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'Mugabe is absent in his presence,' Moyo says
28 Dec 2014 at 17:28hrs | Views
BULAWAYO - Makokoba constituency Member of Parliament, Gorden Moyo says Zimbabweans' much-lauded high literacy rate in Africa has not helped them to resist being oppressed by President Robert Mugabe since the country's independence in April 1980.
Briefing journalists in Bulawayo last week, Moyo - a United MDC official - said Mugabe's leadership had also plunged the country into economic depression.
"We have a country that is being led by somebody who is over 90 (years old) in this 21st Century," Moyo said.
He said it was appalling that Zanu PF, which had some of the most educated cadres within its ranks, had stampeded to endorse Mugabe as the sole candidate for the country's 2018 elections.
"The absurdity of it is so alarming and so scary, we don't understand why a country that boasts of a literacy rate of over 90 percent is still making these decisions that put somebody who is hardly present, somebody who is absent in his presence.
"When he is there he is not there and that is why we saw his wife running all over the country," Moyo said.
The former State Enterprises and Parastatals minister said despite still exuding confidence and the will to continue ruling this country, Mugabe was well past his sell-by date.
"We have a problem with him as our leader at that age. As he is unable to say the right slogan for his own party, how can he be leading us?
"We have a problem with a president who is now running the country not with his Cabinet and not even his securocrats, but with his wife.
"That becomes the problem and we think that is the problem of age because before that, the man was strong and he would not accept that," Moyo said.
He said as a result, the nonagenarian leader had failed to steer the economic ship to the shores of success after running down the economy with his decades of misrule.
"We have a serious problem of unemployment and I have not heard either from the Zim Asset document or from Finance minister Patrick Chinamasa's budget the issue of unemployment which is soaring above 80 percent," Moyo said, adding that under Zanu PF, the country's future looked bleak.
Referring to the on-going chaos within the ruling party, Moyo said this was shoving the already stuttering economy further into the doldrums.
"What has happened over the last four months in Zimbabwe in the ruling party has had ripple effects on the economy. We cannot run away from it. Zanu PF is a ruling and governing party and what happens within it affects all of us," he said.
He also accused the opposition parties of failing the nation as they disintegrated instead of stepping in at a time when Zanu PF was at its weakest.
"As opposition we showed that we are not strong, if only we were, they (Zanu PF) could not have done that (infighting) because they could have focused on us and not within themselves," Moyo said.
Briefing journalists in Bulawayo last week, Moyo - a United MDC official - said Mugabe's leadership had also plunged the country into economic depression.
"We have a country that is being led by somebody who is over 90 (years old) in this 21st Century," Moyo said.
He said it was appalling that Zanu PF, which had some of the most educated cadres within its ranks, had stampeded to endorse Mugabe as the sole candidate for the country's 2018 elections.
"The absurdity of it is so alarming and so scary, we don't understand why a country that boasts of a literacy rate of over 90 percent is still making these decisions that put somebody who is hardly present, somebody who is absent in his presence.
"When he is there he is not there and that is why we saw his wife running all over the country," Moyo said.
The former State Enterprises and Parastatals minister said despite still exuding confidence and the will to continue ruling this country, Mugabe was well past his sell-by date.
"We have a problem with him as our leader at that age. As he is unable to say the right slogan for his own party, how can he be leading us?
"We have a problem with a president who is now running the country not with his Cabinet and not even his securocrats, but with his wife.
"That becomes the problem and we think that is the problem of age because before that, the man was strong and he would not accept that," Moyo said.
He said as a result, the nonagenarian leader had failed to steer the economic ship to the shores of success after running down the economy with his decades of misrule.
"We have a serious problem of unemployment and I have not heard either from the Zim Asset document or from Finance minister Patrick Chinamasa's budget the issue of unemployment which is soaring above 80 percent," Moyo said, adding that under Zanu PF, the country's future looked bleak.
Referring to the on-going chaos within the ruling party, Moyo said this was shoving the already stuttering economy further into the doldrums.
"What has happened over the last four months in Zimbabwe in the ruling party has had ripple effects on the economy. We cannot run away from it. Zanu PF is a ruling and governing party and what happens within it affects all of us," he said.
He also accused the opposition parties of failing the nation as they disintegrated instead of stepping in at a time when Zanu PF was at its weakest.
"As opposition we showed that we are not strong, if only we were, they (Zanu PF) could not have done that (infighting) because they could have focused on us and not within themselves," Moyo said.
Source - DailyNews