zanu PF DNA in the attacks on us merely serve to nourish our resolve to stand up against intolerance, evil, tribalism, injustice and spiteful politics.
“If we give in now to the evil politics, all the years of relentless abuse when unspeakable injustices have been done to us would have been in vain.
“We will stand up against mob intimidation, against injustice, against discrimination, against being treated as second class citizens and hurtful politics with the stubborn resilience they have never seen.
“To those members and supporters of the MDC who are familiar with the non-negotiable values and principles we stand for and for which we are prepared to die if need be.”
Labels: MDC, WELSHMAN NCUBE
Read more...
(NEWZIMBABWE) Ncube the big winner of Maputo
18/06/2013 00:00:00
by Thamsanqa Zhou
SO the SADC summit which was dubbed as a make or break Zimbabwean election theatre script has now come and delivered resolutions that continue to tap into the high adrenaline levels that parties in our GPA sketch went in with.
Summit back row rumour has it that Ministers Tendai Biti, Elton Mangoma, Pricilla Misihairabwi and some Tanzanian folks were seen clearing their throats, faking a sneeze before losing the will to be honourable and burst out in laughter during what should have been serious deliberations. The comedy was not the look in an agitated adrenaline-filled face of Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai, but a response to the hurricane but humorous delivery by the leader of what has often been described as the other MDC, Professor Welshman Ncube, the “Vunguman”.
Like most Zimbabweans, I love football. I am a life supporter of Highlanders and Arsenal and have long known that when I watch a match between Highlanders and Dynamos or Arsenal v Manchester United with someone who supports the opposite team, we would differ fundamentally on who played better and if, after a deliberate Rio foul on Theo in the box, the referee was right not to award a penalty. But even then, there are days when all fans come to conclude that van Persie was the man of the match, hands down.
In a similar polarised environment, where everyone was desperate to claim credit and victory, it appears to be the undisputed view of those who attended Maputo, from all political divides that the man of the summit, based on performance, effectiveness and results, was the Vunguman. But is this a significant arrival of a future President, or just another minor scene in this theatre of tribalised Zimbabwean politics?
The drama was to play out in rumours that Finance Minister Biti took over the Presidential suit and refused to budge when PM Tsvangirai arrived. PM advisor Alex Magaisa, speaking as one in the know has rubbished the hotel rumours but the moral of that story remains that the summit was so important to both MDCs in so far as it needed a legal delivery. There were many whispers in the MDC-T. Some were anxious and would have preferred Minister Biti to do the talking for the party in place of an often blundering PM. There was no room for mediocre performance. It needed a seasoned lawyer. The stakes were too high. The old fox had gone too far.
Relief and joy is evident from Biti’s rushed communication post summit to the public. Both MDCs and democracy loving Zimbabweans have one man to thank - Welshman Ncube - for rising to the occasion. It is said
By whom? - MrK
that he delivered a Usain Bolt of a speech that left an aging President Mugabe embarrassed, forcing his party into a retreat and a grateful PM Tsvangirai. Biti even hinted Zimbabwe needed Ncube as part of the coalition package going forward.
Not even a speech can safe the MDC. ;) - MrK
President Mugabe has said that the outcome of the summit, recommending that he approaches Zimbabwe’s Constitutional Court to ask for “one or two weeks” more is a happy outcome. The MDCs have celebrated the courage of SADC to return Zimbabwe to common sense and constitutionalism.
The question that many will be asking themselves long after the Maputo tents come down is: “Who was the winner in Maputo?”
President Mugabe and Zanu PF have been claiming victory of sovereignty by arguing that SADC acknowledged the verdict of the Constitutional Court of Zimbabwe and thus reaffirmed the principle of non interference in member states’ judiciary systems. They may also be having quiet celebrations on the idea that both SADC and the ConCourt have identified it as Mugabe’s responsibility to approach the court and following the judgement, call for elections.
The MDCs, despite their protests have until now, not challenged both the ConCourt on this using what PM Tsvangirai has often called the “GPA is clear that he cannot do it unilaterally.” Others have also doubted Tsvangirai’s assertion that it is him as PM who must be consulted while ignoring the fact that he has worked with Mugabe hand in glove to deny Prof Ncube the same GPA right to be consulted.
There is a second thinking that Mugabe played a dummy by pushing for compliance with the 31 July ruling to gain ground on the SADC and the other parties in the negotiations. It is an old trick of negotiations where you demand more than what you really want and hope that the negotiated outcome would be closer to what you really want. This is cited especially by those who say in the event that the ConCourt agrees to a 2 week extension it is Mugabe who wins more ground than Tsvangirai because the latter was calling for elections in October 2013. Could it be that Mugabe has always eyed 15 August as the election date?
By coincidence or design, Justice Minister Patrick Chinamasa of Zanu PF is the man tasked with approaching the ConCourt following the SADC resolutions. Do I hear someone say he may, if he chooses, present a weak case? There is also a legal possibility that the man who brought the initial action may challenge the jurisdiction of the court to hear a case when the executive through the President has already complied by calling for elections.
The two scenarios are not likely to change much. If one considers that Zanu PF were calling for their primary elections on the 24th June, just 4 days before the sitting of the nomination court, one can assume that they always knew there would be a two week extension. The elections are likely on the 14th or 15th August 2013. That may explain why Mugabe did not seem bothered by the outcome of the SADC summitand called it a happy outcome. Foxy!
MDC-T on the other end can bring the champagne bottles and claim victory for constitutionalism and common sense. SADC has taken on board, the need to address media reforms and for securocrats to call a press conference and pledge to respect the constitution. For others like Biti, the very fact that Prof Ncube saved the day vindicates those in MDC-T who have always argued that a united MDC is a better ship to go into the election sea with. Their Matabeleland leadership may be dragging their feet for fear of being squeezed out by MDC led by Ncube, “the man from Vungu.”
The biggest winner by a mile though is Prof Welshman Ncube, the Vunguman. Here is a man that started it all, in a room with Brian Kagoro, Priscilla Misihairabwi, and others including Tawanda Mutasa, Deprose Muchena etc. They started the NCA that then gave birth to the MDC.
Although Ncube was the founder of the vehicle that took Zimbabwe by storm in 1999, he looked at himself as others would have. He is a clever former ZAPU member, educated, eloquent, and principled but belongs to “the wrong tribe” being from Lower Gwelo or “Vungu” as Biti would say. It was convenient to invite Tsvangirai, then Secretary General of ZCTU to lead the party.
Prof Ncube had an opportunity to lead when the MDC split in 2005 on an issue many now accept he was right on and Tsvangirai wrong. At that point, the Ndebele tribe tag and lack of political respect that went with it led to that faction inviting an exiled former student leader Arthur Mutambara. Mutambara brought rocket politics that flew over grassroots and lost Ncube and his party seats in parliament.
When Prof Ncube finally took over from Mutambara at Congress, it is said repeatedly that he was humiliated time and time again by Tsvangirai and Mugabe who took Mutambara under their wings during the tea and pancake sessions for GPA principals. Mugabe refused to make the Vunguman the Deputy Prime Minister of the Republic. Cry my beloved tribe. He took it in his stride and waited for his day in Maputo for revenge.
Many Zimbabweans generally agree that Ncube has the quality to be a President but just like Peter Kenneth of Kenya, many think he can not win because he is a Ndebele.
This is why Maputo was important for Ncube. When he rose to the occasion, he is said to have delivered a compelling legal case against what Mugabe had done. It was his MDC’s position, as given in Education Minister David Coltart’s communication before the summit that a timetable allowing the full 30 day voter registration and inspection of voters’ roll. His party has always called on due legal process to be followed and for the constitution to be respected while the MDC-T has emphasised on pending GPA reforms rather than process.
So when the SADC leaders listened to the “Vunguman” and saw Mugabe pause, it would have been a great relief for Ncube. When Biti told the world what he had done in the summit, Ncube had at last earned the respect to be considered as an equal. It is unlikely that Tsvangirai will continue shunning Ncube in the GPA meetings but seek to work with him.
When in 1999 many Zimbabweans realised that Joshua Nkomo a great leader they should have voted for, it was too late to change the course of history. Likewise, when the true story of the SADC summit is told one day, many Zimbabweans will reflect and realise that at times, the tribalised politics may leave us with inadequate leaders. My Shona friend calls it: “Kufa nenyota makumbo ari mumvura.”
Unfortunately for my tribesman, Prof Ncube, the Vunguman, it will take another five years for some Zimbabweans to be tribe-blind. He will be an important player and now a respected politician. The people in Murambinda and Chendambuya will not see his brilliance and capabilities because the SADC Summit goings-on will not be televised.
Tsvangirai supporters now emphasise his tribe and origin by calling him “Save,” to quench the voters’ tribal thirst. You have to give it to him, our dear PM. It is likely that even if the MDCs unite, it is Tsvangirai’s face that will be tied onto tree barks and pasted on dilapidated factory walls.
The Vunguman may have to accept that not many with our PM’s level of education or lack of it and his unique face have achieved what he has in life. I am sure his mother would have told him that he was the most handsome boy in the village. Confidence is everything in politics. He who believes, wins. Maputo speaks to what is possible.
Kujik’othandayo.
Labels: RENAMO, SADC, WELSHMAN NCUBE
Read more...
(NEWZIMBABWE) Tsvangirai condemned over journalist attacks
10/06/2013 00:00:00
by Staff Reporter
THE MDC led by Industry Minister Welshman Ncube says it “strongly condemns” a reported attack on a journalist from the Zimbabwe Independent newspaper by supporters of MDC-T leader and Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai.
Moyo was attacked by MDC-T youths at the party’s Harvest House headquarters in Harare last Friday while covering a demonstration by activists protesting over the conduct of primary elections.
“That this is carried out by the MDC-T at their citadel and headquarters is blood chilling and shocking. It is a clear intimidation tactic from the MDC-T to try and muzzle the media from covering their intra-party shenanigans,” MDC spokesman Nhlanhla Dube said on Monday.
He added: “Evidently, the MDC-T took its cue from their cousins Zanu PF and they learned it well in typical monkey-see monkey-do fashion.”
Moyo said he was taking photographs of the demonstrators with his mobile phone when “some guys from MDC-T came and ordered me to delete the pictures”.
He explained: “I told them I could not because I was performing my duties as a journalist.
“I told them I was a journalist but they dragged me like a criminal into one of the offices and started assaulting me mainly on my head. While they were beating me, my colleague phoned Douglas Mwonzora (MDC-T spokesperson) who was said to be in South Africa.
“When my attackers heard that Mwonzora was on the phone, they then stopped assaulting me. Mwonzora apologised over the phone. What is ridiculous is that those people tried to disown people who beat me up in their office saying they were vendors. But I asked them if they allowed vendors to just drag people into their offices and beat them up and they could not answer.”
Dube said his party “pins this senseless attack” on the Moyo “directly on the MDC-T president Morgan Tsvangirai who just a few weeks ago was quoted as saying he would ‘deal’ with media that covered him unfavourably once he comes into power.”
He added: “This act has shown that this party, from the upper echelons right to the lowest rank is infested with intolerant violent thugs whose only interest is state power at all costs but have no respect for press freedom and democratic ideals. To them the press is only doing its job if it is singing their praises.”
The incident is a major embarrassment for the MDC-T as it came just a day after the Bulawayo Chronicle reporter Mashudu Netsianda was assaulted by Tsvangirai supporters who confiscated his notebook and deleted recordings from his mobile phone as he covered the Prime Minister’s meeting with the Bulawayo business community.
Over the weekend, more violence was witnessed in Mutare where the MDC-T MP and defence secretary Giles Mutsekwa is accused by lawyer Arnold Tsunga of instigating a “barbaric assault” on a councillor during an internal party vote. Tsunga is challenging Mutsekwa for the Dangamvura-Chikanga seat.
Labels: MORGAN TSVANGIRAI, POLITICAL VIOLENCE, WELSHMAN NCUBE
Read more...
(SUNDAY MAIL ZW) Stop exporting raw materials: Ncube
Sunday, 05 May 2013 00:00
Business Correspondent
Zimbabwe must stop exporting raw materials and should start adding value to its materials so that the country realises meaningful benefits, a Cabinet minister has said.
Speaking during the recent Zimbabwe International Trade Fair (ZITF), the Minister of Industry and Commerce, Professor Welshman Ncube, said the economy is performing badly because it exports products in raw form, which fetch a pittance in comparison to finished products.
“Value addition and beneficiation of natural resources is of paramount importance to our economy. We are calling for value addition at this point in time as it is the only way the lives of many can be changed.
“Value addition creates jobs, hence, bettering lives of ordinary citizens. Our major hindrance to development is our import bill that has risen to unimaginable levels.
“We are exporting raw products which, by nature, fetch low prices on the international market. Value- added goods on the other hand fetch higher prices,” he said.
Zimbabwe’s trade deficit is currently estimated at US$3,6 billion, a figure feared by economists to be a time bomb for the economy.
Prof Ncube said it was critical for the country to re-engage in traditional economic activities that can transform the economy and enhance people’s livelihoods. He said cotton-growing used to employ millions of people in the farming communities.
“There is therefore room for investment in the lint and cotton industry; this is an area that can change lives of many.
“We need investors in the textile industry so as to manage the lint we produce rather than send it outside in its raw form.
“Zimbabwe’s leather sector presents a number of opportunities and as the ministry responsible for industry we will be launching the Leather Sector Strategy in June here in Bulawayo.
“The purpose is to come up with a framework of value addition in this sector,” explained Prof Ncube.
Meanwhile, Vice-President Joice Mujuru said it was time Government worked expeditiously towards reducing the export imbalance.
“The ZITF has a mammoth task of growing Zimbabwe’s trade in a fair and open manner. We need to adopt policies that foster and seek to empower our local people.
“We can’t talk of indigenisation without empowering our people. The only way we can empower our people is by creating an environment that promotes value addition and beneficiation.
“We need to copy from the best, I have heard of success stories from other countries such as Brazil and South Africa, among others, who have done it and have made it. Zimbabwe must stop exporting raw materials as this continues to disempower the local populace,” said VP Mujuru.
She called on local banks to desist from advancing personal loans to individuals for luxury purposes but concentrate on funding productive sectors which boost the economy.
Labels: BENEFICIATION, INDIGENIZATION AND EMPOWERMENT ACT (ZIMBABWE), JOICE MUJURU, WELSHMAN NCUBE
Read more...
(STICKY) (NEWZIMBABWE) Why MDC reunification is impossible: Ncube
25/04/2013 00:00:00
by Guthrie Munyuki I Daily News
COMMENT - I've said it a hundred times, but what are the democratic credentials of the MDC? They are a collection of neoliberal grifters, Matabele secessionists, and the remnants of the Rhodesian Front, whose members themselves were part of Rhodesian army units which committed atrocities, if they didn't commit atrocities themselves. There is even footage of Roy Bennet attacking minister Patrick Chinamasa, in parliament. But now many call themselves 'human rights lawyers', just because they try to cling on to their colonial estates.
MDC leader Welshman Ncube says a re-unification of the former opposition party is "impossible" and a coalition with the Morgan Tsvangirai-led party very unlikely because he is unprincipled.
The MDC split in 2005 because of Tsvangirai's failure to tackle violence and intimidation within the party, and his refusal to accept collective decision making, Ncube says in an interview published on Thursday.
“Of course there is a problem. The problems which led to the split remain alive today. They remain unresolved. In fact the cracks are wider today than they were in 2005. The only thing we literally share in common is that we agree that Zanu PF and Mugabe have been bad for the country,” Ncube told the Daily News.
“That’s about all that we agree on. We are not in agreement on just about anything and everything else. The things which divided us in 2005 still divide us today.
People cannot simply say these are personal differences. They are not petty and they are not personal.
They go to the foundation of the MDC itself.
“When we formed the MDC there were things that we agreed on, what we called a programme for change. That programme for change bound us to certain values and principles.
“And those values and principles included that it is an affront on anyone to be subjected to violence in order to secure the support of that person.
“There is no greater affront on the dignity of a human being than to subject a person to violence whether it’s within the family to say you must comply as my wife with my dictates, if you don’t I beat you. In the political arena it’s the same thing.
“If you don’t agree with me I then subject you to violence. It is an affront. It is a basic violation of the dignity of every person. And we agreed that we will never do that as a political party”.
“These are real issues. They are not petty. They are not personal. They are fundamental and if we are going to work together in whatever form, you must be able to address them.
“You can’t duck them or sweep them under the carpet. That’s why we have said and continue to say we regret contentiously any attempt to trivialise those issues into something personal and petty between Morgan and Welshman,” said the former University of Zimbabwe law lecturer.
Ncube charged Tsvangirai promoted violence at Harvest House, the MDC headquarters.
“Our colleagues in the MDC-T only have a rhetorical commitment to anti violence. Day in, day out, beginning with the time of the split, they employ violence.
“In the MDC, by 2005 we were running a militia in the party to abuse, to abduct, to beat up people. There were senior party members who were being abducted and taken to the sixth floor boardroom of Harvest House and stripped naked in front of girls and beaten,” claimed Ncube.
“(Tichaona) Mudzingwa (late former deputy minister of Transport), for instance was stripped naked at the party head office and made to stand on a table to address young people who included girls as young as 20 years, and was beaten.
“Frank Chamunorwa, who is our vice chairperson today, was beaten right at the gate of my house and had his arm broken.
“When the national council said we expel these people, the president of the party (Tsvangirai) said I reinstate them on my own, unilaterally. It simply says we do not have a commitment to the principle of non-violence. It’s a matter of public record that within the party, they use violence as an instrument of getting their way even among themselves.
“Let us go to the core value. We said never again will we have a country which is led by a man who makes decisions alone, who has power to overrule collective decisions. We want to institute collective leadership. What the president of the united MDC (Tsvangirai) did in reinstating those violent youths was overruling a national council decision.”
He said it was false to claim the problems between him and Tsvangirai were personal, insisting abhorrence for violence and corruption were among the issues which put him at odds with the prime minister.
“We identified in the programme for change that what had brought the economy to its knees was that instead of creating wealth the economy was feeding the greed of a few individuals through corruption. You don’t need to look too far, look at any council today controlled by our colleagues in the MDC-T.
“You can’t distinguish the corruption from the Zanu PF corruption and you ask yourself we are not there to replace Mugabe as an individual. We are saying let us replace Mugabe and Zanu PF with a system which is diametrically the opposite to the present one. But we have no confidence our colleagues in the MDC-T have equal commitment,” said Ncube.
“When people talk about reunification which I can rule out as an absolute impossibility, it will not happen. The best you can hope for is some coalition. It must be a coalition based on principles. But you cannot put in a coalition political parties which are at opposite ends of each other because that is where we are”.
The Industry and Commerce minister blamed Tsvangirai for finding comfort in his meetings with President Robert Mugabe which he said were fooling him into a sense of false comfort.
“In our view the prime minister and the MDC-T have been deceived and fooled by the appearance of power and cosiness with Mugabe to think that if you are having tea with Mugabe, you have power and influence.
“And the result of it is that we have seen a merry-go -round where constantly we are chasing our tails. Zanu PF is constantly firing red herrings, flares into the sky and we chase them and leave the real issues. But it’s a red herring constructed by Zanu PF.
“We completed the constitution exercise on July 18 last year. Zanu PF spent six months, from July to January 31, making us chase shadows. If you actually compare the final draft as of January 31 this year to the July 18 draft there is no material difference save for the suspension of two or three clauses from coming into effect until a certain period of time,” observed Ncube.
“But everything else is virtually as it was in July. But we spent six months on a merry-go-round. And it was deliberate, calculated, to waste time so that we do not do the real things that ought to be done. It is the failure to appreciate this Zanu PF strategy that we will be chasing red herrings until the election is unavoidable and the things that we ought to do have not been done.
“And this is our profound disappointment with our colleagues in MDC-T in failing to appreciate how Zanu PF is running rings around them. And they serve you with tea; they make you think you are important because they have included you in the meantime you are being deceived. The strategy of three Ds — delay, deceive and destroy. That’s what being applied to them,” Ncube said.
The apparent lack of unity between the two MDCs, said Ncube, was aiding Mugabe.
“There is no appreciation that the true beneficiary of this is President Mugabe. Tsvangirai doesn’t see that it undermines his own interests and his party and that the only person who stands to benefit from causing this paralysis in the government is the president and the party which has never wanted the GPA implemented from day one, is Zanu PF."
Labels: MDC, MDC VIOLENCE, WELSHMAN NCUBE
Read more...
(NEWZIMBABWE) Independence Day message by MDC leader Welshman Ncube
18/04/2013 00:00:00
by Prof Welshman Ncube
Independence Day message by MDC president Welshman Ncube on the occasion of Zimbabwe’s 33rd Independence:
As the MDC joins the rest of the nation in celebrating our 33rd Independence anniversary and remembering the sacrifices made by our forbearers to free us from the shackles of colonialism and racial segregation, we take a moment to reflect on how far we have come as a nation.
This year’s Independence Day comes at a time when as Zimbabweans we finally have a constitution that we can truly call our own, a constitution by which the people have reclaimed their rights and their power, in particular the power to determine through devolution, their own local affairs.
In this way, they have reserved for themselves the power to determine the use of their local resources, determine development priorities and be directly involved in the decisions which affect their daily lives. And I have never been more proud to be a Zimbabwean.
We salute the people of Zimbabwe for coming this far in their quest for a free and fair Zimbabwe. As we move towards elections, I encourage you all to take the final leap and make sure that you are registered to vote. I appeal especially to the youths and first time voters to embrace the spirit of voting as this will determine your future. If you do not register to vote, all the work we have done in the making of the constitution would have been in vain.
In the same vein, we urge you to be tolerant, united and non-violent before, during and after elections. We believe as a party that nothing good was ever brought by violence.
Before independence, we took to the bush and fought for our freedom. But today, thanks to the men and women who sacrificed their lives for us in the liberation struggle, all we need to do is exercise our democratic right in the ballot box.
The last 33 -years have taught us that our enemy is not an individual but a system, a system of dictatorship, corruption, lawlessness and gross human rights violations. As we celebrate our independence today, the MDC pledges an open democracy, in which national government is accountable to the people through the devolution of power and decision-making to the provinces and local authorities.
We hope that as we go forward this will help us as a nation to build a dynamic economy, built on the principles of a mixed economy with a strong social conscience enabling the creation of jobs, accessible and affordable health and education through sustainable economic reconstruction, transformation and development.
To us, independence means ensuring food security and the development of all rural areas through secure agricultural production, the prosperity of all the people through sound business policies, creation of secure jobs with adequate pay and the empowerment of all the people. It also means empathetic, non-corrupt and dependable leadership which you can hold to account through participative democracy.
As MDC, we remain guided by our unwavering desire for the freedom and liberty of all citizens in a Zimbabwe free from all forms of violence, intimidation and coercion as means of political organisation and mobilisation.
We remain unflinching in our quest for a Zimbabwe in which all nationals are equal and free to express their political views and make such political decisions without fear of harassment or vilification.
To each and every Zimbabwean, we say Amhlophe, Makorokoto, Congratulations on our 33rd year of independence.
PROF. WELSHMAN NCUBE
MDC PRESIDENT
APRIL 18, 2013
http://www.newzimbabwe.com/news-10861-MDC-T+floor+crossers+face+Parliament+axe/news.aspx
MDC-T floor crossers face Parliament axe
17/04/2013 00:00:00
by Staff Reporter
THE MDC led by Welshman Ncube has renewed efforts to get five lawmakers expelled by the party last year to be withdrawn from Parliament after they put their names forward to stand on the MDC-T ticket in elections due later this year.
MDC secretary general Priscilla Misihairabwi-Mushonga has written to the House of Assembly Speaker Lovemore Moyo and Senate President Edna Madzongwe asking them to withdraw the parliamentary whip of the three MPs and two senators.
Members of Parliament Nomalanga Khumalo (Umzingwane), Maxwell Dube (Tsholotsho South) and Thandeko Mnkandla (Gwanda North) as well as Senators Dalumuzi Khumalo (Lupane) and Kembo Dube (Umzingwane) were sacked from the MDC over alleged links with Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai's MDC-T.
The MDC then tried, unsuccessfully, to have the five lawmakers expelled from Parliament under rules which prohibit floor crossing.
Deputy Prime Minister Arthur Mutambara – who is claiming leadership of the party at the Supreme Court after losing in the High Court – scuttled attempts to have the lawmakers barred from Parliament by claiming they were in fact members of his splinter party.
Pending a Supreme Court ruling over in the dispute over the MDC’s leadership, parliamentary authorities took no action.
But Mutambara’s claim that the legislators were aligned to his party rang hollow last week after they all registered to take part in the MDC-T’s primary elections.
Yet despite the embarrassing desertion, Maxwell Zimuto, a spokesman for Mutambara’s party known as MDC-M, was still insisting on Wednesday that the five were their members.
Mutambara, he said, would again seek to block Parliament from expelling the five.
Zimuto said in a letter to the Speaker and Senate President: “The MDC-N (MDC) has no authority whatsoever to give such directives over Hon. MPs who do not belong to their party.
“The assertion by Misihairabwi-Mushonga that MDC-M does not exist is absurd and should be dismissed with the contempt it deserves. Misihairabwi-Mushonga is not the nation’s registrar of political parties, neither is it her responsibility nor that of her party to monitor and regulate the performance of other political parties.”
Zimuto attached a document said to have been signed in 2011 by the five dissidents in which they pledged allegiance to Mutambara’s party.
Madzongwe and Moyo are expected to seek legal advice before taking action. Parliament is set to be dissolved on June 29.
http://www.newzimbabwe.com/news-10865-Mugabe+makes+fresh+pleas+for+peace/news.aspx
In Independence Day speech, Mugabe makes plea for peace
Uhuru celebrations ... President Mugabe welcomes wife Grace, while Edna Madzongwe looks on
18/04/2013 00:00:00
by Paradzai Brian Paradza
POLITICAL violence has stained Zimbabwe’s image internationally, President Robert Mugabe said on Thursday as he made an impassioned plea for peace as the country celebrated 33 years of Independence.
Police must arrest ALL perpetrators of violence, and Zimbabweans must be allowed to freely wear their party regalia and vote for candidates of their choice, the President said.
“We want peace, let the people vote in peace,” Mugabe said in a speech delivered in both English and Shona to a packed National Sports Stadium. “We get reports from the police about clashes, usually the fighting is caused by people who don’t want others to wear their party regalia. Ko hamudi kuti apfeke uniform ye party yake? Ko imiwo pfekaiwo yenyu. Marambidzwa nani? Go and vote in your own way.”
He said the police have been instructed to make arrests of perpetrators of violence ahead of general elections expected later in the year, regardless of their political affiliation. Police have previously faced accusations from Mugabe’s opponents of protecting Zanu PF supporters.
“Naizvozvo tati kumapurisa vanenge vachidaro bamba lo, faka lapha mujeri. Of course tinenge tichiti vazotongwa, aiwa zvinotinyadzisa kuti nyika ine makore makumi matatu nematatu inoita izvozvo (So we have since instructed the police to arrests everyone who engages in violence and lock them away, of course they will be brought to the courts but that is just a shame for a country celebrating 33 years of independence),” he said.
Mugabe also railed against in-fighting within political parties saying such demonstrations of immaturity need to be discouraged, calling on the parties to join him in calling for peaceful canvassing.
Meanwhile, Mugabe said he welcomes the re-engagement with western countries which imposed sanctions on Zimbabwe. He hoped the reengagement will yield positive results for the country.
On Tuesday, he met a United States special envoy, Ambassador Andrew Young, for two hours. Young, the United States’ former ambassador to the UN, said “it took a decision-making process in the Congress and in the White House for me to come here. The decision for me to come here was made by the Secretary of State (John Kerry) and approved by the President of the United States.”
Accompanying him was the US Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs, Reuben Brigety, who said Young’s visit was “the highest in the level of engagement with Zimbabwe” in many years.
“Zimbabwe welcomes the re-engagement efforts that were recently initiated by Britain, the European Union and also now by the United States of America,” Mugabe said on Thursday.
“We hope that these efforts will lead to the unconditional lifting of the illegal sanctions on Zimbabwe. But what is crucial is that Zimbabwe, having attained our independence which we celebrate today, demands in accordance with the international law and international relations that these countries respect our sovereignty.”
The European Union recently lifted sanction on some members of Mugabe’s Zanu PF party, but the President and security chiefs remain blacklisted.
Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai, his deputies Thokozani Khupe and Arthur Mutambara attended the celebrations which MDC leader Welshman Ncube boycotted.
Labels: 2009 BUDGET, INDEPENDENCE, WELSHMAN NCUBE
Read more...
Ncube salutes President’s leadership
Sunday, 23 December 2012 00:00
Munyaradzi Musiiwa
MDC leader Professor Welshman Ncube has poured out his admiration for President Mugabe, saying he has far more superior leadership qualities compared to Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai. He also said a new constitution is not a prerequisite for the 2013 harmonised elections, which can be held in terms of the existing law.
Speaking to journalists after a rally in Gweru last week, Prof Ncube described President Mugabe as a principled person who exhibited remarkable leadership qualities while Mr Tsvangirai flip-flopped.
He said handing the presidency to the MDC-T leader was similar to “giving a cyclist the responsibility of driving a bus”.
“There are those who say we should remove (President) Mugabe and replace him with (Mr) Tsvangirai. There is a lot of work to be done in Government,” he said.
“Imagine what would happen if he got into office. He would probably open a file and fail to understand what it is all about. Driving a bus requires a class one driver’s licence. You cannot say so and so has experience in cycling, let us give him a bus to drive! He lacks principles. One day he says this and the next morning he says something different.”
Prof Ncube vowed to continue representing the interests of the grassroots.
“He (Prime Minister Tsvangirai) has called me a village politician. Yes, I am a villager who represents the wishes of his fellow villagers.
“If Prime Minister Tsvangirai thinks he belongs to royalty then let him go to England and stay there.”
Prof Ncube also concurred with Zanu-PF that a new constitution was not a precondition for holding harmonised elections next year.
He added that it would be undemocratic to suppress the will of the electorate by delaying polls in order to push for a new constitution.
“We are ready for elections next year with or without a new constitution. The point we are making is that if it is not possible to come up with a new constitution then let us not have a constitution at all.
“We hold elections under the old constitution and then continue to fight for a new constitution after the elections. We, of course, prefer the constitution, which was signed on July 18. However, if the country runs out of time before we have a new constitution we must go for an election and we are ready for that.”
Labels: MDC, ROBERT MUGABE, WELSHMAN NCUBE, ZANU-PF
Read more...
Mutambara, Ncube feud: Parliament speaks out
Thursday, 22 November 2012 00:00
Herald Reporter
PARLIAMENT will only intervene in the feud between Professors Arthur Mutambara and Welshman Ncube over the status of MDC Parliamentarians if the factions officially communicate their positions. Speaker of the House of Assembly Mr Lovemore Moyo yesterday said Parliament would not rush to take a position before the interested parties make the request.
He said he was yet to receive communication from the rival factions.
“They haven’t communicated their positions to me, so I wouldn’t want to be seen to be instigating them to take any actions,” he said. “I will only be able to comment and explain the procedure when I am confronted with a request. “If a party says it is withdrawing its support for so and so, then I will be able to explain the procedures.”
The feud between the two escalated on Monday when Prof Mutambara wrote Mr Moyo and Senate President Edna Madzongwe letters saying Prof Ncube had no authority to expel MDC legislators.
This followed the announcement by the Prof Ncube-led MDC faction on Monday that it had fired eight lawmakers and 49 councillors for indiscipline and crossing the floor to MDC-T.
Prof Mutambara advised Parliament’s presiding officers to disregard attempts by Prof Ncube’s faction to have the legislators fired.
The two are embroiled in a wrangle for leadership of MDC and the matter is still before the Supreme Court.
It is understood that some of the axed councillors openly declared that they had defected to MDC-T.
Section 41 of the Constitution is the one that is used to axe legislators from Parliament if they defect to another party.
The secretary-general of a political party is required to write to the Speaker of the House of Assembly and the Senate President informing them that the legislators no longer represent their party’s interest.
However, the Supreme Court is yet to make a determination of whom between Prof Mutambara and Prof Ncube is the legitimate leader.
Prof Ncube also expelled 49 councillors, but the Urban Councils Act does not provide for the sacking of councillors if they are fired from their parties.
MDC-T last year fired the entire Chitungwiza council and the mayor on allegations of corruption, but they have remained councillors.
It is the same case with the 12 councillors the party recently expelled over corruption allegations, they have remained at work because the law does not provide for their expulsion.
Labels: ARTHUR MUTAMBARA, MDC, MDC FACTIONS, MDC-M, WELSHMAN NCUBE
Read more...
It’s the ideas, stupid!
21/11/2012 00:00:00
by Prof Jonathan Moyo, MP
IF THERE is one thing that Zimbabweans can reiterate and reiterate until the cows come home without twisting their tongues like Elizabeth Macheka over the pronouncement of the word, it would be not only to reiterate that the two MDC formations are ideologically bankrupt and policy-incompetent but also to reiterate that the MDC formations have absolutely nothing to offer to the people of Zimbabwe beyond the self-aggrandisement, self-enrichment and sexual pleasure of the leadership of the two embattled parties.
There are two latest examples of this. One is how Morgan’s Tsvangirai’s MDC has reacted to the theme of Zanu PF’s 2012 people’s conference in Gweru early next month whose banner is “Indigenise, Empower, Develop and Create Employment”.
The other example is the reaction of Welshman Ncube’s MDC to Zanu PF’s 2012 Presidential agricultural input scheme that has earmarked $20 million to support at least 800,000 farming households.
Stung by the self-evident policy significance and positive impact of the Presidential agricultural input scheme which is in fact not new as it has been running for years now, Welshman Ncube’s MDC unleashed David Coltart – a former Rhodesian Selous Scouts who by his own admission in his own website only started having an interest in human rights and good governance after independence in 1983 – to attempt an impossible task of trashing the scheme.
In typical Rhodie fashion, Coltart did not care about the beneficiaries of the agricultural input scheme, instead he was manifestly dismayed and apparently scared to his political death that a staggering 800,000 farming households whose livelihood depends on the soil were set to benefit from concrete support given to them by Zanu PF.
And as if to take Zimbabweans for fools, Coltart not only demanded to know the identity of the donors to the $20 million agricultural input scheme but also wondered why the well-wishers could donate such an amount to the agricultural scheme while Tendai Biti had allocated only $8 million for education this year.
Notably and understandably given his anti-people Rhodie roots, Coltart could not bring himself into thinking about Biti’s paltry allocation to agriculture because just like Biti and indeed just like the two MDC formations, Coltart does not understand the strategic importance of agriculture to the Zimbabwean economy including to the sustenance of critical social sectors of that economy such as education and health.
Where money is involved, the accountability rule is that you do not ask stupid questions about where it is coming from but you simply follow it. In other words, you follow the money if you want to know the use to which it is put. But Coltart and those who think like him have not been interested in following the $20 million Presidential agricultural input scheme because even fools can see where it is going: to 800,000 farming households across the county and this means the money is going to the masses.
But why, as would be normal in such situations, has Coltart not shown any interest in following the $20 million Presidential agricultural input scheme to its destination? It has since emerged that because of his now widely-known sympathies for Tsvangirai’s MDC, driven by his growing fear that he will almost certainly lose his Senate seat in Bulawayo if he seeks re-election on the ticket of Welshman Ncube’s beleaguered MDC which has defined its political fate in narrow geographic terms with no political content, Coltart weighed into the misplaced attack of the $20 million Presidential agricultural input scheme to contain the damaging consequences of Tsvangirai’s open zip shenanigans.
It was not a coincidence that Coltart’s outburst happened exactly when there were very serious questions about Tsvangirai’s source of money given his Cabinet salary and background after he was reported to have paid some $300,000 cash to settle a maintenance claim from Locardia Karimatsenga and a reported $200,000 in legal costs bringing the figure to at least half a million dollars.
Coltart must not fool himself into believing that his typically Rhodie diversionary and disinformation tactics perfected by Selous Scouts have gone unnoticed. It was a good try, as they say, but nothing else beyond that.
The bottom line is that there is a world of difference between, on the one hand, Morgan Tsvangirai $500,000 from unknown sources dished out to pay for one of Tsvangirai’s concubines in acknowledgment of his sexual gratification and, on the other hand, Zanu PF’s $20 million Presidential agricultural input scheme given to 800,000 farming households across the country.
Does David Coltart or anyone else for that really think that it is better to pay a concubine for sexual services rendered than to support farmers? In the same vein, does David Coltart or anyone else who suffers from similarly warped thinking believe that it is better or is more responsible to demand to know where the money to support farmers is coming from than to demand to know where the money to support Tsvangirai’s sexual interest is coming from? Which of these two raises fundamental moral issues in the public domain?
Is it Coltart’s submission that it is right for some Western donor countries that have refused to support agriculture, and their identities are known, to settle Tsvangirai’s sex bills? It is salutary to know that the story of who gave Tsvangirai $500,000 to settle Locardia Karimatsenga’s claims is yet to be told and like the sun will rise tomorrow that story will be told and maybe by then the 800,000 farming households supported by the $20 million Presidential agricultural input scheme will be harvesting their crop.
Meanwhile, and in a failed attempt to support Coltart’s whistle in the wilderness about the unassailable $20 million Presidential agricultural input scheme for 800,000 farming households, Tsvangirai’s MDC issued an inane statement earlier his week preposterously claiming that Zanu PF had allegedly stolen ideas from the MDC-T’s imported Juice policy. This was ostensibly prompted by the “Indigenise, Empower, Develop and Create Employment” theme of the 2012 Zanu PF’s people’s conference in Gweru next month.
The MDC-T claimed in an official statement, of all things, that “Zanu PF has now finally seen sense in the MDC thrust on job creation and has at the 11th hour slotted ‘Create Employment’ in their conference theme”. Now if this is not madness, nothing is.
Since when do mere words constitute an idea or a policy? Who on earth is the owner of the words “Create Employment”? Is it the MDC-T and how many in the MDC-T leadership can reiterate these words without tripping over the conceptual meaning?
Seriously, it is inherently foolish and the height of intellectual bankruptcy for anyone to think or believe that any person or any organisation owns words or to claim that words are synonymous with ideas or policies.
When it comes to the words in question, even kindergarten kids know that “Employment Creation” has been at the centre of Zanu PF ideology and discourse for decades. In fact, the Zanu PF government has even had a Ministry of Employment Creation! People who do not know this rudimentary fact are desk politicians of the likes of Alex Magaisa who penned the nonsensical MDC-T statement that stupidly claimed that Zanu PF had stolen the words “employment creation” from the MDC-T’s imported Juice so-called policy which is full of Tsvangirai’s juicy stuff that does not go beyond his personal pleasure.
The issue is not about who is using which words but about the policy premise and the policy substance of the words used. According to its imported Juice policy, the MDC-T believes that jobs can be imported and brought to Zimbabwe in briefcases by the same Western countries whose economies are going through a crippling financial crisis and which the MDC-T believes have loved Zimbabweans so much as to slap them with punitive economic sanctions that have ravaged our economy and devastated the livelihoods of ordinary people.
Zanu PF’s employment creation policy is not based on foreign agendas that are beyond the control of Zimbabweans but are squarely based on the indigenisation and economic empowerment programme whose revolutionary thrust is to ensure that the commanding heights of the economy are in the hands of Zimbabweans to unlock real value for development and opportunities for creating real jobs.
Zimbabweans now know and understand that the indigenisation and economic empowerment programme is not imported, is not a slogan and is not wishful thinking but is tangible and unfolding on the ground with visible success. This success is evidenced by the broad-based compliance by economic players among major corporations and the launch of community and employee share ownership schemes that are now found in at least seven provinces with more roll-outs to come before the end of the year.
In fact, the programme has been so successful in terms of laying the foundation for creating real jobs that many other countries are now making inquiries to draw lessons while others such as Kenya and Indonesia have in fact followed suit.
In the circumstances, the issue is not about words but about ideas and policies. Zanu PF is committed to developing Zimbabwe including creating jobs through indigenisation of all of the 14 key sectors of the economy while the MDC-T believes that jobs can be created by the same countries that have imposed economic sanctions on Zimbabwe and which are failing to create jobs in their own backyards.
Anybody who believes that countries that cannot create jobs for their own citizens can create jobs for Zimbabweans needs to be examined by a competent psychiatrist.
Professor Jonathan Moyo is the Zanu MP for Tsholotsho North
Labels: AGRICULTURE, DAVID COLTART, FISP, JONATHAN MOYO, WELSHMAN NCUBE
Read more...
COMMENT - This makes no sense. ZANU-PF is served very well by Welshman Ncube splitting the MDC vote. It enabled the presidential election to turn to a run-off back in 2008. My guess is that he is trying to gain some street cred, after his BBC Hrdtalk interview.
'Soldiers' storm Ncube rally in Mutoko
21/09/2012 00:00:00
by Staff Reporter
DOZENS of MDC supporters on Friday came under attack from a group of men in army uniform minutes after party leader Welshman Ncube addressed a rally in Mutoko, Mashonaland East, officials said.
Ncube and senior party leaders had just left the venue of the rally in Mutoko centre when dispersing supporters came under attack, according to a spokesman for the party, Kuraone Chihwayi. He said several supporters were injured in the raid while six party activists had gone into hiding.
The party says the assailants were disgorged by two army trucks. Mutoko is headquarters to the 2.1 Infantry Battalion.
Chihwayi said: “I can confirm that violence erupted at the rally venue soon after the president had left when people who were in army trucks and dressed in army uniform started beating up our supporters.
“As I speak, our provincial chairperson, Shupikai Mandaza, and five other party leaders in the province are in hiding. Mandaza is actually a liaison officer for JOMIC [Joint Monitoring and Implementation Committee – a body tasked with monitoring implementation of a power sharing agreement].”
Chihwayi said despite President Robert Mugabe’s public calls for a cessation of violence, Friday’s attack was evidence that “we are far from building bridges”.
“The MDC will hold Mugabe accountable for the missing party supporters. We are going to press on until Mugabe is gone,” he added.
Ncube, who returned to Harare in the evening, confirmed receiving a report on the violence.
“I am informed that our party supporters were beaten up soon after my team had left. During the rally, these army trucks were moving up and down. After the rally, the trucks dropped off the soldiers who then started assaulting our supporters leaving one young man seriously injured,” Ncube said by telephone.
“We are still in the process of verifying what exactly went on and we have notified the police about the incident.”
New Zimbabwe.com was unable to verify if the assailants were soldiers. Zimbabwe National Army spokesman Col Alfios Makotore was not answering his mobile phone late Friday.
Ncube added: “This incident exposes the sad reality that the country has not moved on from the 2008 election violence. It clearly demonstrates that some areas are still no go areas for other political parties.”
Both MDC factions accuse coalition partner Zanu PF of employing soldiers for partisan political programmes.
The military was fingered as a key driver of the violence that swept Zimbabwe in 2008 ahead of a presidential run-off election which was boycotted by MDC-T leader Morgan Tsvangirai. President Mugabe won the discredited vote by a landslide but regional countries pressured him into sharing power with his rivals.
********
COMMENTS
*
RudeChikala
THERE IS ABSOLUTELY NO EVIDENCE WHAT SO EVER THAT THESE PEOPLE WERE ATTACKED BY ZNA SOLDIERS.
IT IS NOT ONLY ZANU-PF WHICH WOULD LOVE TO KICK NCUBE & HIS FOLLOWERS TO KINGDOM COME.
IT IS VERY SURPRISING THAT AFTER SPENDING HIS ENTIRE BBC INTERVIEW ATTACKING THE MDC-T PARTY & ITS TENDENCY FOR VOILENCE, NCUBE RUSHES TO ACCUSE SOLDIERS FOR THE ATTACK.
IT MAKES NO SENSE ESPECIALLY SINCE HE WAS NOT EVEN THERE.
INFACT, ZANU-PF STANDS TO GAIN MUCH MORE FROM NCUBE DILUTING THE MDC-T SUPPORTER BASE.
NCUBE & HIS PARTY HAS NEVER BEEN & WOULD NEVER BE ANY THREAT TO ZANU-PF SO IT DOES NOT MAKE SENSE FOR ZANU-PF TO ORGANISE AN ATTACK ON NCUBE & HIS SUPPORTERS. WHAT FOR?
Labels: MDC, MDC FACTIONS, WELSHMAN NCUBE
Read more...
Ncube gives BBC reporter a HARDtime
18/09/2012 00:00:00
by Mthulisi Mathuthu
ONE reason why an African leader is much more likely going to give an interview to Western journalists than to local ones is that the former will always play into the leader’s hands by asking precisely the questions which suspiciously come out as though they were crafted by some mandarin or a chief government spook with the central aim of getting information that would help them shape government foreign policy.
Given that Western foreign policy is inherently incapable of moral uprightness, meaning that the journalist’s questions will naturally be prejudiced, that always comes in handy for the African leaders.
Perhaps nowhere is this apparent than in the September 18 BBC HARDtalk programme where Zeinabi Badawi’s questions to the MDC leader Welshman Ncube were so partisan that they brazenly exhibited the prejudices and fantasies of the Western mandarins on behalf of Morgan Tsvangirai, the leader of the other MDC faction.
Listening through the interview, one can’t help feeling that the central aim of the questioning was to project Ncube as the main problem and cause of the opposition’s failure to wrest power from Robert Mugabe. Indeed, the interviewee said she was aware of the details of the 2005 split but was, interestingly, not going to go into details about that. In the end it was as if the MDC split not because of Tsvangirai’s refusal to accede to internal ‘democratic outcomes’ but because Welshman Ncube was himself a problem.
Badawi asks Ncube to justify his opinion about MDC-T not being as democratic as it claims to be. In an attempt to load the dice against Ncube, Badawi rests her line of questioning on the opinions of people who she calls ‘various international figures’ whom she collectively refers to as the ‘international community’; and whose views should, therefore, translate to ‘international opinion’.
These people are US diplomat and former Ambassador to Zimbabwe, Christopher Dell, who, according to the WikiLeaks, said Ncube was a ‘divisive’ figure who should be removed from the political stage; and Australian Prime Minister, Julia Gillard, who likened Tsvangirai to Nelson Mandela and Aung San Suu Kyi – both Nobel Peace Prize winners. Dell, the interviewee says, can be relied on more because he spent ‘many years’ in Zimbabwe.
In reminding Ncube of Dell’s opinion, Badawi’s body language betrays her as she comes out as an excited junior detective putting her killer question to a suspect. In bringing in all these things together, the idea is to present Ncube as indeed a ‘divisive’ person going against the supposedly credible people of international stature like Mandela.
To a viewer who is not familiar with the goings on in Zimbabwe, anybody whose view is against that of a Mandela equivalent must surely be crazy and worth ‘removing’ from the political stage.
The same applies with citing of the French Knighthood as an indicator to Tsvangirai’s moral uprightness and credibility – when we know all too well that that award has previously been awarded to savages.
Moreover, Dell cannot be one to rely on because his confident predictions have been previously disastrous. For example, prior to his departure he predicted a total economic implosion within a space of a few months in Zimbabwe, and that never came to pass.
At the end of the day, the HARDtalk interview comes out as one which was designed to lead Ncube into giving answers that would in turn confirm him as a Zanu PF agent. One such question was the last one where he is asked if he would contest against Mugabe in the event of Tsvangirai staging another boycott. If he had said yes, that would have, at least in the scheme of the people who planned the interview, confirmed him as a Zanu PF lackey. Ncube, as before, saw through the trick and survived.
One can’t help thinking that there is indeed fear that Ncube’s whirlwind campaign trail across the country is paying dividends and in a way that stands to reverse the fortunes of both the MDC-T and Zanu PF considerably. Spanners must, therefore, be thrown in his works. The idea, so it seems, is to indeed ‘remove Ncube from the political stage’ by all means necessary.
Strangely Dell, Zedawi and others like them seem to be oblivious to one vivid question: why is it that Tsvangirai, whom Mugabe so much resents to the extent that he has even tried to assassinate him, is vocally in disagreement with Mugabe in almost everything but is silently but willingly in agreement with him on Welshman Ncube’s isolation? What is it which Ncube represents that makes these two enemies forget their differences?
It will be helpful if Dell and his think-a-likes were to keep one thing in mind: it is easy for diplomats from powerful nations to activate the ancient habit of perpetuating prejudices of a particular section of a country they operate in knowing that they can always blame the victims of their actions. And yet it is true that policies grounded on narrow interests will often yield the opposite of what they are meant to achieve. Mugabe’s 32 year rule provides a clear and ongoing example.
Last but not least it would be helpful if journalists like Zedawi try and keep away from the habit of taking questions from mandarins because by so doing a journalist runs the risk of not just sounding shallow but of shunning basic research to the extent of getting many things wrong and thereby giving themselves a hard time such as happened in her interview with Ncube. One example in this case is the fact that Ncube is presented as the secretary general of the MDC, when he is actually the President.
Mthulisi Mathuthu is a New Zimbabwe.com blogger. E-mail him: thuthuma@yahoo.com
Labels: BBC, HARDTALK, WELSHMAN NCUBE
Read more...
COMMENT - To be fair, Zeinab Badawi also gave Morgan Tsvangirai a hard time, when no one else would. Stephen Sackur interviewed Roy Bennett and Ben Freeth, and they looked like they were ready to beat him up at several times in the interview - not used to being opposed. But then, the show is called Hard Talk. (With part of Ambassador Dell's wikileaks cable included below.) The BBC
Hard Talk page is here.
Transcript: Ncube's BBC HARDtalk interview
18/09/2012 00:00:00
by New Zimbabwe.com
MDC leader and Industry Minister Welshman Ncube was a guest on the BBC’s HARDtalk programme aired on Tuesday [UK residents watch HERE]. This is the full transcript of his interview with HARDtalk host Zeinab Badawi:
ZEINAB BADAWI (ZB): Have opposition politicians in Zimbabwe learnt the lessons of the violence and disputed elections of 2008 in which Robert Mugabe and his party Zanu PF outmanoeuvred the Movement for Democratic Change and held on to power?
The MDC has since been in an uneasy power sharing government in which its main leader Morgan Tsvangirai is Prime Minister, but a breakaway MDC faction led by the Industry and Commerce Minister Welshman Ncube is splintering the opposition ahead of elections due by next June.
My guest today on HARDtalk is Welshman Ncube. Shouldn’t the opposition be united to better oppose Zanu PF?
Welshman Ncube welcome to HARDtalk.
WELSHMAN NCUBE (WN): Thank you.
ZB: It’s a general rule in politics isn’t it not just in Zimbabwe: weaken the opposition by splitting it. That’s what you’ve done.
WN: Well, it is of course correct that if the parties that are opposed to Zanu PF it would be that much easier to win the elections than when we are all fighting from our different corners. But there are things which are fundamental and matters of principle, matters of policy that divide us and have made that very, very difficult.
ZB: And is that much more important in your view to you than forming a credible opposition to Zanu PF?
WN: Well, what is important is that when we oppose Zanu PF and when we seek to remove Zanu PF we must all be clear and united in that the alternative government we want to establish will in fact, not just in deeds, will in fact be different from the Zanu PF government either by reference to corruption, by reference to mismanagement, by reference to non-violence – all of those things.
So when the things which divide us make some of us doubt that that government will be different from Zanu PF, that is why it is so important that we must be opposed to Zanu PF in both words and in deeds. There is no point in removing Zanu PF only to replace it with exactly the same entity.
ZB: Are you equating Morgan Tsvangirai, the Prime Minister, with President Robert Mugabe who has been in power for 32 years?
WN: I’m not equating anyone. I’m simply saying those things that divide us go to the heart of our opposition to Zanu PF. When we say we must be non-violent we must mean it and we must live it. So when our colleagues practise violence against others and also against themselves we say, eh [interrupted].
ZB: So which colleagues are you talking about here because you are being a little bit indirect. Just spell it out for us. Are you accusing the MDC faction led by Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai of waging some kind of campaign against your faction?
WN: No. I’m saying the things which divide us, the things which divided us at the time of the split are essentially to do with the things I’m talking about. If we begin to act violently against each other and against ourselves; if we begin to defy collective decisions that we would have made; if during for instance the currency of the inclusive government we have local government structures which act as corruptly as Zanu PF has done over the last 32 years, those are the things which divide us, and they are genuine differences.
ZB: Let me just fill people in of course that the MDC split back in 2005 when Morgan Tsvangirai didn’t want to contest the [senate] elections. I’m not going to go into the ins and outs of it but there was a breakaway faction led by Arthur Mutambara but you now lead that breakaway faction.
I want to ask you very, very clearly, and I would like a clear answer, should the MDC not just remain united under the Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai who after all is highly acclaimed in international circles. Very simple question, what’s you answer?
WN: Well, the answer is simple. The things that divide us now make it impossible for us to work together.
ZB: What have you got against Morgan Tsvangirai?
WN: Absolutely nothing against the person of Morgan Tsvangirai. Our differences are about our political behaviours and the things we do as politicians. I keep underlining, it is on record that our colleagues in the MDC-T often practise violence; it is on record that Morgan Tsvangirai himself has reversed collectively made decisions and it is also on record that the local government structures that they control have acted as corruptly if not more corruptly than the Zanu PF ones. Those are the things which divide us.
ZB: You refer to MDC-T which stands for the faction led by MDC Morgan Tsvangirai. But what you say is clearly at odds with what the international community believes. For example the French government has this summer conferred on Morgan Tsvangirai the Legion of Honour, the highest order it can because it says he upholds universal aspirations, morals and the spirit of progress.
The Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard has said he is like Nelson Mandela, like Aung San Suu Kyi– a remarkable figure of our times, she has said.
The former American ambassador in Zimbabwe Christopher Dell has described Morgan Tsvangirai as brave, committed, by and large a democrat. He is also the only player on the scene right now with real star quality and the ability to rally the masses. I reel off all that, minister, because it is at odds with what you say.
This is what the leaving US ambassador to Zimbabwe, Christopher Dell, actually said about Morgan Tsvangirai in the Wikileaks Cables (Cable ID: 07HARARE638):
WHAT OF THE OPPOSITION?
10. (C) Zimbabwe's opposition is far from ideal and I leave convinced that had we had different partners we could have achieved more already. But you have to play the hand you're dealt. With that in mind, the current leadership has little executive experience and will require massive hand holding and assistance should they ever come to power.
11. (C) Morgan Tsvangarai is a brave, committed man and, by and large, a democrat. He is also the only player on the scene right now with real star quality and the ability to rally the masses. But Tsvangarai is also a flawed figure, not readily open to advice, indecisive and with questionable judgment in selecting those around him. He is the indispensable element for opposition success, but possibly an albatross around their necks once in power. In short, he is a kind of Lech Walesa character: Zimbabwe needs him, but should not rely on his executive abilities to lead the country's recovery. Arthur Mutambara is young and ambitious, attracted to radical, anti-western rhetoric and smart as a whip. But, in many respects he's a light-weight who has spent too much time reading U.S. campaign messaging manuals and too little thinking about the real issues. Welshman Ncube has proven to be a deeply divisive and destructive player in the opposition ranks and the sooner he is pushed off the stage, the better. But he is useful to many, including the regime and South Africa, so is probably a cross to be borne for some time yet. The prospects for healing the rift within the MDC seem dim, which is a totally unnecessary self-inflicted wound on their part this time. With few exceptions ' Tendayi Biti, Nelson Chamisa ' the talent is thin below the top ranks.
WN: Well, I’m a Zimbabwean, I live in Zimbabwe. I worked within the united MDC, I worked outside the united MDC and I can tell you the things on which we differ are fundamental, they go to the very heart of the struggle against Zanu PF. I repeat, we don’t want to replace Zanu PF in name, and not also in terms of the things it does.
ZB: You’ve made that point, but just address the fact that there is lavish praise heaped upon Morgan Tsvangirai by various international figures and it doesn’t really... it’s not consistent with the kind of picture you are now portraying of the MDC faction led by Morgan Tsvangirai. So just explain that to us.
WN: All I can say is that those who might be somewhere in Australia, those who might be in Paris, in Washington are entitled to have their opinions about any of the leaders in Zimbabwe, just as much as we are entitled as Zimbabweans to have our own opinions about ourselves and our leaders. And respectfully [interrupted].
ZB: Christopher Dell, the former American ambassador, highly regarded, spent many years in Zimbabwe and what I quoted was what he said in WikiLeaks which were revealed in 2010. But you know what he said about you, you know what he said about you?
WN: I’ve read about what he said about me, but the point [interrupted].
ZB: Let me remind you, let me remind you, well let me remind you.
WN: Go ahead.
ZB: He described you, if I may, as highly divisive and says you should be taken off the political stage.
WN: Yes, and what’s the question around that?
ZB: So what do you answer to that quote ‘highly divisive and should be taken off the political stage’?
WN: Well, again that is Dell’s opinion, as democrats we respect it but we disagree with it. I don’t know what it means when an ambassador of one of the biggest democracies in the world speaks of taking leaders off the political stage, I don’t know what that’s supposed to mean. And I think it is unfortunate and it cannot be consistent with the values and principles the United States wants to defend around the world.
ZB: When we look at the Global Political Agreement, the GPA, which came into force after those elections in 2008, disputed, and we saw what the French called “cohabitation” whereby the MDC joined the government under President Robert Mugabe. But you are stating quite clearly that that has been a failure, not only because of the difficulties with Robert Mugabe, but within the MDC itself, it’s been a failure.
WN: Well, the inclusive government has not been a total failure, but it could have done better. In terms of political reforms clearly, clearly we have failed. We have not done the things that we should have done by now, we should have created the necessary conditions for free and fair elections, that has not happened. There are many parts of the GPA on media reforms, on provincial governors that we have not implemented.
However, in terms of where Zimbabwe was in 2008 or beginning of 2009 in economic terms we have made a lot of progress. We have a country which was virtually on the verge of collapse if not completely collapsed, that economy we have managed to resuscitate it, it’s now working. Yes it could do better, and yes people are still poor but you don’t have an economy which is basically on its knees anymore, it’s an economy which its way to recovery. Whether or not it recovers now depends on what happens at the next election.
ZB: Alright. I will just [inaudible] economy since you have raised it. You have a $400 million budget deficit, and growth has now been downgraded from more than 9 percent, which was admittedly very high, down to 5.6 percent. Even though progress has been made, and let’s face it that was from a very low base, things are going backwards now.
WN: Yes of course some of the gains that we have made over the last three years are threatened now with reversal, in particular as we move towards an election and as we begin to grandstand around election rhetoric.
In terms of the economy as minister of industry for instance, industry recovered from capacity utilisation of 10 percent when we came in to 57 percent by the end of last year. It sort of plateaued, it’s not going anywhere now largely because of our failure to stabilise the political environment so as to bring in confidence to have access to lines of credit. That has not happened.
So we are beginning to see reversal yes, but we need to move as quickly as we can... to continue with the recovery which we have started.
ZB: It’s not just political instability because people don’t know when the elections are going to be happening and so on but it’s also because of the so-called indigenisation policy that came into effect in Zimbabwe in 2011 whereby foreign companies have got to hand over 51 percent of their controlling share to local companies and that has scared a lot of foreign investors, frankly?
WN: Well, that’s absolutely true. As minister responsible for trade I spend a lot of my time talking to investors, talking to business leaders in and outside Zimbabwe and there is no doubt that the elephant in the living room is our indigenisation laws. Clearly, clearly a lot of investors are unhappy with them and find it difficult to come and invest in Zimbabwe.
Whereas we all agree that we must do some form of empowerment, the manner in which we are doing it and the thresholds that we have set are clearly unrealistic and unreasonable in our circumstances.
ZB: So when you talk about some form of empowerment the idea is that you indigenise these interests so that the whole Zimbabwean population can benefit from it. What’s the evidence then that any benefits will trickle down to the ordinary Zimbabwean, because there isn’t plenty of that, is there? Not much evidence of that.
WN: I personally don’t like the word indigenisation because I don’t think it has any precise meaning. I prefer the term empowerment. Empowerment is broader and perhaps more accurate in terms of what some of us would want to achieve. If we are talking about empowerment, we should be talking about encouraging investment so that we can create jobs and employment for people, we can create the necessary business environment for indigenous Zimbabweans to form their own businesses to compete with others. Empowerment must not necessarily mean taking over someone else’s business.
ZB: But have you achieved that? You are the minister for commerce and industry, trade and so on and you look at Zimbabwe and the state of the people, one and half million people on the verge of starvation according to the United Nations World Food Programme, or will need food assistance rather.
WN: Zimbabwe is one of the richest countries in Africa, its mineral wealth is second to none, its climate, weather conditions, its land is also among the best in the world in terms of what we can do to our agriculture. If we can fix our politics, and fix our economic policies we will be able to deliver to our people by actually delivering on a stronger economy, on strong and successful businesses. That is the only way to do it.
ZB: Sure, but if you look at the realities the Minister of Finance Tendai Biti said this year that for instance when he looks at the Marange diamond field he was expecting something like US$600 million to go into the state coffers, from the Marange diamond fields he has only received US$19 million. He said there were 230,000 [Editor’s note: Biti’s figure was 75,000 ‘ghost workers’, the figure stated is for entire civil service] fictitious government employees who somehow are drawing salaries and that 10,000 new jobs have been created in the past few weeks or so in government.
That’s the reality of Zimbabwe and yet you talk about ‘oh a new business climate’ and that kind of thing, that’s not happening is it?
WN: All of what you have just summarised and attributed to the Finance Minister is absolutely correct. If you look at the diamond wealth, the diamonds we are mining, if we were actually administering them and managing them properly we should be getting the sort of money that the Minister of Finance has been mentioning. We are not doing it, that’s why at the beginning we said the inclusive government has not functioned as we expected to do, there is a complete lack of transparency for instance around Marange diamonds.
So all of those things cannot be fixed, in my opinion, unless and until we have free and fair elections and we have a government which is properly elected by people.
ZB: So you just accepted or you just at least stated that you basically have no power?
WN: Well, it is correct that’s why we keep saying there is a parallel government in many respects; that is why the Minister of Finance says there is no authority over Marange and there is no-one who is accountable to him when in fact they are supposed to be accountable to him.
ZB: So do you have power? Do you have any power as minister of commerce and industry to do what you would like to do to encourage investment, empowerment and all that kind of thing? Do you have power?
WN: Yes and no. We have the power and authority to do those things that are within our power, within our mandate as a ministry where we do not need the cooperation of anyone else; we have the power to do those things. But there are things as the ministry of industry where we would require the cooperation of other arms of government and other ministries and clearly therefore we would not have the power.
ZB: OK, you’re talking about those ministries controlled by Zanu PF perhaps. But let me ask you, you talk about the elections, free and fair elections are vital to bring some kind of stability. But these elections, no date, they should be held by June but you’re all squabbling about what should be in the draft constitution.
WN: Correct, we should have the elections, or at least parliament will stand automatically dissolved on June 29 next year. The elections must then be held no later than the end of October next year as an outer limit which is permissible under the current constitution.
Clearly, we had expected to be able to have done the constitution earlier than now, we have not done so [because] there are new disagreements around the constitution and we hope we can overcome those differences with the assistance of SADC [interrupted].
ZB: OK, just spell those out. You are talking there about the Southern African Development Cooperation who are trying to mediate in all this. But just spell out for us, what are the disagreements? In essence it looks like the MDC are concerned about powers in the constitution for the president being enshrined in the new constitution, and also control over the armed forces and so on. But you’ve also got disagreements about same sex marriage, dual citizenship, that kind of thing. So what are the stumbling blocks?
WN: Let me start by saying that firstly, there actually is an agreement. The structures that we had set, what is called the COPAC committee, the constitutional parliamentary committee, has actually agreed on a draft constitution signed by representatives of all the three parties in the inclusive government and formally handed over to the Speaker of Parliament by the co-chairpersons of that parliamentary committee. So there is an agreement, we must underline that.
What is now happening is an attempt by Zanu PF to renege from that agreement by rewriting the agreed draft to include all those things that you have mentioned. For instance, they are attempting to turn the Bill of Rights into what you may call a declaration of non-rights when in fact it’s supposed to be a declaration of rights; they are going back to try and recreate an imperial presidency; they are re-introducing certain clauses that will undermine the judiciary and so forth and so on. Altogether, there are over 200 amendments that they have attempted to make to an already agreed draft constitution.
ZB: Alright, so there is a deadlock. Is it worth delaying these elections that you yourself says Zimbabwe so badly needs because of disagreements or inability to put the draft constitution to a referendum?
WN: Ye sit is worth delaying the elections because there is no point in rushing to an election whose outcome will be disputed and will create another political deadlock which will be with us for a long time. It is better to delay the election whether it’s by five months, six months and then do the elections properly under a constitution which will guarantee our liberties, our freedoms; which will curtail executive power in a manner which protects the citizens.
ZB: But you know Lovemore Madhuku who runs an NGO, the National Constitutional Assembly – very broad based there is lots of labour, student, women’s groups, churches, human rights organisations – says even if there were a new constitution agreed, he says there is no basis to support this document because it’s being supported by politicians including you obviously. So where are the people in all this?
WN: Well, Lovemore, Dr Madhuku or Professor Madhuku, is entitled to his opinion but some of us respectfully disagree [interrupted].
ZB: Well it’s not just his as I said, he represents quite a wide body of opinion.
WN: I think the three political parties in the inclusive government represent a wider body of political opinion in Zimbabwe than any single civil society organisation. But the point I want to make is that the constitution has to have political leadership, there is no constitution anywhere in the world that was ever made by civil society without the political structures, without the elected people participating. I know not, I’m a constitutional lawyer myself.
ZB: I want to ask you something very important which is, let’s just assume that elections happen and you overcome these problems. One Major General Trust Mugoba was quoted in May 2012 in AllAfrica magazine saying the army would not allow the MDC to take over power if it wins an election because it doesn’t represent the ideology of liberation struggle. So whatever happens you have opposition from the army clearly, what do you say to that?
WN: I think of course it is true that the higher levels, the higher echelons of the military have made the statements which capture what you’ve just said. But it is also true that the rank and file in the military does not necessarily come from that school of thought.
But what is important in our case is that both the two formations of the MDC have raised this issue squarely with the facilitator, with SADC, to say there is no point in having an election unless the roadmap to that election includes guarantees and undertakings from the military, and with SADC guarantees as well, that the military will accept the verdict of the people and that they must accept in advance of an election that the sovereignty of Zimbabwe lies in the people and not in the military.
ZB: Very quickly, a few seconds, if Morgan Tsvangirai says he will not contest elections if Robert Mugabe was the candidate for Zanu PF would you? In a word?
WN: Well, look, we cannot determine for other parties who their candidates are. It is up to Zanu PF to field its candidate, all we ask of that candidate is to be bound by the democratic traditions and to accept the will of the people and to refrain from violence.
ZB: Minister Welshman Ncube, thank you very much indeed for coming on HARDtalk.
WN: Thank you.
[Transcript by New Zimbabwe.com]
Labels: BBC, HARDTALK, MDC, MDC FACTIONS, WELSHMAN NCUBE
Read more...
