Zanu PF can’t even run its own businesses – MuckRaker

via Zanu PF can’t even run its own businesses – The Zimbabwe Independent January 3, 2014 MuckRaker

Zanu PF is broke, a recent article in the Mail&Guardian and carried by Southern Eye has revealed.

The party is in such dire straits it had to rely on a donation from President Robert Mugabe, an internal report by the party’s central committee disclosed.

“The party through the generous intervention of the president, printed and distributed regalia and other items,” the report said.
Zanu PF made a provision of US$2,6 million for its conference last month and interest charges.

Bank and interest charges mostly relating to its overdrafts stand at US$701 721. The party owes US$124 194 in telephone and Internet bills which stretch back from previous years, the report said.

Membership fees raked in US$180 831 but the biggest earnings come from a US$1,9 million government grant and US$3 million from secret well-wishers. Zanu PF’s own businesses in the M&S Syndicate were performing badly.

“M&S continues to struggle to meet its obligations considering that only two party companies pay dividends,” the report states.
It says its businesses are making huge losses for reasons ranging from antiquated machinery to sanctions-related problems. The party was looking for new investors it says.

It is known to hold interests in Tregers and Catercraft.

Charity begins at home

But what is remarkable about this central committee report is its disclosure that Zanu PF can’t even run its own businesses but aspires to run the country.

Corruption was said to be rife within the party as there were reports of officials helping themselves to party food relief packages, the grain loan scheme and the president’s well-wishers inputs scheme.
“Although rich members are looting, a considerable number of party cadres are reeling in poverty,” the report states.

Zanu PF continues to blame sanctions and sabotage for the stagnating economy. But it acknowledges that unless the economic situation improves and production picks up, the party will struggle. What we are getting in the meantime is a propaganda offensive which claims all will be well once Zim-Asset kicks in.

How many claims have there been since 1990 of these miracle cures from Esap, Zimprest to MTP?

On every occasion we were told the same thing. That these policy-driven formulas would be the answer to a comatose economy if only this or that situation is first addressed. Nothing worked because the same old apparatchiks were running the show.

A loota continua

An emblematic case was published in NewsDay this week. Didymus Mutasa has warned activists against grabbing other people’s property. This ran against government’s empowerment he said.

His remarks followed reports that senior party activists in Chinhoyi were pressing to take over an old people’s home founded by an 87 year-old widow.

It was “a cock-and-bull” story, Mutasa said doubting its existence. Only last month the president was in Chinhoyi preaching how the gospel of empowerment should go, Mutasa said meaning how it should be run.
He vowed to get to the bottom of the matter and deal with similar cases across the country at a time Zimbabwe was battling to repair its battered image on the international stage.

Mutasa needs to be congratulated for making the right noises. But the reality cannot be disguised. Most of the biggest land grabbers are in Chinhoyi.

And who can forget the arrest of the 21 Chinhoyi farmers and their detention on spurious grounds in 1998. Who occupies those farms now?
“President Mugabe had made it clear,” Mutasa claimed, “that empowerment does not mean grabbing other people’s property”.
Since when?

Zanu PF has been brazenly grabbing people’s properties since 2000. Hundreds of farms have been seized and people’s livelihoods destroyed. Senior policemen, army officers and politicians have been involved. Farm workers have been disposessed in their thousands.
When did that policy change?

Preach on!

‘Where political supremacy is a monopoly of a few powerful kleptomaniacs, opposition is the slow and painful starvation of the masses, and hard work no longer rewards as much as unquestioning obedience to power.”
These are not the sentiments of a private newspaper columnist but none other than the Herald’s Reason Wafawarova.
He adds: “Patronage politics create an environment where condescending politicians manipulate the behaviour of all to enlarge their power tentacles.”
This is what we have been harping on about for years. It seems Wafawarova has only recently discovered this reality.
“It is sad that the old adage that says he who does not work shall not eat has been replaced by a notorious new doctrine that says he who does not acquiesce to the diktats of power shall not eat,” went on Wafawarova.

Pea next to mountain

‘There is no doubt the suspended ZBC chief executive officer owes his luxurious four years of inconceivable profligacy more to perfidious obedience to power than to any imaginable measure of merit or logic.”
Unfortunately Muchechetere is only a tip of the iceberg you have been so strenuously defending Cde Wafawarova.

“Perhaps it is time all the lies flying around about the true status of our economy are exposed so that by comparing the lies we may at least come up with a semblance of the truth,” contended Wafawarova.
Indeed, the fable of the “illegal” sanctions being the cause of all of Zimbabwe’s problems should be exposed for what it is.

“The egregious sin of ZDERA now stands like a pea next to the mountain compared to the scandalous conduct of some of our own leadership in industry and politics.”
Amen to that! Let’s hope this Damascene moment is not temporary.

Prophecy crunch time

Finally does anyone still remember the “prophecy” made early on in 2013 that mysterious gold will fall from the heavens this year, setting off a rush that will see many poor Zimbabweans getting rich.

This was one of self-proclaimed prophet Emmanuel Makandiwa’s predictions which went bust in 2013. He predicted that people in most parts of the country would be “picking” the precious mineral from the ground.

Nothing could be further from the truth as Zimbabweans are worse off now than at the beginning of 2013.

Makandiwa had also predicted that in 2013 three African countries will fight to gain independence and fight against “the dragon”. A prominent African soccer coach, Makandiwa had also said, would be shot dead by one of his players after an international tournament.

He also “saw” the rise of a new capital city in 2013 that will relegate Harare to ordinary city status.

Not to be outdone, Makandiwa’s colleague Uebert Angel has declared that Liverpool will win the English Premier League title this season. We certainly won’t be holding our breath.