via Mugabe has taken Zim back to 1958, Biti – New Zimbabwe 25 June 2014 by Staff Reporter
LEADERS of the MDC Renewal Team have accused President Robert Mugabe and Zanu PF of pocketing the spoils as the country is buffeted by serious economic problems, adding it was unacceptable that Zimbabweans still struggle for basics, 34 years after independence.
Led by Tendai Biti and Elton Mangoma, among others, the Renewal Team is in the process of forming a new opposition party after breaking away from the MDC-T following a bitter dispute over the leadership of Morgan Tsvangirai who has refused to step down.
Biti and Mangoma addressed supporters in Chinhoyi last weekend with the former finance minister accusing Mugabe and his administration of letting the developmental gains of the last half century go to waste.
“Our lives have gone to the era of 1958. We have no electricity, we have no water. We have got a national crisis and we cannot stand by and watch.
“That is why there is the renewal call. If there is good governance in any country then everything else flows. We cannot let past mistakes of Zimbabwe to revisit us.
Mangoma said the country was not benefiting from its reported diamond riches in the eastern Manicaland province due to corruption in the Zanu PF-led government.
“We do not even know where the proceeds from our natural resources such as diamonds and platinum are going because of corruption in Zanu PF,” he said.
“As the MDC Renewal Team, we are going to change this because we want Zimbabwe to prosper. We want every Zimbabwean to enjoy the fruits of this country.”
Meanwhile the group’s spokesperson, Jacob Mafume has revealed that they would hold their congress in March next year, hinting at a number of possible changes which include adopting orange as the party’s official colour.
“We will have our congress in March when we will look at rebranding the party and until that congress is held the status quo would be maintained,” Mafume said Wednesday.
“We are renewing and we are looking at all aspects. There are certain things that will have to be discarded, while others would be maintained.”
Explaining the choice of orange, Mafume added: “The significance of the colour orange is that of a rising sun. It gives an image of a new birth. It is a colour that has been used by a lot of pro-democracy movements.
“Other issues that are coming out in our consultation (include) the desire to be a pan-African party, the issue of ideological rethinking in terms of how we redefine our social democratic movement and how we engage.”
COMMENTS
Wishing you the best in your Renewal exercise. I for one will be very happy if your re-branding comes out with a totally different party name, not MDC Renewal, MDC Peter or MDC B as this had caused a lot of confusion in the past where splinter groups did not want to part ways with the original name, for selfish gains I believe. Examples are Zanu PF Zanu Ndonga, Zanu Mwenje, MDC T, MDC M, MDC N and MDC99. Now Biti and Co. are accusing Tsvangirai of personalising the party yet its power hungry people like Biti himself and Co. who cause this by sticking to the original name, then the extensions would come as way of showing the differences. Had Ncube and others came up with different names, we would not have seen these MDC Ts, Ns and the like. I think something must be done in future, to do away with these extensions for they are up to no good. Whoever breaks away from the main party should find his/her own totally different name even if he/she is the founder of the original name.
Biti, in 1958 I was seven years old and lived in the fairly remote border outpost of Plumtree, from where the road to Bulawayo was tar-strip. BUT we had uninterrupted water and electricity supplies. Zimbabwe has regressed far further than 1958!
100pc right Angela. We were far better off then. At least we could make a plan. In Hartley (Chegutu) we also had water and electricity. We also had food and our staff never went hungry nor did they have to worry about school fees or medical treatment. Actually it was Mcmillans ‘Winds of change policy and Harold Wilson’s opposition to any colonial country to be successful under minority rule. The poms not only stuffed it up but gave Mugabe an idea of how way t would be to rob the rich to pay the poor. Unfortunately he forgot about the paying the poor bit.
Yep you right on Angie..Biti knows nothing about 1958, as I doubt if he was even a twinkle in daddys eyes…Those were the “GOOD OLE DAYS” for sure.
In 1958 I was five I had my tonsils removed in hospital, we had electricity and running water, things were far better then, he would have to go back much further than 1958 to find the level to which the country had declined
I see at times that some people are bad mouthing Biti.
I believe he is the one that can get us out of this mess we are in. He is smart, and aggressive.
I suspect that the people that are against him, are Zanu PF’s.
The bad guys in Zanu have every reason to fear him.
We need to support this man. He is also a patriot.
Tiger they are not criticising Tendai Biti, simply pointing out that Zimbabwe in 1958 wasn’t such a bad place to live if you were white and privileged. I know because I was one of those, however some of the rural areas, and I do not mean Plumtree Town where I was at school, I mean places like the North Nata area where there was no electricity and water was only available from boreholes or streams, perhaps it wasn’t quite the same idyllic existence. There was segregation and racism and that was the ugly side of the equation. However the problem was much simpler as in 1958 there were only 2.75m Zimbabweans. The massive population growth in the last 50 years which increased the population 4 fold has created problems which have been exacerbated by ZANU PF thievery of resources. Certainly Tendai Biti does not know what Zimbabwe was like in 1958 but he obviously cannot believe it was worse than now and in that he is in many instances correct.
Hi Kevin, I was commenting on many of the articles
that has been written on Biti, and what the readers wrote below them. He was getting a fair amount of criticism, and obviously it must be from Zanu PF
For me it is Biti who is very much Zanu PF. Biti(The Insulter) has not offered any hints as to what his party stands for and what he himself has to offer other than just insult other people especially Tsvangirai. Now he compares 2014 to 1958 when you can tell that he has no idea what 1958 looked like. It looks like he just plucked a year from the air. That’s not on, I expect a more educated guess esp. from people who purport to be educated(whatever that means).
Kevin Watson, you talk a load of sh*t you ignoramus!
Why do you insult KW like that, you’re the ignoramus Steele!
He is totally correct in saying that the whites were privileged and there was ugly racism in the equation.
However, even for the ‘laborers, or as we called them, the ‘Natives’, there was plenty of food, (grown by them on plots or farm rations) water, electricity, schooling and hospital care.
There was never talk of cholera, diarrhea, malnutrition or AIDS, in 1958. There can be no excuse for the separation of races and the privileged few, but you have to go back to 1858 to compare the Zimbabwe of today!
You should apologize publicly Steele, you are a disgrace, and a fellow ‘whitey’ at that……..
shame, shame, shame on you!
biti
gono s lawyer. when he got to be finance minister wanted to sack gono. what has changed now. sponsored guns like job sikhala who at one time was accusing mdc of voilence. now the pieces of silver from the dictator are exhausted comes back like a prodigal son
A point well made by Tendai, but wat is the plan, the wayfoward Mr Biti, comparing history and present ll not bring bread and butter on the taffel!
Biti & Mangoma relook your past when you were ministers do we have touchable things to prove that you were patriotic .So its better you leave our president alone. In fact you have to thank the president of what you are today.
What an idiot, leave the (stolen Nikuv election) president alone!!!!! To the devil with him!
Single-handedly Mugarbage ruined the prosperous Rhodesia, raped, murdered, plundered and wasted present Zimbabwe, and all we are waiting for now is his demise…..
Pray for his DEATH and the REAL ELECTIONS in 2018 or before, when we could have Civil War!
all will be revealed shortly
I see a number of comments seem to be from white people who had it all in Rhodesia. I was born in 1958 to parents who were both teachers at a school barely 15 kilometres outside Mutare. There was no running water and electricity.
Much as Mugabe has messed up big time it is nauseating for white people to seek to create an impression that Rhodesia was rosy gor all of us.
No one is saying it was rosy for the ‘Natives’, but having admitted the wrongs of segregation, you have to admit that life under White rule was better in many ways.
Yes, you have one-man-one-vote and supposed independence, but what independence?
Mugabage has you all strapped, unemployed, hungry, poor, disrespected, unrepresented, disenfranchised and begging for hand-outs, unless you are in ZANU-PF!
Get real, there is no excuse for unfiar, but not cruel, Colonial rule, just as there was no excuse for the n’Debele’s Gukaruhundi, or m’Zilikatzi’s massacres, but face it, this is no picnic for Zimbabweans.
Independent in Name, Imprisoned in Truth……
I see a number of comments seem to be from white people who had it all in Rhodesia. I was born in 1958 to parents who were both teachers at a school barely 15 kilometres outside Mutare. There was no running water and electricity. The school was only electrified in 1984.
Much as Mugabe has messed up big time it is nauseating for white people to seek to create an impression that Rhodesia was rosy gor all of us.
That’s not quite what is being attempted, here. Everyone — whether they will admit it or not — understands that the Rhodesian years weren’t peachy for all involved and alive at that time.
Forget about the skin of people commenting @Ruramai, its neither here nor there. The facts are there for all to see. For once let us be colour blind and face the facts.
Robert Mugabe and his cohorts have brought back Zim to the stone age. Today only the elite looters are thriving with rest of populace struggling to make ends meet.
The freedom we thought we would have is confined to only a select number of people whilst the rest of the population live in fear of Mugabe’s police who can just arrest people and acquit them later only after making sure they suffer as much as possible.
Today people are dying of simple diseases which no one should be dying of especially when Zim is not a war zone and yet these are the circumstances that Mugabe has created. He and his cronies get their medical attention from abroad and even if it means just a scratch on the back is needed. What about the rest of the population some with no passport? Who is going to attend to their needs.
Their children go to school abroad and every school holidays they fly home back and forth whilst in Zim schools that used to have books now have no books, school libraries have become a luxury. Why should they care when their children will see none of that?
I could go on and on @Ruramai. This has nothing to do with skin colour – its the bare facts. At least Smith looked after his own. Mugabe is only there for the politburo and army and associated looters.
“Messed up Big Time”, is a massive understatement!
* No employment
* No abundant food
* No proper roads
* No viable airline
* No experienced farmers
* No safe hospitals
* No reserve of medicines
* No decent schooling
* No reliable electricity
* No easy Forex
* No domestic manufacturing
* No bustling industry
* No real mining
* No abundant forests
* No racial harmony
* No true democracy
* No freedom of speech
* No freedom of the Press
* No freedom to gather
* NO InterFresh oranges
* No real Opposition
* No urban shelter
* No elderly security
* NO infant safety
And when I say “No”, I don’t mean “zero” but
nothing to speak of, as in “small chance”.
Yes, Ruramai, you are right in that Rhodesian whites
can overlook the hardships of the ‘Natives’, but just look at the list above and tell me if we are better of.
As I said before,
“Independent in Name, Imprisoned in Fact”.
Rhodesia was not perfect, but it was paradise to what we all have now
No, Rhodesia was FAR from perfect, but there is no hope at all of Zim getting back on its feet the way Rhodesia was until Zim rids itself of the leaches now running the country…….thieves, crooks, and all manner of corruption must be stopped and punished……for all it’s faults, there was NONE of that in the old Rhodesia, and the rule of law was intact……
Biti, zimbabwe has gone further back than 1958 maybe thats as far back as you can count? Even in the iron gae there was mining and manufacturing and pleanty of natural resources and food. The African in zimbabwe although dressed as europens are further back than the 1700’s. And I may add that pre history theft and stealing wholesale of the countrys assets wasnt happening. Welcome to the dark age that zimbabwe is in.
Milmo, you are horribly wrong!
There was theft, marauding, slaying,
killing and Kingdoms falling, women
and children stolen and many atrocities –
in the Iron Age and before the 1700’s.
Just go to Wikipedia and read of the pre-
Historic age of Zimbabwe and Southwern Africa
in general.
Excerpt:
First came the
Hadza, (Camaroon -5000bc)
Khwe (Khoi),(Bantu/Bushman)
Nyanga, (Nyasaland)
Nguni,
Kung,
Tswa, (Botswana)
Ronga,
Tonga,
Swazi,
Zulu,
n’Debele,
SHONA – last!
Euuropean…..
So, who are the latest modern usurpers now!
The Brits and the Shonas, you see!
Zimbabwe never belonged to the Shona,
like the British, they just TOOK IT!
http://mathildasanthropologyblog.wordpress.com/2008/04/29/the-bantu-people/
GOOD , Biti and Mangoma. That is very GOOD.
TIGER SHONA l also think that you are Zanu PF for supporting Biti since he has got backers in Zanu PF trying to destabilise the MDC thru this scumbag called Biti & Mangoma …..
Pamberi na Biti. Forward with people that challenge fossilized tradition. Down with elected officials who turn themselves into chiefs.
We have been taken back to worse than 1958. And the opposition aided and abetted in this. maybe not on purpose but the lack of wisdom on their part is breath-taking. For Zimbabwe NO repentance! No restoration. This nation must go back to 1980 and fix our history with God and with each other. Where is the Church?
I just wonder where Biti thinks he is taking the fight to get rid of Bob and his ZANU, to?
Okay Tsvangson is a spent force but is rubbishing him the way to inspire and lead a tired populace?
When, at the same time he is hobnobbing with the likes of G Gono?
I have to point out that Rumrai has a point. I think we are all adult enough to understand that these kind of debates do a lot of good,especially if we are honest with each other. A few days ago I said a famous saying which a person I respect who comments here says is written on her facebook page. Could you Walk in Rumirai’s shoes for one mile in 1958 and then comment? The facts are that although these problems were there the life style of all improved eventually though not at the same pace as each other.Can I blame the whites that took the opportunities that were available to them? What is happening now is we are going backwards. In 1958 there was not much difference here than was in the USA and Great Britain. They had serious discrimination issues. The world has moved forward and we even have the unthinkable then in 1958. A black President in the US of A. Here we go backwards with a president who encourages Racism. As adults we should put our past to debate as well so that we might secure our future and say I want to be judged by who I am, not what I am. I mean, Judge me the way you see me, love me the way you see me, hate me the way you see me.
I HOPE MBITI AND COMPANY WILL BE ABLE TO DO LIKE WHAT 1 DICTATOR MANAGED TO DO DEPOSIT PROCEEDS FROM OIL INTO EVERY UMEMPLOYED ZIMBABWEAN AS A SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY LIKE AN UNEMPLOYMENT BENEFIT FUND.
WE WILL WAIT AND SEE IF THEY CAN DO THE SAME IN DIAMOND MONEY AND PLATNUM MONEY KKKKKKKKKKKK WHAT A JOKE THESE GUYS
Writing in CAPITALS is bad manners!
GADAFFI MANAGED TO DEPOSIT MONEY INTO LIBAYNS FROM PROCEED OF THE OIL WHICH WAS A NOBLE IDEA
Writing in CAPITALS is shouting!
Swagman maybe we need to shout some times. I hear him fine.
@ Rhodesians
If I put myself in Biti’s shoes, “we” is refereing to the black, discriminated African in 1958. That term ‘we’has never been an all race collective noun or superlative in Africa becoz when a black man uses it, he referes to his kin, and when the Rhodesians say “we” were well off, obviously they refer to themselves as the white priveledged elite. Lets not confuse each other here. Zimbabwe unlike Rhodesia has no connotations for elite, privileged white people. I am surprised there are still a few hardcore, ungratefull colonialists remaining and drooling about the good ol’ Rhodesian times. Though some may see it otherwise since we are all entitled to our opinions,I wish to make the following brave announcement to our friends , “…Folks,you on the wrong side of town pack and wing it!!!.
@Doctor Do more I don’t think anybody “pack and wing it”. After they “pack and wing” someone will tell the Ndebeles to “pack and wing” then the mixed race “pack and wing it” the the Victories will “pack and wing it” then the Tongas to “pack and wing it”. There is no one here with clean hands, but that is historically. The current crop are not in the history books yet. They are the now. The white people that are amongst us weather you like it or not are a Tribe in Zimbabwe.
Well said, maybe Mugarbage and ZANU-PF should “pack and wing it” this afternoon, with dis-Grace, Bona (non fide) and Robber Jnr.
Simba (sic) can fly them all out to Malaysia, in a dilapidated old Air Zimbabwe airplane, duct tape and all!
Maybe it will disappear over the south Indian Ocean!
@Doctor do little – a very good contribution – in the end we are all people.
Bulls*#t Doctor do “Little”.
Reminiscing about the past is ‘history’.
Everyone is entitled to reminisce, right or wrong!
That doesn’t mean the ‘whites’ here agree
it was right.
All that is in the past.
However, that having been said, think on this, if you didn’t read my previous lists –
I was a product of Colonialism, a child of ’58, a privileged white boy, born and bred in Africa, as were my parents.
We were usurpers like the Shona, killers like the Shona, just ask the Khoi, Rozwe and m’Korohoro.
No one has a claim to atrocity or ‘tribalism’, not even the Shona.
You talk about the few ‘ungrateful’ Rhodesians, who do you mean?
Do you perhaps mean the white ‘Africans’ that only want to see that what Britain handed back to Mugarbage and his band of thieves, was preserved, nurtured and cared for, instead of being raped, pillaged, destroyed and discarded.
Be ‘grateful’ that us few ex-Rhodesians, are still here, hoping, praying, pleading, waiting and trying to hold this fragile Country of Ours together –
yet, we
“Cry my for our Beloved Country, we genuinely do!
Swagman that is exactly where some of us differ. You will never ever understand what we are about. NBS will,Reverand will,Rumirai will,Angela Wigmore will,Ngoto Zimbwa will,Dube will, ad so many that debate here.”Be ‘grateful’ that us few ex-Rhodesians” are you drinking man? I don’t care and I don’t need to be grateful. Why do you have to try to talk in circles? I have friends of all colors tribes and races. I have many here that I respect on this forum. Did you hear me talk about ungrateful Rhodesians? In one paragraph you say Well said.. Then you say Bulls*#t Doctor do “Little”. If you want to be taken seriously please be audible.
I think he meant Doctor do alot.
Let me make it quite clear, the profile Doctor do alot is not me.Please read before you send. This can never be recalled. Not on the internet anyway.
Whoever @Swagman meant, I seriously think there is no need to insult anybody. We argue facts, disagree or agree but I think there is no place for insulting anyone and for a fact I have never seen a post from @Doctor do little which has never been well thought and reasoned and which shows respect to the other party.
Oops – I meant to say: I have never seen a post from @Doctor do little which has never been well thought and reasoned and which shows disrespect to the other party.
Thanks @wensil I think we have gone through too much as a people to be carrying petty grudges of things that were done by people who are no longer here. Ian Smith for all his faults did try to correct the mistakes that were made by going to Lancaster house. How was he to know that this new man would do this? Mugabe had a chance (2008) to have his own Lancaster house. He still has. He is alive is he not?
Could be the article is sayinig that the country has been taken back to 1958 for the ordinary people while the bigwigs are sitting pretty with their villas that have generators, businesses grabbing here and there, flying here and there to placeas far as Singapore for medical treatment (while the ordinary man in the street can not access basics), – they are living in the modern day world
Thanks @wensil I think we have gone through too much as a people to be carrying petty grudges of things that were done by people who are no longer here. Ian Smith for all his faults did try to correct the mistakes that were made by going to Lancaster house. How was he to know that this new man would do this? Mugabe had a chance (2008) to have his own Lancaster house. He still has. He is alive is he not?
In 1958 many of the natives were quite happy to just sit around a camp fire every night without electricity and running water. Nobody complained that they were deprived of modern technology. Culturally it was not a necessity and agriculture still made the country prosper. I reminisce of those days and less of the dog eats dog of today. Farm labour in this era did not feel deprived of electric lights, price of living, insurance, where their next meal was coming from if they were working on commercial farms. The farmer looked after them, provided food, schooling, drinking water and a job. They still had their homelands, families to go back to or send their wages to their family. I was there so no body can say this was a myth. There were some bad eggs but you cannot paint every farmer with the same brush. We were in the country for a hundred years.
Rhodesia was a young country and no text book was written of how things should turn out. I think the majority voters were unaware of how their own flesh and blood could turn around and bite their own kith and kin after being voted in. It is black against black now because the white is out of the equation. It is in their hands to realise a compromise with the rest of the world and other nations is the only way to survive.Favoritism will get them nowhere.