Here’s an excellent editorial from Wilf Mbanga at The Zimbabwean. Do you really think its worth voting for the MDC in the next election? I don’t.

Playground for torturers

We heard with shocked disbelief how MPs from the two formations of the MDC were brow-beaten into supporting the borrowing of money from the Chinese to pay for a Zanu (PF) project.

Like Heroes Acre, the Mazowe Spy Centre, is not a national institution. It is a Zanu (PF) project. No-one from the two MDCs, or any of their supporters, will benefit from it in any way.

Students at the centre will be taught to spy on and torture MDC supporters.

We believe that the ratification of the Chinese loan to pay for a Zanu (PF) training camp, while mortgaging our national resources from Chiadzwa for many years to come, was a terrible blunder by the Members of Parliament in whom the people of Zimbabwe had reposed their confidence.

The excuse given by the MDC that they “had to vote in support of the loan because we are now in government” is simply absurd. The nation expects our MPs to think for themselves and not behave like sheep.

Our MPs should have revolted on this issue. Zimbabwe does not need such an expensive spy centre at a time when there are other pressing priorities. The revenue from Chiadzwa should be used to develop our country and pay the civil servants who are grossly underpaid.

Zimbabwe cannot even service its existing debt – which is a millstone around the necks of future generations. And now they sign up for even more debt, to build a luxurious playground for the torturers of MDC supporters!

We are disappointed that the MPs of both MDCs have failed to rise to the occasion, not only in this case, but also in using their numerical superiority over the past two years to push progressive legislation through Parliament.

It is ridiculous that the legislature should continue to be sent into recess or recalled at the whim of the minority party – Zanu (PF). Our MPs have even allowed Zanu (PF) to set the agenda.

The same goes for the constitution-writing process. It appears Zanu (PF) has the upper hand. What we have seen and heard from COPAC does not inspire confidence or give us any reason for optimism.

It is simply mind boggling that Zimbabwe’s civil servants, teachers, nurses, doctors, policemen and women, and the underlings in the military, allow Zanu PF to accumulate wealth from our natural resources and other sources whilst the average person’s take home page is an unlivable wage. The Progressive Teachers Union of Zimbabwe has threatened to strike. Surely its time for Zimbabweans to engage non-cooperation and withdraw their services. Non-violent mass action is required to send a message to those in power that the citizens of this country deserve better. Read this VOA story on how Biti is “struggling” to find funds to pay wages.

Apparently the MDC has said that they’ll write a new constitution when they’re in power. Hmmm. That would like, when? And, in any event, the current constitution makes it very cushy for those in power to stay in power, and what real guarantee do we have that the MDC will be any different from ZPF. We don’t want promises, or assurances. We want a new constitution. Before the next election.

Fed up with the service provided by the Zimbabwe Electricity Supply Authority (ZESA)? Then make a note of these public hearings on ZESA service delivery and go along and make your voice heard:

Be advised that the Portfolio Committee on State Enterprises and Parastatals Management will be holding  public hearings on the operations of Zimbabwe Electricity Supply Authority (ZESA). The purpose of the public hearings is to gather views of the public on ZESA’s service delivery to the nation.

The public, interested groups, business persons, civic society organisations and the media are invited to the hearings which will be conducted in the areas mentioned below.

Contributions made will be considered by the Portfolio Committee in compiling a report to be tabled in Parliament.

Details of the Public Hearings  are as follows:

DATE
Friday, 10 June 2011

VENUE
Gweru Theatre Hall

TIME
1000 hrs -1300 hrs

DATE
Saturday, 11 June 2011

VENUE
Small City Hall (Bulawayo)

TIME
0900 hrs -1300 hrs

DATE
Sunday, 12 June 2011

VENUE
Masvingo Civic Centre

TIME
0900 hrs -1300 hrs

DATE
Monday, 13 June 2011

VENUE
Mutare Queens Hall

TIME
0900 hrs -1300 hrs

DATE
Tuesday, 14 June 2011

VENUE
Senate Chambers-Parliament Building (Hre)

TIME
0900 hrs -1300 hrs

Written submissions and correspondences on the above subject are welcome and should be addressed to:

The Clerk of Parliament
Attention: Portfolio Committee on State Enterprises and Parastatals Management
P.O. Box CY 298
Causeway
Harare

Given the state of our economy, the current model for Indigenisation cannot help but appear to be another political project that plays on the poverty and disenfranchisement of millions of Zimbabweans but in effect will only benefit a few.

Speaking in an interview with the state media Reserve Bank Governor, Dr Gono says
“It has to be realised that not everybody can fit or benefit from the equity-ownership model we are pursuing. Only a few will and that’s a fact.”

One has to wonder what exactly the agenda is behind the programme. It is no secret that the Minister responsible for the programme is a business man himself, neither is it a secret that our Ministers have used other such programmes to amass vast wealth at the expense of the ordinary Zimbabwean.

There are far too many young people with brilliant ideas who lack the capital to finance their enterprises. There are even more who are frustrated by unemployment and poverty. It is this generation that runs riotously through the streets demanding that foreign owned property and companies be given to Zimbabweans. While for now they might have been persuaded to riot in aid of the Minister of Indigenisation’s cause, it is only a matter of time before they turn on a government that is failing them.

If we are to carry out indigenisation then it must be transparent and it truly must benefit all Zimbabweans.  Indigenisation should not be limited to the expropriation of shares from the few companies that have survived the economic roller coaster of the last decade. Empowerment must be looked at holistically. Rather than simply dividing up an economic cake that is becoming smaller every day, let us consider ways in which we can add to it and create wealth. We cannot continue to brag about Zimbabwe’s vast mineral wealth and human capital without having Zimbabweans at the forefront of exploiting these resources for Zimbabwe’s gain.

Upcoming Lecture

‘A Shadow of Its Former Self? Robert Mugabe & Zimbabwe’s Education System’

by Peter Godwin, award winning foreign correspondent, author, documentary maker and screen writer

Chaired by Baroness Bonham Carter

on Thursday 9th June 2011 at 6pm, followed by a reception, 7.30-9pm at the New Academic Building, Lower Ground Floor (LG.09), London School of Economics

PLEASE RSVP TO: zimbabwe.cara [at] lsbu [dot] ac [dot] uk

Admission is FREE but donations welcome on the door, towards CARA’s work supporting Zimbabwean academics and the re-building of the country’s higher education system.