At the launch of Zanu PF’s election manifesto on Friday,
Vice- President Constantino Chiwenga devoted the bulk of his speech to
attacking MDC Alliance presidential candidate Nelson Chamisa, describing him as
a juvenile politician.
Chiwenga, who joined politics full-time in November last
year, after staging a coup against former president Robert Mugabe, said Chamisa
should first address the issue of his legitimacy before “dreaming big”.
He claimed the former student leader’s promises to create
spaghetti roads, build airports across the country and introduce bullet trains
were unrealistic.
However, Chamisa (NC) told Standard reporter Obey Manayiti
(OM) in an exclusive interview yesterday that in fact Chiwenga’s outburst
showed that he admired MDC Alliance politics.
He said the former army general’s comments about his
legitimacy also exposed the sinister role Zanu PF allegedly played in the
recent MDC-T split, which saw the party’s former vice-president Thokozani Khupe
being expelled. Below are excerpts from the interview.
OM: On Friday, Chiwenga launched a scathing attack against
you over your promises on infrastructure development such as spaghetti roads,
airports, bullet trains etc. What is your reaction?
NC: Chiwenga is not a presidential candidate and I have no
time for him.
It is clear that these people admire our policies and I
thank them for admiring us.
It’s clear that they follow my thought processes as the
alternative and that is very good.
Let it be a battle of ideas and a battle of policies.
General Chiwenga did a lot for this country, but he certainly doesn’t have the
general knowledge about everything in this country and he cannot be a hero of
all generations.
He is a hero of our liberation generation and now we need
young people as the transformation generation and I happen to be young.
I have seen that he is attacking young people and I take it
as a complement.
To be young is not an insult, he was also once young, ED
(Emmerson Mnangagwa) was once young, Robert Mugabe was once young, (Josiah)
Tongogara was once young, (Herbert) Chitepo was once young, (Joshua) Nkomo was
once young and when they were young, they carried the burden of the nation
through the liberation struggle.
Why are they denying us the chance to do our bit as they
did for our beloved country, why?
They have done their best and we appreciate and thank them
for liberating this country.
We couldn’t do it because they were there.
They must appreciate and accept us to transform this nation
and thank us when we transform it so that we are both liberated and
transformed.
OM: How are you going to implement that?
NC: You want me to give you the plan before I launch it?
OM: Maybe, let’s talk about the resources side. Where are
you going to get the resources for this massive plan?
NC: We have a lot of resources in this country. The first
most important resource that we have in Zimbabwe is the human resources.
The people of Zimbabwe are a phenomenal, fantastic and
exceptional resource and just because we have great intellect, we have great
people, peace-loving people and that is the number one resource.
We have mineral and material resources, only that a few are
benefiting out of these resources.
So how will I do it? I will make sure that I stop the few
from eating the entire cake and allow the whole nation to enjoy the cake
together.
We have over 60 minerals that we can leverage; we have one
of the best climates in the world for tourism purposes.
We are wired for a solid base of financial services and how
do we fail?
We can easily transform and translate ourselves into the
transport hub of the southern African region and how do we fail?
We can easily become an outsourcing country, offshoring
services in ICTs and how do we fail as a people?
We have diamonds, gold with platinum. Do you know that most
people know our capabilities more than we know ourselves?
They actually know about our competences and capacities
more than ourselves.
Look at Canada, they did a geological survey of our
resources and most guys in Europe know, even the Russians know and that is why
they are visiting here.
When you have too many visitors it’s not that they love
you, but it’s because they love what you have and who you are so that they
leverage on our resources.
We need to move from a power culture to an empower culture,
we need to move from a self-culture to others culture.
We need to move from a self-service in leadership to an
others service in leadership.
That is what we need in transformation and that is why I
mentioned three pillars, which are transformation, opportunity and prosperity.
The problem with my general Chiwenga and ED [President
Emmerson Mnangagwa] is that they love power so much and when they get that
power they don’t seem to know what to do with it.
Power is not for self, power is for others, for the nation.
It’s service, sacrifice and that is why I differ with them.
When Chiwenga signed the Mgagao Declaration in 1975, he was
19 years old, he was attested to be a brigadier in 1981 in Bulawayo and he was
25 years old, ED was 33
years old in 1975 and these are the ages to start something
new.
Here they are talking about the new dispensation at 75
years, a new dispensation in your retirement age?
OM: In the past few weeks you have been criss-crossing the
country drumming up support for the MDC Alliance at well-attended rallies both
in urban and rural areas. What is your assessment of the support for the
coalition?
NC: Our only issue at the moment is for us to have a free
and fair election which Mr Mnangagwa and his company seem not to appreciate.
They are paying lip service to a free and fair election,
they are not willing to have a free and fair election, but I can tell you that
the people in Zimbabwe are determined.
It is the people versus the few led by President Mnangagwa,
the people being led by myself.
Most of our comrades have forgotten what we fought for, the
war veterans are crying, chiefs are crying, village heads are crying, young
people are crying, women are crying and even church leaders and community
leaders are crying, all regions such as Matabeleland and Manicaland, Masvingo
and Mashonaland are crying.
We have tears on our cheeks as a people. People with
disabilities are crying, farmers and business people are crying, why? Because
we have undermined the essence and ethos of our liberation struggle starting
with one-man one-vote, issues of the sovereignty of the will of the people,
issues to do with effective leadership and there is a lot of corruption.
If you look at all corruption, if you trace the streams of
corruption they are all leading you to the dam of the ruling party, they are
all leading you to the supply tank of senior fat cats in government.
Wherever there is theft, there is the hand of a senior chef
in government. They will promise reforms but they will not deliver any reforms.
They cannot deal with reforms because reforms are a hazard
for them.
Reform is a subtraction and minus for them and they will
not reform.
They will tell you Zimbabwe is open for business, but it is
clear that it is open for the business of corruption, open to the business of
marginalisation, open to the business of favouritism and partisanship and in
the rural areas when you are not Zanu PF you are not a citizen, which is a
crisis for this country.
For the past 38 years we have not had a nation, we have
heard of a country and not a nation.
A nation must have values and that we have not had. We will
start to build a nation when we have a vision and for the past 38 years we have
not had a proper government of the people, we have had a party leadership, a
president of a party and not of a country.
Those are the issues. We don’t want to trade insults, age
comes from God and nobody applies to be old or young or even to be born.
We are all born in different dispensations and we must all
contribute to this country favourably.
The voters between the age of 18 and 54 in terms of the Zec
(Zimbabwe Electoral Commission) statistics are 81% and the voters between 55
and former president (Robert) Mugabe’s age are actually 19%.
So why should 19% be the leaders of a population of 81%? ED
belongs to that category.
Chiwenga belongs to that category and in fact the entire
cabinet belongs to that 19% and why should they be a burden to us and why
should we be a burden to them?
Why can’t we save them and carry them on our backs? we have
strength and we are young.
OM: You have threatened not to participate in the
forthcoming elections if there are no reforms…
NC: I have never threatened that. That is not correct. I
said and categorically that if reforms are not there, then there is no election.
It is different from saying we will not participate. We
will make sure that as Zimbabweans we don’t have a sham election.
OM: Are you happy with the pace of the reforms seeing
elections are just two months away?
NC: Until and unless if we agree on who prints the ballot
paper and its security and the national logistics committee and who deploys
polling officers and the auditing of the BVR (biometric voter registration)
voters’ roll itself, whatever election that will come will be disputable
because the process is as good as the outcome.
If there is a disputed process, the outcome is definitely
going to be disputed.
There can never be any restoration in this country, there
can never be stability in this country until we resolve the political question.
OM: You once wrote to Mnangagwa raising these issues, has
he responded?
NC: That is my problem with the approach of my grandfather
ED.
Out of courtesy I wrote to him saying that dialogue is what
heals a nation, but he chose to simply ignore that communication, which is not
a problem for me.
He thinks Zimbabwe is open for him to go to Russia and
China and how you engage and handshake the Chinese and others and you cannot
handshake your own brother.
How do you do that? How do you go to neighbours when you
cannot take care of your own brother?
OM: We have heard that there are plans to bring the
National Patriotic Front (NPF) into the MDC Alliance. Are you open to welcome
other partners?
NC: My brother, we are working towards a grand national
union, which is a convergence point, an omnibus of all progressive forces who
want to see Zimbabwe prosper, united and peaceful and enjoying its wealth with
respect to its citizens.
That is what I want to see. The moment is ripe, the
opportunity is ripe, the circumstances and the environment seem good.
OM: When are you likely to appoint an MDC-T vice-president
and fill in other posts following the recent split in the party?
NC: My preoccupation at the moment is not prepositions, but
proposition, what we will do when we form the next government.
OM: Do you still entertain any hopes of reuniting with the
breakaway faction led by Thokozani Khupe?
NC: You keep saying it’s a faction, I don’t know your funny
language. Khupe and some two leaders were expelled on account of indiscipline.
You cannot call them a faction. Would you say Mugabe has a
faction? he has a different party and it’s not a faction of Zanu PF.
Would you say [Ambrose] Mutinhiri is a faction of Zanu PF?
there is a different party and I don’t know why you want to call them MDC
because they are not.
It is not what they call themselves, it’s what they are and
who they are. They are not MDC, period.
That is an individual who is disgruntled and has chosen to
join with two others and they are busy recruiting.
Maybe they think of forming their own party and it is their
right because we are a democracy, but don’t continue to push them back to us.
If they want to come, let them come back, but don’t mislead
the nation to say that they are MDC, no, they are not.
Those who are in MDC know where their headquarters is and
it is at the Harvest House and they know their leadership and they are very
clear.
It is this confusion that they are trying to cause and we
know where it is coming from.
Chiwenga let the cat out of the bag when word escaped out
of his mouth through a statement where they were talking about legitimacy and
this thing we are seeing is sponsored by Cde Chiwenga and his company.
It is very clear and listen to what he said, it tells you a
big story and we know it that they promised to divide the vote so that I don’t
get 50% plus 1 vote so that they take her into a GNU (government of national
unity).
OM: Are you saying there are plans to form another GNU?
NC: Yes, they were told to divide the vote and then they
would be accommodated in the government.
She is not there to win elections but to just disturb, but
fortunately these antics are all under our full radar.
OM: I understand you have a trip to the UK, can you tell us
more about this trip.
NC: I will not share my itinerary, but I will be meeting
senior government officials and the prestigious think-tanks like Chatham House
and Oxford Union where very prominent people the world over have gone to
address. Standard
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