News / National
MDC-T senior official glad he is leaving corrupt government
20 Aug 2013 at 22:49hrs | Views
OUTGOING Constitutional and Parliamentary Affairs minister Eric Matinenga said he was glad to be leaving government as Cabinet posts were often associated with a culture of corruption.
Matinenga said there was always life after politics.
" I will be going back to my law practice the moment a new President is sworn in. I am going back to advocates chambers. I certainly think that I was enriched by my participation in government and I thank God I am one of those who managed to retire from a Cabinet post. I consider myself lucky that I had that political experience, but I have always said that I am still of the view there is life after politics and that is why I am retiring.
"For people to believe being a government minister is the end of everything is wrong. There is a difference between being a ruler and a servant. Being a minister is actually one of the lowest positions because you are a servant of the people. In our culture being a minister comes with pomp and ceremony and is associated with corrupt patronage and I am glad I am leaving this post," said Matinenga who was also the Buhera West MP.
He said there was a place for the 49 MDC MPs in the new Parliament.
"There is going to be 49 MPs from the MDC-T and two independent legislators. In reality those two said they were Zanu-PF and so we will have a situation whereby Zanu-PF has a two-thirds majority. However, I still think there is a place for the 49 MDC-T MPs to be heard in the sense that they need to represent the interests of those persons who voted them into Parliament. That is where I differ when people say Parliament should be boycotted. I think it is not fair and it is not tactical to surrender that democratic space. It is different to boycotting Cabinet because when you are invited into Cabinet, you accept the invitation on the basis that you are going to behave like Zanu-PF, but in Parliament you are going to behave on the terms and conditions of those people who voted for you."
Matinenga maintained that the harmonised elections were stolen.
"I am yet to see anybody today who is euphoric about the results of this election. I was attending a ceremony somewhere and someone there said that there are many little good things in Zimbabwe to the extent that when we have electricity blackouts and whenever the power comes back we are euphoric that Zesa power is back. But when you look at this election, it is a non-event and there is nobody who is euphoric about it because of the extent of cheating.
People are saying what are we going to do during these five years given the shrinking democratic space and that there is uncertainty in the economic and social fabric caused by the stolen elections. I do not respect this so-called election victory. It is quite clear that Zimbabweans should appreciate we are on our own and we need to start afresh and say how do we re-group and move forward after this devastation? I liken it to a team at half-time whose coach keeps saying they need to win since they still have another 45 minutes. We need to finish off," he told Newsday in an interview.
Matinenga said there was always life after politics.
" I will be going back to my law practice the moment a new President is sworn in. I am going back to advocates chambers. I certainly think that I was enriched by my participation in government and I thank God I am one of those who managed to retire from a Cabinet post. I consider myself lucky that I had that political experience, but I have always said that I am still of the view there is life after politics and that is why I am retiring.
"For people to believe being a government minister is the end of everything is wrong. There is a difference between being a ruler and a servant. Being a minister is actually one of the lowest positions because you are a servant of the people. In our culture being a minister comes with pomp and ceremony and is associated with corrupt patronage and I am glad I am leaving this post," said Matinenga who was also the Buhera West MP.
He said there was a place for the 49 MDC MPs in the new Parliament.
"There is going to be 49 MPs from the MDC-T and two independent legislators. In reality those two said they were Zanu-PF and so we will have a situation whereby Zanu-PF has a two-thirds majority. However, I still think there is a place for the 49 MDC-T MPs to be heard in the sense that they need to represent the interests of those persons who voted them into Parliament. That is where I differ when people say Parliament should be boycotted. I think it is not fair and it is not tactical to surrender that democratic space. It is different to boycotting Cabinet because when you are invited into Cabinet, you accept the invitation on the basis that you are going to behave like Zanu-PF, but in Parliament you are going to behave on the terms and conditions of those people who voted for you."
Matinenga maintained that the harmonised elections were stolen.
"I am yet to see anybody today who is euphoric about the results of this election. I was attending a ceremony somewhere and someone there said that there are many little good things in Zimbabwe to the extent that when we have electricity blackouts and whenever the power comes back we are euphoric that Zesa power is back. But when you look at this election, it is a non-event and there is nobody who is euphoric about it because of the extent of cheating.
People are saying what are we going to do during these five years given the shrinking democratic space and that there is uncertainty in the economic and social fabric caused by the stolen elections. I do not respect this so-called election victory. It is quite clear that Zimbabweans should appreciate we are on our own and we need to start afresh and say how do we re-group and move forward after this devastation? I liken it to a team at half-time whose coach keeps saying they need to win since they still have another 45 minutes. We need to finish off," he told Newsday in an interview.
Source - newsday
