via I don’t know it all, says Biti as he calls for dialogue | SW Radio Africa July 30, 2014 by Nomalanga Moyo
Ex-Finance Minister Tendai Biti has agreed with President Robert Mugabe’s wife that no one person has all the answers to the Zim crisis, saying that is why dialogue is crucial.
Speaking last week, Grace said Biti had been arrogant at his inauguration as finance minister when he said he would not fail in his new role because he knows it all.
Biti said the same humility that Grace feels he lacked is also required of ZANU PF, and repeated his call for the ruling party to admit it has failed to fix the economy and consult Zimbabweans across the political divide for a solution.
“She is right that no one person or group has all the answers to the problems we are facing and that is why ZANU PF should agree to dialogue with all Zimbabweans.
“During my time as Finance Minister I used to visit every province before every budget to consult Zimbabweans, represented mainly by their associations ranging from informal traders, farmers, to business groups.
“The discussions I had during these outreach meetings were very enriching and that is the approach Zimbabwe should adopt. Dialogue and consensus should inform policy formulation because no-one knows everything and there I agree with Madam Mugabe,” Biti told SW Radio Africa.
The ruling ZANU PF party has however ruled out any national dialogue with other political parties despite worsening economic conditions.
“We don’t believe that there is any reason for that. We won elections on July 31st and we are the government of the day until 2018; we have no intention of relinquishing any power to an election loser,” ZANU PF junior spokesman Psychology Maziwisa said Wednesday, in reference to the MDC-T.
Maziwisa’s remarks contradict his superior Rugare Gumbo who recently expressed his party’s conditional willingness to talk to the MDC-T on the national crisis.
This latest u-turn is set to disappoint ordinary Zimbabweans who are bearing the consequences of ZANU PF’s economic mismanagement and lack of ideas.
Biti, who is also the secretary of the MDC Renewal Team, said ZANU PF should realise that Zimbabwe is on the verge of a total collapse and such grandstanding without results to show for it, would not help.
“Let’s be patriotic and humble enough to have dialogue as compatriots and find solutions to the question of the burning economy. People matter,” he said.
The Zimbabwe Social Democrats political group said ZANU PF’s decision to snub dialogue, when it has clearly failed to stem the meltdown, will tip the country over the edge.
The group’s secretary Wilbert Mukori also reminded ZANU PF that contrary to Maziwisa’s brag, the ruling party did not win but stole the July 31st elections.
Mukori said the crisis shows the ruling party’s lack of capacity to address the problems of corruption and lawlessness that are behind the economic meltdown.
“We condemn ZANU PF’s revised position to hang on to power although the party has clearly failed to deliver any economic recovery and thus drag the nation over the abyss,” Mukori said in a statement issued Tuesday.
COMMENTS
What an interesting remark from Madam disgrace. She is right of course but she should have pointed the first fingers at her husbands party. ZPF’s arrogance is mind blowing and legendary. ZPF think they know it all and have set themselves up for a majestic fall somewhere in the future when the sword of judgment falls. As a Christian nation I presume that we should know how much God abhors arrogance and such a total lack of humility and servanthood leadership that has led Zimbabwe into a deep abyss.
Oh and by the way Psychology, ZPF won nothing on July 31st 2013. judgment day will be a very interesting day; as I have always said. When the Rock becomes a Mountain and brings terrible judgment to the sins of the degraded nations of today I wonder how ZPF will explain away all the depth of deception and lies that our so called ruling party have become. Methinks all your arrogance and swagger will disappear into the mists and you will all become a grovelling, snivelling mass of fear in the face of TRUTH Himself. I would strongly suggest that you all repent as it the only way out for anyone of us.
Ummmmmmm zvinotapira
Biti was merely being diplomatic and gentleman on commenting on madam grace’s remarks. All Zimboz know Biti did not fail during his tenure. If anything Zim is where it is today becoz of GNU, and MDC-T specifically. Had it not been becoz misplaced priorities and corruption of ZANU PF, and Mugabe in particular, the country would have fully recovered.
Grace, if only she had the aptitude to comprehend, should by now know the simple truth that: when a country with as much potential a Zim fails its never due to a particular Minister who would have failed. If anyone, it can only be the highest authority of the country, who happens to be herself & her husband in this case.
zanu pf stole elections? From whom? Tsvangirai ka so y blame him he hav never lost its only he & we need peace .
Grace s attack on Biti was just a smoke screen. Biti is on ZPF pay roll. This was made to fool people thinking that ZPF is critical of this Chief MDC sell out.
Mahlaba
We all know that according to the Tswangirayi crowd; anyone who opposes their gukurahundi idol Tswangirayi, they are on ZANU PF payroll. There is nothing new here.
Tswangirayi is so holy to them; he should never be touched; yet we all know he is the one who used to drink Monday teas with gukurahundi Mugabe.
He is the one who defied SADC and continued with meetings with Mugabe that excluded Welshman Ncube, the third Principal in the GNU.
He is also the one who is amending the party constitution to align it with the ZANU PF party constitution.
In short – he copies everything he has learnt from his fellow gukurahundis in ZANU PF – not to mention marrying their women and living in their government house!!
You sound much better when you proffer ideas on how to turn things round for the poor Zimbo and get our country on its feet again.
This Tsvangson bashing is bordering on the obscene.
The guys are smart. Madam Mugabe they cannot bring in Biti into their fold without testing how we think. We are very much aware that Biti is in the third way project that was suggested long back by Jonathan Moyo. Now they are implementing. Biti, came into the fold via Gono. Gono is the preferred future President after coming through a senatorial post. Jonathan is the architect. Look at what he is did with Baba Jukwa saga and the junior army commanders. Biti is frothing at the mouth after having been shown how cheques are encashed if you play closer to ZPF ask ministers who swallowed line hook and sinker…..they cannot see beyond ZPF. Biti counted his lost days in the trenches for democracy hence his obsession with the person of Tsvangirai. Raise up your hand if there is a clean leader in the current government. Maybe you will find them but how many so why the reason demonizing Tsvangirai….satisfying the paymaster in order to take with him some of the sane leaders groomed in MDC T. Jonathan has the easiest task to convince Welshman so its easy to see that the fundis have strategized to go in the middle. If they have Madam Mugabe on their side, they have the women lot. One of their major challenge is grassroots support that is their nemesis…..hence the need to take away Tsvangirai ground support. However, it is monumental failure and the third way finances have gone the drain….because of wrong strategy…they should have waited for congress but mobilizing vigorously underground…..look wananchi maenda baba into political oblivion…even if you join ZPF today……
If Grace knows that no one knows it all, then she must give a lecture to her bedroom partner, Bob and not Biti. It’s stupidity at its worst for some ZANU PF MPs to talk about loosers, when they are worst losers. They have lost it, the economy is not existing. Sooner or later, they will unleash the youth to coax people to pay hat tax, greeting tax, breathing tax, coughing tax, blinking tax, height tax, fatness tax, laughing tax, walking tax, listening tax, Mugabe Tax, Grace tax, Zvimba tax, tax, tax, tax, vurovha tax.