via Moyo in racism storm – Southern Eye 15 May 2015
INFORMATION minister Jonathan Moyo yesterday resorted to mudslinging after he was asked about vote-buying ahead of by-elections in Tsholotsho North.
The Zimbabwe National Water Authority has raised eyebrows by drilling 20 boreholes in Tsholotsho North on the eve of the June 10 polls.
Moyo has been showcasing the boreholes on social media this week provoking questions from his followers, but the minister has been taking no prisoners in his responses.
Former Education minister David Coltart bore the brunt of Moyo’s vitriolic attack after he dared question the government’s record in the 35 years since independence.
Coltart said he was pleased that boreholes were being drilled in Tsholotsho North, but pointed out that the constituency, coveted by Moyo, had in the past been neglected by the government.
“Whilst pleased the people of Tsholotsho are going to get 20 boreholes in anticipation of Jonathan Moyo’s campaign, I question why they were not dug before,” he said on micro-blogging site, Twitter.
Coltart said what Moyo was doing, drilling boreholes ahead of an election, was akin to abuse of office and vote-buying.
“Fact of the matter is that Zanu PF has brutalised and neglected people of Tsholotsho for 35 years and now seeks to win them over with 20 boreholes,” he said.
“We should be asking why it is that the road to Tsholotsho is still so poor, why there are so few ‘A’ Level schools there, why results are so bad.
“In the context of gross underdevelopment and shocking human rights abuse in Tsholotsho in the last 35 years, the promise of 20 boreholes is just a sop.”
But Moyo would have none of it, describing him as a Rhodie and a “bloody racist” who had not accepted “even one year of black rule”.
The Information minister said he did not hate Coltart, but “for an ex-BSAP (British South Africa Police) to say Zimbabwe has had 35 years of misrule is to racially insult black Zimbabweans”.
Moyo received both support and criticism in equal measure, with some asking why a question of governance had been construed to refer to racism.
“It’s how some of these views are expressed,” he shot back.
“To say Zimbabwe has had 35 years of misrule is unacceptable.
“Come on, 35 years of misrule is a definite insult to our whole Independence and I for one won’t accept that rubbish, the claim of 35 years of misrule in Zimbabwe is not a fact, but an opinion which in his case is racist.”
Coltart then accused Moyo, his former Cabinet colleague, of resorting to gutter tactics to avoid the question of misrule.
He said he had also represented a number of nationalists in court, but Moyo cheekily said Coltart had made a lot of money “(mis)representing” them.
There’s no love lost between the two, who almost on a daily basis engage in heated arguments on Twitter.
COMMENTS
Moyo, one of the greatest racists of all time, he may accuse Coltard of many things however Coltart was the best minister of education the country has had in the past 35 years. Moyo however is a proven thief and criminal. How Zimababwe can have him as a minister is just proof of 35 years of mismanagement and misrule by the worst cleptocrats in Africa’s history.
Zimbabwe is probably the most racist country in the world; I can think of no other in Africa that has a racist constitution.
I cannot understand why proud black people don’t put a bullet in the ear of people like Motormouth Moyo and Mugabe – they bring shame and humiliation on all black people, anywhere. (Unless you are proud of being an idiot, of course?)
35 years of misrule indeed. Jonathan knows that very well. Coltart is right to ask why the bore holes are only coming now a couple of months before elections? And why only in Tjolotjo north? These evil zanu people must know that long stretches in prison await them. All of them. They will wish they were dead.
On another note, the sad reality is that these aspiring MPs continue to employ these campaign strategies because they work with rural voters, be it in Mat North, Mash West, Manicaland or wherever.
Jonathan Moyo should answer questions. The first question is why did he steal grant money from the Ford Foundation in Kenya? The second question is why did he steal grant money from The University of the Witwatersrand in South Africa? Is the reason that he was going to be prosecuted in South Africa the reason why he fled back to Zimbabwe? Is the reason why, after being elected as an independent, he returned to ZANU PF because that was the only way he could get a diplomatic passport allowing him to travel without fear of arrest? Why does Jonathan Moyo lie so much, is so that Mugabe will not fire him? Why are you a racist Mr Moyo?
He is the Goebbels of Zimbabwe-he should face the hangman’s noose come the time-no mercy. I can remember quite clearly when he said on television that he was going to leave no stone unturned in finding the culprits who bombed the Daily News printing presses-how did that turn out? What a vile thug-like the rest of them.