via Zanu PF stole Xmas – Tsvangirai – DailyNews Live by Ndakaziva Majaka and Kaleen Gombera 21 DECEMBER 2013
Opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai yesterday accused President Robert Mugabe’s Zanu PF of “stealing” Christmas from the people.
Delivering his end of year address at the party’s Harvest House headquarters in the capital yesterday, Tsvangirai said Zanu PF had failed to deliver on the promises they made to the citizenry in the three months that they have been in office.
“I am fully aware that this is certainly going to be a bleak Christmas with little or nothing to share,” Tsvangirai said.
“The nation is in a dire state with indicators pointing to a nation on quick strides to the chaos and collapse of 2008.
“It is clear the current government stole Christmas from Zimbabweans. Hunger is stalking the nation while food and farming inputs are being distributed selectively and continue to be used as a political weapon.”
For most Zimbabweans, Santa Claus will be a World Food Programme (WFP) worker distributing a basin of emergency maize meal.
The MDC leader cited cash shortages as the main reason Zimbabweans will not have a decent Christmas.
“There is a serious liquidity crunch which has led to cash riots, including at a bank owned by a Zanu PF minister where riot police had to be brought in to silence the genuine demand by innocent civil servants who simply wanted their cash,” the former Prime Minister told the press briefing.
Tsvangirai also dismissed the $4,1billion national budget tabled before Parliament by Finance minister Patrick Chinamasa.
“The illegitimate government yesterday presented what it called a budget at a time when the country has no money and revenue inflows are dwindling,” Tsvangirai said. “Presenting a deficit budget is the greatest crime anyone can ever commit to the country they serve.”
He said the “ambitious budget” was bizarre at a time government was drowning in debt.
“Chinamasa’s budget merely celebrated the collapse of the formal economy and did not address de-industrialisation,” he said. “It is enough proof of the incapacity of this government to move the country forward.
“To suggest that the economy will grow by 6, 1 percent is a mere fantasy while crafting a $4, 1 billion budget which is unfunded, stretches the patience of Zimbabweans too far.”
Experts say the $4, 1 billion budget failed to inspire confidence. The Finance minister himself admitted it was policy based and grossly short on funding. Of the $4 billion, $3, 5 billion will go towards recurrent expenditure- crowding out pressing needs- to do with economic revival.
The former Prime Minister alleged Zanu PF plagiarised MDC policies to craft its Zimbabwe Agenda for Sustainable Socio-Economic Transformation (ZimAsset).
“The programme is a shoddy cut-and-paste job of some aspects of the mid-term policy, the Global Water Partnership and the MDC’s Agenda for Real Transformation. There is no clarity how this broke government will fund this policy programme,” he said.
“The clueless Zanu PF leadership is peddling a policy programme that it is calling ZimAsset when to all intends and purposes, it should actually be called ZimLiability.”
ZimAsset is a new economic blueprint drafted by the Zanu PF government meant to spearhead the turnaround and development of the economy over the next five years.
Analysts say Zimbabwe is known for crafting impressive economic blueprints that end up unimplemented. The country has come up with 14 economic blueprints since independence.
The former union leader also blasted Zanu PF for peddling “inaccurate unemployment statistics”, saying the stats were a “ludicrous insult” to the learned populace of Zimbabwe, whose literacy rate is more than 90 percent.
“This government announced shocking self-serving statistics which show the country as having an unemployment rate of only 11 percent, they told us that university graduates selling airtime are employed,” he said.
A survey shows that the majority of university students are unemployed, years after graduating.
At least 30 000 graduates are churned out from universities and tertiary colleges every year, according to the survey.
“We expect more seriousness from those who everyday falsely claim they have an overwhelming mandate from the people when all we can see is overwhelming famine of ideas on how to run the country,” Tsvangirai said.
COMMENTS
Mr Tsvangirai, Go back to 2008… You had the perfect opportunity to get this bunch of incompetent lunatics removed at an earlier date, just like you now say, they’ve plagiarised your policies and you’ve handed them an extended stay in power at the cost of generations to come. You should have gone fishing in 2008.
What Johann is saying Mr Tsvangirai is that you facilitated Zanu PF to steal Christmas whilst you were too busy fishing for women
Stupid comments from stupid people.
Does the truth hurt Peter?
It does not hurt but what he is saying is true. How many women do you have, be honest and tell me if that has stopped you from doing what you are supposed to do?
Also remember Nzou that maybe those women are the ones who were chasing him. U never know with politics someone was using women to destroy him politically, seen!
Yes Peter and he fell for the age old trick
That’s no augment Tosh
U may 2 b a dictator urself ur party asked u 2 step down n u refused,,its lyk u waitin 2 cling into power 4 decades 2,,,we no longer hev trust in u former PM
No need to bad mouth Morgan, stick to the topic of his speech…Violence, theft and incompetence, lack of trust in zanu therefor a stolen Xmas….We look for to the revival of the economy in the new year then Johann, Grudge et al
How many of you brave men will have the guts to put yourself out there to be beaten, humiliated and have your wife murdered by the scum bullies that scourge our country and then take the wrath of “losing the election by corruption”? Morgan may have made mistakes and so what if he was dating woman? Suddenly he becomes a womaniser, fishing for woman!!?? He was even set up there too but it seems like he landed a good one who would be great as a first lady unlike the thief we have at the moment!
All have sinned and come short of the Glory of God, there are none righteous…no not one…even you guys who hide and condemn.God is firmly in controll and he will take care of the situation when we let Him get on and do it!!
President, they will literary steal anything from us, our monies, our victory, our life, our social justice, i agree.
No amount of mudslinging will change our perception of our leader. Mugabe told us that at the insistance of his ancestor Bona, he cheated on his wife the late Amai Sally. He was, according to him, seeking to sire a child to appease Bona. What does this tell us? Mugabe never used a condom with a married Grace whom i doubt she used one with his former husband whom we don’t know how many women he beded. Sexual morals do not determine political agendas. Otherwise we would be talking wife snatching and romantical involvement within Zanu pf.
We formed the MDC together, faultered together when we all thought they were human and formed the GNU. We faultered together when we participated in a flawed election process where pointers showed that nothing was to come out of it. Ours is a revolution.
The fact remains Tsvangirai this or that people have got no faith in zanu no matter what .