Mutambara speaks out
Here are some excerpts from Arthur Mutambara’s, deputy prime minister in Zimbabwe’s inclusive government, maiden Parliamentary speech.
Mr. Speaker, Sir, the Government that I am part of, this inclusive institution, is a creature of abnormal circumstances. We are a product of the SADC dialogue process. But why did we have to negotiate? Honorable Members, lest we forget, we were forced to talk to each other in this manner because we had some problems with our elections, to put it politely. If we are to be candid and brazen about it, we have to accept that we had fraudulent elections on March 29th 2008. What is worse is that the run-off Presidential election on June 27th 2008 was a complete farce, a nullity.
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Mr Speaker, Sir, we must paraphrase Kennedy and say “Ask not what other nations can do to salvage Zimbabwe, but rather what we can do as citizens to drive our country.” The primary financing of STERP, our recovery plan must come from us through improving exports, increasing capacity utilization, economic growth, revenue generation, increased trade and then collection of taxes and tariffs. Domestic investment, including Diaspora efforts, should lead and drive foreign direct investment. Yes we need humanitarian assistance, budget support, and balance of payment support; but these external inputs should only come in to buttress our own efforts.
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Mr Speaker, Sir, this brings me to the thorny issue of sanctions. It is my considered view there are two types of sanctions. There are sanctions we impose on ourselves and those imposed on us by others. For the past 10 years Zimbabweans have been imposing sanctions on themselves through corruption, poor governance, incompetence, mismanagement, fraudulent elections, political violence, and the breakdown of the rule of law. Before we even begin to ask others to remove whatever measures they have imposed on us, we must remove these sanctions we have imposed on ourselves.
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As I am speaking right now, there are fresh farm invasions, abductions, illegal arrests, disregard of court orders, wanton violation of the rule of law, violence among our supporters, the language of hate and division, and general disregard of the rule of law. To add insult to injury, there are unresolved outstanding issues in the implementation of the GPA. The matters involving provincial governors, permanent secretaries, ambassadors, and the appointments of the RBZ governor and the attorney general have not been resolved nearly two months after SADC communiqué of the 27th of January 2009, which consummated the GPA. This is disgraceful. All these nefarious activities mean that the current inclusive government is actually imposing new sanctions on the people of Zimbabwe.
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I am the Deputy Prime of the State of Zimbabwe. My government is guilty as charged. We are behaving as an irresponsible and rogue regime. We must address these matters urgently. We have an obligation to build credibility of, and confidence in this inclusive government. If we do not, we will then not have any moral authority to ask any nation to remove any measures imposed on us.
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We are saying to the international community we understand why you imposed sanctions on us, and why you have not removed them. We understand your skepticism. However, we are also saying we are clear on the challenges we are facing and the transgressions that we are committing. We are determined to solve these matters. As they say a problem realized is half solved. We believe these challenges are not insurmountable, they are teething problems. We are determined to overcome them. We are working day and night. As we do this, please help us help ourselves. Here is our message to the US, the British, and the Europeans; you must remove all sanctions, any type of measures, call it what you may, that you have imposed on our country. You cannot adopt a wait and see attitude. You cannot give us conditions, such as signs of progress, inclusiveness and entrenchment of democracy and the rule of law. While these are also our targets, to achieve them we need financial resources and assistance. It is not possible for us to achieve these milestones while sanctions are in place.
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We need to rethink our understanding of leadership, institutions, governance and their respective roles. We need to embrace transformational and servant leadership styles. Leadership is about making others leaders. It is about creating leaders, and not followers. Leaders should seek to serve, and not to be served. The ultimate test of leadership is whether you can effectively make yourself irrelevant, by empowering others.