Farhaan Khan, one half of the award-winning Pop duo, BKay and Kazz on Monday officially launched his solo career under the alias Mr. Boomslang.
Mr Boomslang
Mr. Boomslang dropped the single Sweet Gal – a Pop/Dancehall banger – on Amazon , making a first official commercial release since 2011’s African Spirit album.
The Milton Keynes-based star however, strenuously assures fans that BKay and Kazz remains a unit; and is in fact in the studio working on a follow-up project to African Spirit for the duo.
“I wanted to reintroduce myself (with Sweet Gal). Since African Spirit, we have dropped a few numbers for our fans as BKay and Kazz. We’ve also toured together while I’ve featured on a few other projects as “Kazz” since (my older brother) BKay moved back home to Zim (Zimbabwe), “he said.
“With Sweet Gal, I just wanted to get myself back in the process of recording and working on songs as a single entity to express my individual experiences and ambitions.
A lot of the songs on my solo forthcoming project are based on the work I wrote while on tour or jamming with the Boomslang crew in the UK. They will be songs that kept me going and they will reflect that: a more mature, introspective me,” Mr. Boomslang a.k.a Kazz added.
It is just 8 days before Zimbabwe holds the most important of all elections. The harmonised elections slated for 31 July are said to be almost similar to those held in 1980, the very elections that delivered our independence and no doubt gave us a tyrant of a leader-Robert Mugabe.
Grace Mugabe
It boggles the mind to come to terms with the fact that the man who used to command a lot of respect at independence has, 33 years down the line, become a villain. Even people like me who never voted for him in any election have come to know about how evil the man is.
I don’t need a Western country or the independent media to tell me about how brutal this man is. I have first-hand experience and no amount of pleonasm and acerbic attacks against the person of Morgan Tsvangirai will ever change our minds.
Mugabe and his wife Grace Mugabe are only after their interests. We have suffered and the two continue to enjoy a lavish, opulent, and sybaritic lifestyle that millions of us have been denied. They seek medical attention in Asia while the rest of us are forced to die in unhealthy and filthy circumstances.
I have taken some time to respond to the grubby remarks made by Grace regarding Tsvangirai. Her remarks that Tsvangirai is a philanderer and an ugly man left me with no other choice but to conclude that she must be a psychiatric patient.
She destroyed another woman’s marriage by having two children with that woman’s husband. The woman was dying and no doubt in pain. She loved her husband and would have loved to spend her final moments with her husband by her side.
Mugabe, however, was nowhere to be seen when his wife needed him most. He chose to flirt with his then secretary who also happened to be married to another man! Grace destroyed two marriages.
Grace’s remarks, therefore, are unfortunate especially when considering that they are coming from somebody who isn’t a role model. Instead, they seem to indicate the highest order of political ignorance and naivety.
She is out to please her husband-the tyrannical despot interested only in his own good and wielding power for the sake of satisfying his ego. Her remarks have betrayed her. Not only is Grace a political novice, but she is also long on myopia and short on memory. This I am not saying because I hate her.
I am simply fulfilling my patriotic duties. It is my patriotic duty to bring to the attention of those in power and the general public, and where appropriate challenge ways in which the policies or activities of government, organizations or society create or contribute to structural disadvantage, hardship and suffering, or militate against their relief.
It is because of this that I will not relent in seeking to change social structures which perpetuate inequalities and injustices, and whenever possible working to eliminate all violations of human rights.
You will agree with me, dear readers, that Zimbabwe is a perfect example of patient endurance under suffering. You will also agree with me that Tsvangirai is being called all sorts of names just because he has refused to kowtow to the illegal regime’s wishes.
Those of us who are solidly and concretely behind him aren’t oblivious of the fact that his leadership is capable of moving our nation forward. Nobody is happy with the status quo except of course those profiting from it. Your remarks, Grace, will not separate us from our leader.
We love him even more because he is not a diffident leader.
The problem with your husband, the disgraced dictator, is that he tramples down the weak and helpless. We don’t want a leader who ill-treats the weak and oppresses the poor. Prosperity in Zimbabwe today is limited to the wealthy (ruling elite), and it feeds on injustice and oppression of the poor.
Justice is twisted and people are cheated out of their rights.
The dictator, your husband, hates anyone who challenges injustice and speaks the truth in court. It is your husband’s regime that is responsible for persecuting good people, taking bribes, and preventing the poor from getting justice in the courts.
And so, keeping quiet in such evil times is the clever thing to do!
Furthermore, your husband carries out his plans to hurt others. The evil plots he makes are as deadly as the eggs of a poisonous snake. He’s always planning something evil and he can hardly wait to do it. He never hesitates to murder innocent people. Everything he does is unjust.
Mugabe follows a crooked path, and no one who walks that path will ever be safe.
These examples will suffice: Gukurahundi (1983-1987); an attempt on Patrick Kombayi’s life (1990); forced eviction of 4 000 families on Churu farm (1993); mari kuma war vets (1997); DRC war (1998-2002); illegal detention and torture of journalists Mark Chavhunduka and Ray Choto (1999); illegal land seizures and political violence that saw at least 150 MDC supporters dead (2000-2002); Murambatsvina (2005).
Need I say more? What about electoral rigging since his defeat in the referendum of the year 2000? What about the violence that followed the harmonised elections of March 29, 2008? More than 500 people lost their lives, 200 000 people were internally displaced, 20 000 homes were destroyed, 10 000 people were injured, and more than 5 000 people went missing.
It is also quite painful to learn that about 4 000 Zimbabweans died of cholera in 2008. And, cholera is a preventable disease. How come we failed to prevent the deaths of our own people who perished during the cholera outbreak? Are Western countries responsible for this?
Is it the independent media? Is it Tsvangirai and the Movement for Democratic Change? Ko munoti muri kunatsa here? You have not lost friends and relatives due to political violence but we have ourselves. Imi munochengetwa 24 hours kuState House!
In light of the above, I call, with passion and courage, for justice to “flow like a stream” (Amos 5:24). Tell your husband to make it his aim to do what is right, not what is evil, so that we will be perfectly happy. Tell him to hate what is evil, love what is right, and see that justice prevails in Zimbabwe.
Tell Kunonga and Manhanga that “What God the Father considers to be pure and genuine religion is this: to take care of orphans and widows in their suffering and to keep oneself from being corrupted by the world” (James 1:27).
Your husband should, without wasting time, remove the chains of oppression and the yoke of injustice, and let the oppressed go free. Tell him to put an end to oppression and to every gesture of contempt.
Last but not by any means least, we want to share food with the hungry and open our homes to the homeless poor. We want to give clothes to those who have nothing to wear, and we do not want to refuse to help our own relatives.
If we give food to the hungry and satisfy those in need, then the darkness around us will turn to the brightness of noon. I put it to you.
HARARE – Zapu leader and presidential candidate, Dumiso Dabengwa said yesterday President Robert Mugabe is too old to continue ruling Zimbabwe and should be retired, and also raised the prospect of an electoral pact with Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai before or after the July 31 poll.
Simba Makoni, Morgan Tsvangirai and Dumiso Dabengwa seen at this press conference last month
In a no-holds barred interview with the Daily News journalists at the leading paper’s Trust Towers headquarters in Harare, Dabengwa — who has sealed a coalition pact with the smaller MDC led by Welshman Ncube — said a grand coalition with Tsvangirai, who poses the biggest challenge to Mugabe since the 89-year-old former guerrilla leader came to power in 1980, was still possible.
He said “nothing is cast in stone”.
“I think everyone in Zimbabwe is agreed that the poor old man is old enough that he should be allowed to retire with honour if it is possible,” Dabengwa said.
Mugabe, at 89 the world’s second oldest head of State, is seeking a fresh term at the helm of the troubled country.
Zimbabwe’s pro-democracy opposition has so far failed to forge a united front that analysts say is necessary for those trying to beat the country’s long-serving president.
Dabengwa had earlier balked at a PM-backed plan that would create room for him in a new government. But with domestic pressure mounting, Dabengwa said he was willing to negotiate a compromise that would present a united front that ushers in a new governance paradigm.
He says Zapu had backed the idea of a coalition as far back as December, but there were no takers for the proposal.
“Zapu is for a grand coalition,” said Dabengwa, who once boasted of having scuttled Tsvangirai’s outright win in the March 2008 vote when he teamed up with Mavambo/Kusile/Dawn (MKD) president Simba Makoni, who has since entered into an electoral pact with the PM.
“What happened in 2008 is water under the bridge and it is gone with the sea,” Dabengwa said.
“I said now we must sit down together and must be able to look at what is best for the country. We are going out of the way to form a coalition before the elections but in most circumstances, they are formed after elections.”
With Makoni already in an election pact with Tsvangirai, Dabengwa says there is need for smaller opposition parties to coalesce and draft programmes that would ensure people participate fully in the governance of their provinces through devolution of power.
He said his party still believes a grand coalition with Tsvangirai was still possible as long as it benefits the people of Zimbabwe.
Asked whether fielding five presidential candidates is in the best interests of the country, Dabengwa said Tsvangirai’s MDC only approached him at the 11th hour on the eve of the sitting of the Nomination Court, making it difficult for him to consider the proposal.
The ex-Home Affairs minister said the goal of the grand coalition must not only be to remove Mugabe from power, but should also tie all loose ends to prevent another agreement similar to the PF Zapu and Zanu PF Unity Accord that was signed in 1987 to end a vicious civil war that claimed an estimated 20 000 civilians mainly from the Midlands and Matabeleland regions.
“We are not saying Mugabe is the only obstacle to the development of Zimbabwe,” Dabengwa said.
“But we think we should put our heads together towards allowing our people to participate in the governance of their country.”
Asked who he would back if Zimbabwe was to go for a run-off vote, the former Zipra intelligence supremo said he would go with Tsvangirai.
“We told Morgan that unfortunately the time factor did not allow us to consider his proposal positively but let us go with elections but when the results come out whoever among us is in the run-off, we are going to come and support him,” Dabengwa said.
“I said the same things to Morgan in 2008.”
Dabengwa said he believed Mugabe was the biggest obstacle to the country’s development and that given his advanced age; he could no longer carry the hopes of a nation that has endured decades of economic stagnation owing to a crisis of governance created by his administration.
Dabengwa, whose Zapu outfit pulled out from the Unity Accord in 2008, revealed that Zapu is leaving nothing to chance as it negotiates a power pact with Tsvangirai since it has firsthand experience of playing second fiddle in a political arrangement.
“The reason why we are being very careful in the negotiations is because of how we were treated in the Unity Accord which condemned Zapu to a second choice position where we could only have a vice president,” Dabengwa said.
“This is why we are making sure we have all the safety valves because once beaten, twice shy.” Daily News
ZVIMBA – A former Zipra commander who was also the late Dr Joshua Nkomo’s personal bodyguard, Frederick Mutanda, has evicted five families from their homes at his Winray Estates farm, out into the open space, because they are supporters of the MDC-T led by Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai.
Thrown out into the open for supporting the MDC-T
One of those evicted is Sebastian Mawara the MDC-T aspiring councillor for Zvimba North in Ward 14. In the two pictures sent by a Nehanda Radio Citizen Reporter you can see Mawara’s family and four other families sleeping out in the open with their property. They have been sleeping outside for two days now.
Many will recall that in February 2011, Mutanda, now a prominent Zanu PF farmer and businessman was arraigned to court for resisting a government order to vacate the very same farm. The farm had been allocated to Andrew Maringa, a former senior official in the President’s Office (CIO).
Out in the winter cold after being evicted for supporting the MDC-T
At the time, the targeting for compulsory acquisition of Mutanda’s farm raised suspicion because mainly white owned farms were targeted under the chaotic and often violent exercise. Mutanda is now allegedly evicting workers from the farm based on their perceived political affiliation.
Now you have the power to tell the world what is happening in your area, send pictures and videos.
HEADLANDS – Embattled Zanu PF politburo member Didymus Mutasa – whose campaign rallies in Headlands have been shunned by fed-up supporters Wednesday was blasted by thousands of people who attended his star rally on the pretext that Alick Macheso will perform.
Mutasa attempt to use Macheso backfires
The move however backfired terribly for Mutasa, who is Zanu PF national secretary for administration after the sellout crowd of Macheso fans that stampeded his rally at Headlands Business Centre walked away in remonstration and wrathfully attacked him over the hoax.
“He cannot use Macheso’s name to woo us to his rallies. This is suicidal; you cannot lie to the people and taking them for fools. His actions will catch up with him on July 31,” fumed an attendee who refused to be named for fear of victimization.
Promotional material bearing Macheso and Blessing Shumba images and bearing the name “Simudza Makoni District Youth Association, powered by DNE Mutasa” painted Rusape, Nyazura, Headlands, Nyanga and Chiendambuya grey.
Only Shumba turned up, much to the chagrin of Macheso’s fans. Investigations by Nehanda Radio show that the free-show promoters had not entered into a contract with Macheso.
His manager William Tsanduka could only say there was no such an arrangement and refused to entertain further questions.
“There was never such an agreement between us and those people,” said Tsandukwa.
A Macheso loyalist had this to say about Mutasa: “His ignorance is encyclopedic. How can he abuse Macheso’s brand to achieve an evil objective. He made a grave mistake.”
A Zanu PF official who requested anonymity blamed Simudza Makoni, which he described as a terror squad for the hoax.
“Look Macheso needs cash up front, which the militias did not have. They went to the extreme in order to remain relevant in the eyes of mdhara for being able to mobilize a huge crowd. They are actually hurting the old man, but he can’t see it. He has surrounded himself with ignorant people who tell him want he wants to hear,” said the Zanu PF source.
Mutasa’s support in Headlands has dwindled to an unprecedented level with the largely powerful Chipunza dynasty that dominates the constituency masterminding a bhora musango in protest at the barring of their “son” Christopher Chingosho from contesting.
Chingosho had filed his nomination papers to stand as an independent, but was forced to withdraw after the intervention of Ignatius Chombo.
Chombo arm-twisted Chief Chipunza to dissuade “his son” from contesting, a move that further alienated Mutasa from the dynasty, which felt the move was contemptuous and abusive.
Mutasa has also lost the crucial support of the influential Chief Tandi, who the Presidential Affairs Minister did not want concentrated to the throne.
On the other hand, the MDC-T has elected a popular, combative and wealthy candidate to stand against Mutasa, whose alleged link to the death of Christpowers Maisiri in an arson attack has also added to his woes.
But because Mutasa, who is evidently facing his toughest electoral contest since independence, could not let power slip through his hands without a fight, has gone to the extreme by coining the Macheso hoax to create a fertile platform to plead for votes.
Those who attended the rally, which was attended by a frail Kumbirai Kangai, envisaging a free live musical diet accused Zanu PF youths of “rounding them up, forcing them chant the pasi naTsvangirai rhetoric”.
“Mutasa is suffering from bankruptcy of ideas. Why making us fools. I attended the show because I wanted to see Macheso on the stage. I do not support Zanu PF. I will not vote for Mutasa and Mugabe,” said another attendee.
Kangai urged the attendees to vote for President Mugabe to protect their land. The constituency is largely made up farmers resettled during the chaotic land reform era. The bulk of them have, however turned against Mutasa.
MDC-T’s Tekeshe hit out at Mutasa as a spent force.
“He is finished. Didymus Mutasa is now history in Headlands. He is no longer wanted and the people will send him packing on July 31.
“What new ideas can he offer which he failed to do for the past 33 years. I will retire him in a manner that will embarrass him for his remaining days on earth,” said Mr Tekeshe.
Of late Zanu PF has been using prominent artists Sulumani Chimbetu, Macheso, Jah Prayzah and Mathew Mhere, among others to attract capacity crowds at its rallies.
The feuding between MDC-T leader Morgan Tsvangirai and the Manicaland provincial executive escalated yesterday with the latter boycotting the premier’s rally at Vengere Stadium where he unveiled Mavambo leader Dr Simba Makoni as the “endorsed” Makoni Central candidate.
Simba Makoni and Morgan Tsvangirai
The move by Tsvangirai further widened the cracks between the national and the provincial leadership ahead of crucial elections scheduled for July 31. It has left the MDC-T Manicaland executive seething with anger.
Nehanda Radio understands that Dr Alex Magaisa, Luke Tamborinyoka and Cecil Zvidzai tried to coax some provincial members to meet Tsvangirai at a motel in Rusape prior to addressing the Vengere rally, but they refused.
Tsvangirai disputed accusations of imposing the MKD leader arguing that he was supporting the ex-finance minister on the basis of the Coalition for Change truce entered with Makoni and Reketayi Semwayo of Zanu Ndonga to dislodge Zanu PF’s President Robert Mugabe in next week’s poll.
Tsvangirai asked his supporters to vote for Makoni for MP of the area.
Fearless former soldier and provincial chairman Julius Magarangoma, who is opposed to the interference by Mr Tsvangirai in the province yesterday immediately, took his war to social media Facebook where he likened the MDC-T leader to a supersonic snake.
“Our Party is now being controlled by Supersonic Snake. It’s shameful!!!!,” he wrote in an indication that he was fiercely fighting from the corner of the targeted candidate.
Nehanda Radio also understands that last night some influential members of the MDC-T provincial executive burnt the midnight oil in Rusape strategizing how to prop up Sagandira’s campaign.
The provincial executive accused Tsvangirai and Makoni of losing focus by fighting party cadres instead of Zanu PF. Sagandira told Nehanda Radio that his resolve has since been strengthened and was rearing to take Makoni head-on.
“Tsvangirai does not cast a vote in Makoni Central. It is the people of Makoni Central, who endorsed my candidature, who matter most. I cannot withdraw for an MKD cadre that is impossible. I will not do that, over my dead body.
“Tsvangirai made the point abundantly clear during his address that it was impossible for me to withdraw at this juncture. As a way forward, we are revamping the MDC-T campaign in Makoni Central and take Makoni head-on,” said Sagandira.
A provincial official who spoke to Nehanda Radio after meeting Sagandira accused Tsvangirai of failing to uphold the party constitution through such unilateral declarations. The official queried the premier’s capacity in holding the country’s supreme law if he romps to victory on July 31.
He said national leaders and provincial members opposed to Mr Tsvangirai’s move boycotted yesterday’s Rusape rally. Tsvangirai was only accompanied by his wife Elizabeth, Douglas Mwonzora and Zvizwai.
“We cannot attend MKD meetings as if we do not have our own party. That was an MKD rally that was attended by Tsvangirai. Our party candidate is Sagandira. Is this the best reward for a cadre who rotted in jail for almost a month?
“We do know what Tsvangirai is up to when he mortgages those votes intended for Sagandira to Makoni since senatorial and proportional representation seats are allocated according to the number of votes garnered by each party.
Instead of Tsvangirai campaigning for more votes for MDC-T he is saying such must go to Mavambo, which means we will lose out on the allocation of such seats. He is vouching for a double blow for the party in Manicaland. He is greedy and just thinking of going to State House,” said the member.
MDC-T Manicaland spokesman Mr Pishai Muchauraya, who is on record supporting Sagandira and was among those who boycotted Tsvangirai’s rally, refused to comment saying his life was in danger.
“My life is in danger already, and I do not want to talk about it. All I can say is I had not been briefed about his rally, otherwise I would have attended. I am only hearing about it from you,” said Mr Muchauraya.
Even though President Robert Mugabe was banging his secretary Grace Marufu while his wife Sally was dying of a kidney ailment that has not stopped his Zanu PF party running campaign ads attacking rival Morgan Tsvangirai for getting a 21 year old woman pregnant during a period when he was single.
James Makamba and Grace Mugabe
While most Zimbabweans want to know what the different candidates have to offer in their campaign manifesto’s Zanu PF has chosen to abuse its monopoly of the state media to run personal attacks. Should then the MDC respond with jingles on all the men linked with the Second First Lady Grace Mugabe?
You could almost see it, jingles on Peter Pamire, a businessman killed in a suspicious car accident, James Makamba, a businessman who fled into exile over dubious foreign currency charges and Gideon Gono the current Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe governor who was also forced to deny an affair with Grace.
It was shocking to hear Grace Mugabe telling residents who had been frogmarched to a campaign rally in Marondera that Tsvangirai had courted over 100 women before he settled for his current wife Elizabeth Macheka and because of this he was not a worthy leader.
“In these days of HIV/Aids, we have a grown up man like Tsvangirai moving around sleeping with every woman he comes across on the pretext that he is choosing a partner, how can we have a leader of loose morals like that? He is not principled,” she is reported to have told the crowd.
Facts tend to be stubborn. Tsvangirai’s wife Susan died in a suspicious car accident in March 2009. In a period of three years, a single Tsvangirai was linked with three women before he married Elizabeth Macheka. The three are Loreta Nyathi, Nosipho Regina Shilubane and Locadia Karimatsenga.
Grace Mugabe on the other hand had an affair with a married Mugabe when his wife Sally was battling a chronic kidney ailment. The affair resulted in two children, Bona, named after Mugabe’s mother, and Robert Peter, Jr. You can throw in the Peter Pamire, James Makamba and Gideon Gono accusations later.
Gideon Gono and Grace Mugabe
Sally was never able to have any children with Mugabe after their only son, Michael Nhamodzenyika Mugabe, born 27 September 1963, died on the 26th of December 1966 from cerebral malaria in Ghana where Sally was working.
Sarah Francesca (Hayfron) Mugabe, popularly referred to as Sally Mugabe, was Mugabe’s wife until her death in 1992. On the 17th of August 1996, Mugabe married his former secretary, Grace Marufu, 41 years his junior, with whom he already had two children while she was married to Goreraza.
Bona Mugabe is 23 years old, meaning she was born in or around 1989, some three years before Sally Mugabe died. Robert Jnr, is 19 this year, meaning he was born in or around 1993, a few months after the death of Sally in 1992.
Meanwhile Mugabe dealt with Grace’s husband, Wing Commander Stanley Goreraza by dispatching him to work as a defence attaché at the Zimbabwean embassy in China. Goreraza and Grace had one child, a son, Russell Goreraza, who now manages his mother’s extensive farm property, Gushungo Dairy.
The couple only divorced between 1995 and 1996. But then again we only bring these issues out to expose the hypocrisy of our leaders. What the Zanu PF campaign team are essentially saying to the Zimbabwean population is that you must choose between a womaniser (Tsvangirai) and a murderer (Mugabe.)
It was under Mugabe that the notorious Fifth Brigade army unit butchered over 20 000 people in the Midlands and Matabeleland provinces during what are now termed the Gukurahundi Massacres.
In 2005 under Operation Murambatsvina nearly a million people had their homes and livelihoods destroyed. In June 2008 under ‘Operation Mavhotera Papi- Where did you vote?’ an estimated 500 people were killed and thousands injured in state sponsored attacks after they voted Tsvangirai to victory.
Among the victims were women and children. Any campaign advert that wants to portray Zanu PF as caring about the welfare of women is doomed to fail. Zanu PF and Mugabe have been responsible for the deaths and misery of thousands of innocent women through political violence, murder and rape.
HARARE – Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai has challenged his arch rival and partner in the coalition government, President Robert Mugabe to a live television debate to discuss their party policies ahead of elections scheduled for next week.
Robert Mugabe with Morgan Tsvangirai
Tsvangirai was speaking to thousands of people who attended the MDC rally at Mkoba Stadium in Gweru on Sunday. In more progressive countries, politicians take part in televised debates where they get the opportunity to articulate their policies to the electorate.
In other mature democracies like the United States of America, such debates have a huge bearing on the outcome of the election. If Mugabe accepts Tsvangirai’s challenge, it will be the first of its kind in Zimbabwe.
But in the past, Mugabe has turned down such challenges and in the current campaign, the 89-year-old Zanu PF presidential candidate has been criticised for spending campaign hours dwelling on history instead of pushing through his party’s policies for the people if he is re-elected.
“As we move closer to the election, I am also challenging Mugabe to a live debate on television, where each one of us will articulate our policies on how to make Zimbabwe a better place.
“I am challenging all the presidential candidates to a public debate so that Zimbabweans can see who has the best plan to uplift the lives of Zimbabweans,” Tsvangirai said.
The MDC leader said he was not afraid of such a debate as his party had clear people-oriented policies.
“This is a defining election because it is the last mile,” he said.
Mugabe has been resorting to history lectures and has failed to articulate well, the party’s largely unsuccessful indigenisation policy which has benefitted only a few elites in Zanu PF. In Chinhoyi last week, thousands of supporters walked out as he was delivering one his long history lectures.
The veteran Zimbabwe leader together with his wife Grace, have also resorted to personal insults targeted at Tsvangirai. On Sunday, Tsvangirai added that Mugabe’s recent attacks on Sadc, a regional bloc which saved his political career after he lost the March 2008 election, was shocking.
“I beat Mugabe in 2008. He admitted as much to me but claimed that “Tsvangirai, you thrashed me but you did not manage to get enough votes to avoid a run-off. Of course, I told him he was saved by Sadc.
“So, I am shocked that Mugabe now wants to pull Zimbabwe out of Sadc. He forgets they protected him. Sadc and I gave him a soft landing. He is an old man so we had to give him that soft landing. Now he says to hell with Sadc. That’s what happens when someone is in a false comfort zone,” Tsvangirai said.
Tsvangirai also promised to transform the governance culture which has been there for the past three decades where Zanu PF failed to separate government business from party issues.
“This has been one of Zimbabwe’s foremost challenges since 1980. Zanu PF had become the party and the government. Even in the distribution of food and services, one was forced to produce a party card.
“When you are a government leader, you don’t discriminate on the basis of political affiliation. You serve the people equally,” he said.
The MDC leader also said government should not rule by fear but should show love.
“You don’t use violence against your own people,” Tsvangirai said.
He said an MDC government would fire all non-performing ministers.
“An MDC government will have zero tolerance towards corruption because corruption has eroded the ability to distribute the country’s wealth equitably. We are a rich country with poor people. Only a few are enriching themselves while the rest are suffering,” Tsvangirai said.
According to Zimstats, 63 percent of people in Zimbabwe are poor while 16 percent are extremely poor and as a result, one in three children under the age of five are chronically malnourished.
“In agriculture, farms were grabbed by a few elites who are failing to utilise the land. We cannot even feed ourselves anymore. Zimbabwe, once a breadbasket of Africa, is now a basket case. We have been reduced to being a nation of beggars,” Tsvangirai said.
Zimbabwe is set to import 150 000 tonnes of maize meal from Zambia to alleviate hunger.
First Lady, Grace Mugabe, while donating maize meal and salt to hungry villagers in Gwanda during a campaign rally, promised she would send more maize to area when stocks bought in Zambia arrive.
Grace’s statement was clear confirmation that the Zanu PF government had destroyed agriculture hence resorting to importing from Zambia, a country which before the land grab exercise used to depend on Zimbabwe for maize.
Tsvangirai said social services like education, health and water would also be transformed into functional entities once his party got into power. He said women would have free cancer testing and treatment. People living with HIV/Aids will also be entitled to free treatment. Daily News
In June 2008 there was a belief that Simba Makoni had a chance of winning the Presidential election. People invested their votes in him. He garnered 8.3% of the valid votes. It turned out that these votes were the difference between Tsvangirai winning a majority in the first round and the country going to a run-off.
Morgan Tsvangirai, Welshman Ncube and Robert Mugabe
There are clear parallels between the situation in 2008 and the situation today. I am not suggesting that Makoni was a bad presidential candidate in 2008. But that he was not a viable candidate. He did not have a realistic chance of winning the election.
The coalition between Welshman Ncube and Dumiso Dabengwa creates a situation similar to the 2008 scenario. It brings into the election a presidential candidate with little or no chance of winning the 2013 election; a candidate whose share of the vote will be small but significant in stopping the march to a new Zimbabwe. There are people who are planning on investing their votes in Welshman Ncube as a presidential candidate.
While there is nothing to suggest that Ncube is a bad presidential candidate there is clear evidence that he has no realistic chance of winning the July 31 election. Whether we like it or not this election is a two horse race between Morgan Tsvangirai and Robert Mugabe. The other candidates are just spoilers. This has nothing to do with abilities or inabilities of Welshman Ncube as a candidate but reflects the realities on the ground.
Recent utterances by Dabengwa in Chikomba should concern all those who are trying to vote for change. He claimed that he supported Makoni in 2008 in order to block the imminent win by Tsvangirai. Dabengwa is reported to have said, “I think we achieved what we had set ourselves to achieve and that is to make sure Morgan did not win that election…”
One can read in this that Dabengwa knew that Makoni was not going to win election but wanted to stop the march towards a new Zimbabwe. Dabengwa has chosen to endorse and support Welshman Ncube knowing very well that he has no chance of winning the presidential election. Is this another attempt to stop Tsvangirai from winning the election? I believe it is.
I advise the people of Zimbabwe not to vote for Welshman Ncube as a presidential candidate. Our target in this election is to stop Zanu (PF) from holding on to power again. We should not help that party rig elections by voting for Ncube whose agenda is to stop Tsvangirai winning the election.
The selfishness exhibited by Dabengwa in 2008 appears to be the same selfishness driving Ncube in 2013. Dabengwa hoped to get into government through the back door by ensuring that there was no overall winner of the 2008 presidential election. It would appear Ncube is hoping for a similar outcome.
Voting for Ncube is voting for Robert Mugabe. While the people who will vote for him are not directly voting for Robert Mugabe they are definitely giving Robert Mugabe an advantage. I know that all people who are planning to vote for Ncube want change; they want a new Zimbabwe. The people voting for Ncube are patriotic Zimbabweans who are fed up with Zanu (PF) rule. It is for these reasons that they should make the difficult decision to support the only viable alternative to Mugabe.
Tsvangirai has enough nationwide support to defeat Mugabe. No other candidate in this election has the national stature to win against Mugabe. Despite loud pronouncements that Ncube is in this election to win it, we all know that he can only come a distant third to Tsvangirai and Mugabe. Makoni has put the nation before his ambition and has endorsed Tsvangirai.
Makoni is arguably the best President that Zimbabwe never had but he is not selfish. He knows that the democratic struggle is about removing the thieving, corrupt and murdering Zanu (PF) regime from power. He also knows that the man capable of removing Mugabe at this present time is Tsvangirai. He is the most popular political party leader in Zimbabwe at this time.
A friend once said ‘I absolutely hate Tsvangirai but I am going to vote for him and the MDC in order to remove Zanu(PF) from power’. This is the attitude that Zimbabweans need in this election. In order to make our votes count against Zanu (PF) we must vote for Tsvangirai. Make your vote count!
This article was originally published in The Zimbabwean newspaper
