MDC leader Nelson Chamisa yesterday warned that poverty and
the worsening economic crisis will push people onto the streets to demonstrate
against President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s administration.
He was addressing thousands of people who had gathered at
the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU)-organised Workers Day celebrations
in Dzivaresekwa.
He said since time immemorial, protests by the labour
unions were an early warning system to the incumbent government.
The MDC leader said proper dialogue was the only solution
to the country’s seemingly insurmountable problems, which the present
government was failing to solve.
“The working class agenda is still the centre of the
agenda,” Chamisa said. “ZCTU is organising people, MDC is mobilising people,
civil society is co-ordinating people. We don’t need any money from the
British. Our co-ordinator is poverty, our mobiliser is unemployment.”
Chamisa said when the opposition eventually calls for the
next demonstrations against the depressing economic situation, they will
surpass the January fuel price hike protests organised by by the ZCTU.
The protests turned violent, with State security agents
killing 20 people in suppressing the protests, arrested 1 000 people, while
nearly 200 were left nursing gunshot wounds.
He accused Mnangagwa’s government of being blanketed by
corruption and has shown no clear agenda to revive the economy.
He also indicated that the so-called reforms were bringing
untold suffering on the people.
“The crisis in the present administration of Mnangagwa is
that their core business is not to plan, but to plot,” Chamisa said, while
accusing government of stocking up State armouries to deal with dissent, but
failing to arrest the worsening economic situation.
Chamisa demanded that workers be paid in United States
dollars.
He said an MDC government would introduce an unemployed
benefit fund from the vast country’s resources.
He also took a swipe at Vice-President Constantino Chiwenga
for allegedly failing to articulate issues in the country at public fora.
Chamisa insisted that last year’s elections were rigged and
that Mnangagwa would find it difficult to rule.
“There won’t be a way forward in this country before we
dialogue. We must agree that elections were stolen. Yes, the court finished the
legal dispute, but there is a political dispute. Courts do not adjudicate
political disputes, we need to dialogue about the future of this country.”
Chamisa said there was need for genuine political and
electoral reforms, peace-building and nation-building where the aggressors ask
for forgiveness from those that were wronged.
He called for productivity and discipline within the
economy, saying the Mnangagwa administration had no capacity to deal with
corruption because of immunity and impunity, hence the need for new leadership.
ZCTU leader Peter Mutasa said demonstrations would be the
way to go if things fail to change and that soon, they would announce their
programmes.
Mutasa, who has a case before the courts for allegedly
trying to overthrow the government over the January protests, said arbitrary
arrests would not solve the problem, while accusing government of failing to
craft solutions for the economy.
“If the government continues to ignore the pleas of the
suffering workers and citizens, the ZCTU will be left with no option than to
mobilise workers for peaceful pickets, demonstrations, general strikes and
other such actions provided for in the Constitution of Zimbabwe and our labour
laws,” Mutasa said.
He said it was shameful that Mnangagwa’s government was
doing worse than that of ex-leader Robert Mugabe, who was deposed in a coup in
November 2017.
The MDC leader said his party will be in Buhera for the
memorial of the opposition party’s founding president, Morgan Tsvangirai, whose
resolve for fighting for change and transformation will be reignited.
Several MDC officials, among them Elias Mudzuri, Tendai
Biti, Paurina Mupariwa, Harare mayor Herbert Gomba and some legislators,
attended the celebrations.
Meanwhile, the acting director for labour and
administration in the Labour ministry, Langton Ngorima, was booed for the
larger part of his speech, with workers saying the government had shown no
commitment to deal with their plight.
The speech was delivered on behalf of Labour minister Sekai
Nzenza. Newsday
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