'Zanu PF wants to steal
votes'
12 JULY 2013 10:39PM
HARARE - In this
question and answer interview with Honourable Jameson Timba (JZT), the Daily News’Executive Deputy Editor,
Chris Goko (CG), graphically illustrates how the odds are stacked against
political opponents of Zanu PF in the forthcoming elections, beginning with
Sunday’s so-called special voting.
CG:
Hon. Jameson Timba, you are once again representing your party in the Mt.
Pleasant Constituency and tomorrow there is special voting in your constituency.
What are the issues?
JZT: Well Mt. Pleasant Constituency houses Morris Depot, Tomlinson
Depot, KG6 and Pomona Barracks, and a number of applications for special voting
from these institutions have been filed with Zec.
CG: How
many?
JZT: My understanding is that there are about 7 000 police details
and 140 army personnel and 2 000 prison officers.
CG: Are all
these personnel voting in your constituency?
JZT: Well,
according to our voters’ roll as of May 2013, there were approximately 3 200
soldiers registered under the KG6 address, 2 780 under Tomlinson Depot, 1 912
under Morris Depot and 832 under Harare Remand Prison.
CG: Do
all these people reside at these premises?
JZT: Chris, firstly I do
not know and I have no way of knowing who resides at the above institutions
other than the information generally known by members of the public. It is the
duty of the Constituency Registrar under the supervision of Zec to
verify.
I raised
issues, in writing, with Zec with respect to what I perceived as anomalies.
Firstly, KG6 is our national army headquarters and to the best of my knowledge,
it does not accommodate 3 200 persons. Our army personnel who work there reside
at Dzivaresekwa State Barracks and they are ferried to work by bus every
day.
With respect to Morris Depot, it is largely a training depot where
recruits stay there for about six months and thereafter they are deployed to
their areas countrywide where they reside and work and as such should vote
from.
With respect to
prison officers, I am not sure whether new prisons are going to be constructed
during the election period to necessitate the deployment of prison officers away
from their prison guard duties in their wards and thus qualifying them for
special voting.
CG: What did Zec say?
JZT: I was
not favoured with the courtesy of a response from the Zec Chair with regards to
the anomalies that I raised with the roll affecting security personnel, but in
my correspondence I indicated to them that I will purchase the voters’ roll
after it is closed after July 9, 2013 and see whether they have corrected the
roll and registered people in the wards that they reside.
CG: But
why did you not push for correction of the roll?
JZT: Look, it
is the responsibility of Zec to ensure that we have a credible roll. The
anomalies of the roll were not restricted to the security establishments only,
but also other areas.
For instance, a whole team of persons who reside at
a farm in Mazowe District called Kaduku Farm or Teviotdale Plot were registered
in Mt. Pleasant.
I pointed this out to Zec. We also have a case of people
who do not reside at Bannockburn Compound registered, with at least 27 of them
registered on one address. This is crazy.
CG: What next then if
Zec have not taken steps to correct the anomalies?
JZT: Firstly,
I reserve my rights at law and if the anomalies impact on the result of the
election, then I will challenge it. Secondly, I also believe that every
Zimbabwean including the security personnel should be given a right to vote,
albeit in their correct wards.
Thirdly, I do not see how the agenda of
those who planned this distortion of the roll will be
advanced.
CG: What do you mean when you say you don’t see know
how their agenda will be advanced?
JZT: The MDC, as you might be
aware pushed for the amendment of the Electoral Act so that security personnel
do not vote in their barracks. The Special Voting System now gives them freedom
to vote in secret and for whoever they want.
This system is such that
no-one will know how they would have voted and their votes will be counted
together with the rest of the civilians’ votes on July 31.
In addition,
the mood amongst civilians in the constituency is to protect the constituency
from being securitised, so they will vote in their multitudes come July
31.
CG: But there are reports which were saying that security
personnel were told that the serial numbers of their special vote application
forms will be linked to the serial number of the ballot
paper.
JZT: That is hogwash. If that was said they were lied to
in an attempt to intimidate them. There is absolutely no link and Zec has made
this clear. Their vote is secret.
CG: So they have nothing to
worry?
JZT: Absolutely. They, like any other citizen have
suffered under Zanu PF rule and they want change for themselves and the future
of their children.
They want better salaries, better education facilities
and a functioning economy, which can only be realised under an MDC
government.
They are tired of a system where only those on the top and
those who are connected are enjoying the fruits of our
country.
CG: What are you offering the people of Mount
Pleasant?
JZT: Chris, I am a member of a team; The MDC Real
Transformation Team. I am offering Mt Pleasant competent representation at local
and national level in transforming our country, informed by five key policy
pillars, that is, good governance based on the rule of law, and an end to Zanu
PF’s governance culture of impunity, patronage, corruption and
fear.
Secondly, Economic Reconstruction, Growth and Employment Creation
driven by domestic and foreign investment to resuscitate our collapsed
economy.
Thirdly, social transformation that will render health and
education services accessible and affordable, including transforming the State
from one that is feared to one that cares for its citizens.
Fourthly, the
immediate restoration of broken relationships regionally and
internationally.
Finally, the implementation of the devolution provisions
of the Constitution. In this regard, I will advocate for the decentralisation to
the Mt. Pleasant District Office of the following: The localisation of the
Engineering and Works Department for the repair of roads; localisation of the
repair of streetlights; localisation of the management of public health
facilities such as clinics; localisation of the management of public education
facilities; localisation of the management of council security services; and a
share of the rates and service fees paid by Mt. Pleasant residents to be
ploughed back into the district.
Zim pledges
quick results after election
http://www.news24.com/
2013-07-13 16:18
Harare - Zimbabwe's
electoral body on Saturday vowed to announce the results
of the 31 July 31
presidential polls, pitting veteran President Robert
Mugabe against rival
Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai, within five days.
Officials had delayed
announcing elections results in 2008 for six weeks
when Mugabe came second
to Tsvangirai in the first round of the leadership
race.
"The fifth
of August is the date on which, come hail, come thunder, we must
announce
the results. That is what the law says," said Rita Makarau,
chairperson of
the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC).
Under a new constitution, the
ZEC must announce the results of the
presidential election within five days
of voting, but results for members of
parliament are issued earlier, she
said..
In 2008, Tsvangirai's first round lead fell just short of an
outright
majority , but Mugabe went on to be declared the winner of a
presidential
run-off which Tsvangirai had pulled out of in protest over
violence.
The July 31 crunch vote will end the pair's power-sharing
government that
was brokered with Mugabe as president and Tsvangirai as
prime minister to
end an economic meltdown after the 2008 polls
chaos.
Tsvangirai has complained about the lack of implementation of key
reforms in
the electoral, media and security sectors that were agreed by the
unity
government partners.
On Sunday soldiers, police and essential
services government staff on duty
on election day cast their special vote
ahead of the general public vote on
31 July.
About 87 000 people are
set to take part in the early vote.
- AFP
Tsvangirai:
I Will Beat Mugabe in Free, Fair Election
http://www.voazimbabwe.com/
Loirdham
Moyo
13.07.2013
WASHINGTON DC — Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai says
he will beat his
bitter rival, President Robert Mugabe, in the forthcoming
general elections.
Addressing about 20,000 people at an election campaign
rally held at Sakubva
Stadium in Mutare on Saturday, Mr. Tsvangirai said he
is confident that he
will trounce President Mugabe and form the next
government.
He said it’s time for the president, who has ruled Zimbabwe
for more than 33
years, to take a rest and enjoy time with his
family.
The prime minister said people should vote for him in order to
benefit from
the country’s abundant natural resources.
Mr. Tsvangirai
added that MDC-T youths should not engage in political
violence in the run
up to the general polls.
He also said he is not worried about some of the
bad issues being said about
him at campaign rallies nationwide. His
opponents have accused the former
trade unionist of engaging in some
activities that are not fit for a leader
like him.
Mr. Tsvangirai
said despite these drawbacks, he is confident of chalking up
a victory in
the elections, especially if the polls are free and fair.
He noted that
if elected president, he will ensure that there is
transparency in the
running of the government.
Also present at the rally was Mavambo Kusile
Dawn party president Simba
Makoni. The former finance minister and Zanu PF
politiburo member’s party
has formed an alliance with the MDC-T.
The
MDC-T unveiled its party manifesto at Sakubva Stadium which promises to
stabilize the Zimbabwe economy at create over 2 million jobs in five years,
among many other issues.
President Mugabe campaigning in Marange,
Manicaland Province, on Saturday.
President Mugabe campaigning in Marange,
Manicaland Province, on Saturday.
In a related development, President Mugabe
on Saturday urged Zimbabweans to
form their own churches.
Mr. Mugabe
told thousands of people in Marange, Manicaland Province, that it
is
possible for local people to form indigenous churches as Zimbabwe is an
independent nation.
Addressing members of the Johanne Marange
Apostolic Faith sect, he said most
churches in Zimbabwe were set up by
missionaries.
Meanwhile, former Nigerian president Olusegun Obasanjo is
expected to lead a
60-member African Union (AU) team to monitor Zimbabwe’s
general elections.
The AU says Obasanjo will arrive in Zimbabwe 10 days
before the polls set
for July 31. The organization says the monitors are
drawn from African
non-governmental organisations and member
nations.
The team will join nine observers that are already in Zimbabwe
where the MDC
formations are crying foul over the voters’ roll which they
claim has left
out thousands of aliens and other potential
voters.
President Mugabe’s party is opposing the deployment of
non-African observers
saying any country which imposed targeted sanctions on
him and his inner
circle will not be allowed to observe the
elections.
Political analyst Nkululeko Sibanda of Huddersfield University
in London
told VOA Studio 7 that Obasanjo is expected to be part of a tough
monitoring
team from the AU.
Mugabe takes a swipe at
white people, gay rights in Africa
http://mg.co.za/
13 JUL 2013 19:01AFP
Robert
Mugabe has accused his political rivals of wanting to "bring back the
white
people" and criticised gay rights ahead of Zimbabwe's
elections.
Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe (89), clad in a white
church robe and
holding a biblical staff on Saturday, appealed to thousands
of members of a
church in eastern Marange to support his bid for re-election
after 33 years
in power.
"We made a mistake in 2008 to vote for the
people who love the white people.
Voting for people who want to bring back
the white people and thinking that
there won't be any development without
white people," he said.
The veteran leader will go head to head at the
ballot box with longtime
rival Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai.
The
vote will end the pair's tense power-sharing government that was forced
by
the chaotic 2008 polls.
Speaking in the diamond rich area, about 200
kilometres east of the capital
Harare, Mugabe pushed his message of
indigenisation of the economy.
"The rich resources that our country is
endowed with are for the black
people, this is our country. And those who
must rule this country must be
black people," he said.
Mugabe also
attacked gay marriage, saying it was alien to Africa and
criticised US
President Barack Obama for urging Africa to respect gay rights
on a recent
visit to the continent.
'Weddings are for a man and a woman'
"You
heard it when Obama came to Africa saying Africa must allow gay
marriages,
even women to marry each other so they can wed if they want," he
said.
"God destroyed the earth because of these sins. Weddings are
for a man and a
woman, who when married they bear children," he
said.
Mugabe who once said gays and lesbians are worse than pigs and
dogs, said
animals are better off because they know their sexual
orientation.
Meanwhile, the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) on
Saturday vowed to
announce the results of the July 31 presidential polls
within five days of
voting.
Officials had delayed announcing election
results in 2008 for six weeks when
Mugabe came second to Tsvangirai in the
first round of the leadership race.
"The fifth of August is the date on
which, come hail, come thunder, we must
announce the results. That is what
the law says," said Rita Makarau,
chairperson of the ZEC.
Under a new
Constitution, the ZEC must announce the results of the
presidential election
within five days of voting, but results for members of
Parliament are issued
earlier, she said.
In 2008, Tsvangirai's first-round lead fell just short
of an outright
majority but Mugabe went on to be declared the winner of a
presidential
run-off – which Tsvangirai had pulled out of in protest over
violence. – AFP
Zuma
assasination plot claim hogwash: Zanu PF
http://www.newzimbabwe.com/
12/07/2013 00:00:00
by The
Guardian (UK)
ZANU PF has dismissed as “hogwash” and a
“typical set-up” an apparently
secret document said to be from intelligence
sources that alleges an
outlandish plot by President Robert Mugabe to hire a
Lebanese murder squad
to assassinate his South African counterpart, Jacob
Zuma, and a top
diplomat.
The typed two-page report – persuasively
detailed but at times written in
excitable language strewn with grammatical
and spelling errors – has been
dismissed by Mugabe's Zanu PF party as
"hogwash" and a "typical setup". The
rival Movement for Democratic Change
said the assassination threats should
be taken seriously.
They come
amid souring relations between the neighbouring countries ahead of
key
elections in Zimbabwe this month. Last week Mugabe branded Zuma's chief
mediator, Lindiwe Zulu, “some stupid, idiotic woman” and a "little street
woman" after her failed attempt to force a postponement of
elections.
The purportedly leaked document, dated 2 July and of unknown
authorship,
contains a paragraph headed: "Lebonese assasins" (sic). It
states: "On
Monday this week Mugabe hired six Lebanese nationals to try and
assassinate
Lindiwe Zulu, who is Zuma's advisor.
“The six met
clandestinely with Mugabe yesterday to be briefed by him on the
details of
their mission … The six were told they must not concentrate on
Zulu only,
but should also pay attention to Zuma himself, and if they get a
chance to
do so they must assassinate him as well – but everything must
appear as an
accident."
It adds: "Mugabe promised the six Lebonese [sic] an
undisclosed fortune in
cash if they succeed in getting rid of the two who
[sic] South Africa senior
officials who are giving him a lot of trouble.
Names of the six could not be
established, but they entered into the country
via Zambia in the last few
days, where they had previously held a close
meeting with [president]
Michael Sata before travelling into
Zimbabwe."
The document also claims that Mugabe summoned and castigated
security
officers over a leak to the MDC leader, Morgan Tsvangirai,
regarding the
involvement of an Israeli company in managing the country's
electoral role.
Mugabe ordered that "the culprits who leaked the
information are made to
suffer and die a painful death", it says. Tsvangirai
has spoken publicly
about his concern over the role of the Israeli company
Nikuv.
The Guardian has seen a copy of the two-page document but has
not been able
to verify it as being genuine. The possibility that it is a
hoax designed to
embarrass the opposition cannot be ruled out.
Rugare
Gumbo, spokesman for Zanu PF, insisted: "To be frank with you, it's
all
rubbish and hogwash to think a head of state like president Mugabe would
set
up something like that. We have a disagreement with Lindiwe Zulu but it
would not go to that extent."
Asked about the alleged threat to Zuma,
he replied: "You should not take it
seriously. It's a typical setup in
Zimbabwe to try and cause some confusion
before the election because we are
going ahead with our election according
to our laws whether they like it or
not."
Fierce factional infighting within Zanu PF and the security sector
has
resulted in a number of damaging intelligence leaks.
Douglas
Mwonzora, the MDC's spokesperson, said of the document: "We have had
sight
of the intelligence information but we are unable to confirm its
authenticity. For the MDC, the international community must take these
assassination allegations seriously."
But Roy Bennett, the MDC
treasurer-general, in exile, was more certain.
"We know the report to be
credible; it comes from reliable and trustworthy
sources within the heart of
the CIO," he said. "It is a stark reminder of
the full horrific extent that
Robert Mugabe is prepared to go in order to
hang on to power and avenge his
critics."
The MDC and civil society groups in Zimbabwe have applauded
Zuma for taking
a tougher stand against Mugabe than the previous South
African president,
Thabo Mbeki.
Rivals
target Mugabe’s advanced age
http://www.newzimbabwe.com/
12/07/2013 00:00:00
by Staff
Reporter
PRESIDENT Robert Mugabe’s age and claimed failing health
have become a key
campaign issue for rivals fighting to end the veteran
leader’s three decade
stay in power this month.
Zimbabwe will hold
elections to choose a substantive government on July 31
with Mugabe, who
turned 89 this year, again leading his Zanu PF party in the
key
vote.
Mugabe has led the country since independence in 1980 and his party
for even
longer than that.
Addressing supporters at Neuso in Mhondoro
this week, MDC-T leader and
outgoing premier Morgan Tsvangirai joked that
Zimbabweans would make it into
the Guinness Book of Records if they elect
into office an 89 year-old as the
country’s President.
“I cannot
avoid talking about Mugabe’s age. It is a serious national issue,”
Tsvangirai said.
“The old man needs to rest because at 90 years he should
be enjoying his
pension. We can’t trust a 90 year-old to run this country
for another five
years.
“I gave him four years to pack. Now it’s time
for him to go and rest in
Zvimba while an energetic, young and responsive
government leads Zimbabwe
into the future,” said Tsvangirai.
Mugabe
has also launched his own re-election campaign and addressed some
20,000
supporters at a rally in Chiweshe.
UK-based Zimbabwean academic Miles Tendi
who attended the rally said the
Zanu PF leader looked in remarkable shape
for a man his age
“Mugabe is old, but in remarkable shape for a man his
age. He will conduct
fewer rallies in this campaign than he did in the past,
but it is mistaken
to think he will not complete his campaign schedule with
steely
determination," Tendi wrote after the rally.
The Zanu PF
leader has made several health-related trips to Singapore but
denies he has
any major concerns.
He travelled to the Southeast Asian island city-state
again late last month
but aides said the trip was for a routine check-up
after a cataract
operation carried out in 2011.
Defence Minister
Emmerson Mnangagwa – who filed Mugabe’s nomination papers
while he was still
away in Singapore – also said Zanu PF had no concerns
over the health of its
candidate.
Speaking to reporters outside the nomination court, Mnangagwa
quipped: “He
(Mugabe) is fitter than you. He is a careful man. He has gone
for a normal
medical check-up on his eye."
Meanwhile, Tsvangirai
took his campaign to Kariba on Friday where his MDC-T
party said thousands
of supporters turned up despite “attempts by the police
and the Zanu PF
militia to block the people from attending” the rally.
The premier again
made reference to his rival’s age, saying the elections
give Zimbabweans a
chance elect a new and younger leadership with fresh
ideas for turning
around the country’s fortunes.
“The elections will be between the past
and the future and it is a choice
between the old and the young. Modern
politics is not about hate speech or
hailing insults at each other, it is
about articulating issues that benefit
the people,” he said.
“Robert
Mugabe has nothing to offer but hate language and violence to the
people, it
is about articulating issues that benefit the people. In the 33
years that
Zanu PF has been in power it has been pursuing disruptive
policies such as
indigenisation and the chaotic land reform.
“While Zanu PF is talking
about the return of the Zimbabwe dollar, the
people of Zimbabwe know that it
is untenable at the moment. However, the MDC
has a plan to return Zimbabwe
to a better future for the people. We want to
restore good governance and
the rule of law.”
Mugabe
can't be trusted to lead Zim - Mawere
http://www.dailynews.co.zw/
BRIDGET MANANAVIRE • 12 JULY 2013
10:44PM
HARARE – Businessperson Mutumwa Mawere says President Robert
Mugabe cannot
be trusted to lead Zimbabwe for the next five
years.
“Don’t trust anybody, people trusted president Mugabe and today
they are
poor,” he told a news conference at the Meikles Hotel on
Friday.
He said Mugabe did not have a clue of what is happening in
Zimbabwe as he is
trying to recycle bad ideas.
“His world views are
wrong, that I can take shares from here and there, then
you become okay, if
the views are wrong they don’t require age. You can’t
recycle bad ideas and
hope they will become good ideas,” Mawere said.
He said Mugabe continued
to abuse the State media in a bid to hide his
short-comings.
“Because
he controls the State, he gets coverage visibility. Everything that
he says
is reported and everything that anyone says is reported negatively,
that is
the tendency,” he said.
“Incumbents are very difficult to fight, not
because they have support but
because people don’t know the truth. People
are gullible because we don’t
know the other side of the
truth.”
Mawere, who recently regained his citizenship after a protracted
legal
battle at the Constitutional Court, said people needed to fight for
their
voting right, so as to determine their future.
“I am going to
vote because I am now eligible, I took my passport today, and
people who
need change must work for it,” he said.
“With citizenship comes the
obligation, a right to vote, to make sure I don’t
blame other people for
their choice. After the election, it will be too late
to say why president
Robert Mugabe became a president when I had a right to
stop it.”
He
said he had to mount a test case to ascertain the country’s citizenship
laws
for the benefit of future generations.
“By testing the right of
citizenship on me, now you understand what the
citizenship laws are, will
would have never known that. I had to go to the
Con-Court to establish that
I am a Zimbabwean. Active citizenship gives
outcome, if you’re not active
you get the leadership you deserve and if you’re
silent, you will not get a
better outcome and history has defined that. I
was fighting to assert the
right to citizenship,” Mawere said.
“That is why I went to court because
the Constitution said we want people
like you to be citizens then here I am,
I go to (Registrar General Tobaiwa)
Mudede and he says no, you can’t get a
passport, an ID but because we’re
nation of law, here is the Zimbabwean
passport. And we’re making what?
"The Constitution to have a meaning, I
would have expected people like
president Mugabe to say no, Mudede don’t do
that, we have this new
Constitution amendment number 20, how can you stop
Mawere, if he wants to
register he’s just one vote, why are you afraid of
him?”
Reaffirming his support for Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai’s
candidature
in the July 31 watershed election, Mawere said Mugabe’s bookish
ways had
failed to solve the country’s problems.
“Right now the
country is going down while you have a smart leader, you have
president
Mugabe with nice speeches, after all the nice speeches people are
still
hungry, so I don’t have a president who is smart,” Mawere said.
“I am
just saying 33 years, if I had a magic plan I would have shown some
signs of
what?
Right now if you go to Dubai, people go to shop there, 33 years ago
there
was nothing, it was just camels.”
Grace tells
Mugabe’s rival no vacancy at State House
http://www.iol.co.za/
July 13 2013 at 03:34pm
By
Peta Thornycroft
Zimbabwe - Zimbabwe’s First Lady Grace Mugabe
says there is no vacancy at
State House and Movement for Democratic Change
(MDC-T) leader Morgan
Tsvangirai “is dreaming” if he thinks that he will be
the next president
after July 31 elections.
Grace Mugabe, who
recently opened the most expensive private school in
Zimbabwe, does not live
at State House. She and her husband Robert live in a
fabulous mansion in top
Harare suburb Borrowdale, which cost them more than
R100 million to build
and which is maintained by the state, although it is
their private
property.
State House is a very much smaller, colonial-style house
compared with the
Mugabe mansion on three floors and extensive grounds with
lakes and a
helipad.
State House is still used for state banquets and
official meetings.
It is close to the Harare town centre, but is in a
shabbier state and in
need of maintenance.
Addressing thousands of
people at a “star rally” at Glendale, outside
Harare, in the run-up to the
elections, Mugabe’s wife said the MDC-T leader
was not leadership
material.
“I want to repeat what I said in 2008. There is no vacancy at
State House.
It is occupied full time.”
She said her husband was a
hardworking leader who remained resolute on what
he believed was best for
the people of Zimbabwe.
Mugabe himself told the rally Zanu-PF should
avoid the mistake it made in
2008 when it lost two constituencies in
Mashonaland Central to Tsvangirai’s
MDC – including the one where the rally
was held. – Independent Foreign
Service
Tsvangirai
makes job poll pitch
http://www.dailynews.co.zw/
FUNGI KWARAMBA, MUGOVE TAFIRENYIKA AND XOLISANI NCUBE
• 13 JULY 2013
12:17PM
HARARE - Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai
said yesterday at a rally in
Kariba, job creation will be high on the agenda
of an MDC government after
winning the July 31 elections.
The Kariba
rally attracted thousands despite attempts by the police and the
Zanu PF
militia to block people from attending.
“The next MDC government will
revive the agriculture sector which was
destroyed by the Zanu PF government,
revive the mining sector and bring
accountability in the selling of the
countries’ minerals,” Tsvangirai said.
“In the process of rebuilding the
country, there will be the creation of
more jobs.
“Our policy on the
social sector, the government should care for the
elderly, orphans and
widows. To do this, the MDC will create a fund that
caters for the
vulnerable groups while we will create free treatment centres
for those
suffering from terminal illness such as cancer and HIV/Aids.”
Describing
the forthcoming vote as “watershed”, he said: “It is not only a
transitional
election but a generational election and the MDC as the people’s
choice will
win it basing on how well the party has performed in the
inclusive
government.
“The elections will be between the past and the future and it
is a choice
between the old and the young. Modern politics is not about hate
speech or
hurling insults at each other, it is about articulating issues
that benefit
the people.
“Robert Mugabe has nothing to offer but hate
language and violence to the
people, it is about articulating issues that
benefit the people.”
Tsvangirai’s spokesperson Luke Tamborinyoka,
reacting to comments by First
Lady Grace Mugabe that Tsvangirai was a man of
loose morals, “ugly” and
unelectable, said: “Of all the people, Grace Mugabe
is not qualified to
comment on the prime minister’s morals because she
destroyed the marriage of
an otherwise honourable First Lady that we had.
The only philanderer the
prime minister knows of is a president who fell in
love with his secretary
while his legitimate wife was dying of a kidney
ailment.”
Meanwhile, Tsvangirai said Zanu PF has been pursuing disruptive
policies
such as indigenisation and land reform.
“While Zanu PF is
talking about the return of the Zimbabwe dollar, the
people of Zimbabwe know
that it is untenable at the moment,” he said.
“However, the MDC has a
plan to return Zimbabwe to a better future for the
people.”
MDC
secretary-general, Tendai Biti said the July 31 election will put an end
to
33 years of Zanu PF’s misrule, corruption and lack vision.
“Governance
means a leadership that has love for the people,” Biti said.
“The MDC’s
love for the people can be seen by its record in the inclusive
government.
The very reason while the MDC formed the inclusive government
was to serve
the lives of the people from the total destruction of Zanu PF.
People should
not forget the suffering they went through in 2008.”
After the Kariba
rally, Tsvangirai moved to Magunje in Karoi where he
addressed thousands of
other party supporters in the afternoon.
Meanwhile, Welshman Ncube
yesterday launched his campaign in Chikomba in
Mashonaland East Province
accompanied with his coalition partner Dumiso
Dabengwa of Zapu. He said he
is poised for victory and those wishing to vote
for Zanu PF and its leader
or prime minister Tsvangirai, will be taking back
the country into
calamity.
“We want a government that has zero tolerance for corruption,
and Mugabe has
failed to deliver on that,” Ncube said.
Ncube added
that Mugabe has nothing to offer in the near future as he has
passed his
sell-by date.
“What do you think Mugabe will do now which he did not do
for you in the
past 33 years? We are not against Mugabe, we don’t hate him
but we want the
future of this country which is clear,” he said.
A Troublemaker
Emerges In Zimbabwe Elections
An anonymous
Facebook poster calling himself "Baba Jukwa" is causing a stir in pre-election
Zimbabwe. Baba Jukwa purports to a member of President Robert Mugabe's ruling
political party, but exposes details of corruption by party officials. Weekend
Edition Saturday host Scott Simon
talks with Zimbabwean senior researcher for Human Rights Watch Dewa
Mavhinga.
Zimbabwe’s Assange Baba Jukwa Exposes Harare
Murder
Shiellah
Sibanda