News / National
'Zanu-PF part of the solution,' says Biti
15 May 2014 at 14:43hrs | Views
President Robert Mugabe's Zanu PF party is as much the problem as it is part of the solution to the country's troubles, former Finance minister and MDC-T secretary -general Tendai Biti has said.
"The problems that Zimbabwe is facing now are national. Zanu PF is as much the problem as they are the solution. We need a collective solution that encompasses labour, farmers, civil society, the student movement and the opposition is only a tiny component of the country's social make-up," Biti said.
"It is not the responsibility of the politicians to find solutions to our problems. The students, war veterans, farmers, women, civil society, journalists and all sectors of society should be there to find a genuine solution."
Biti has since started calling for a coalition, United Democratic Front, that insiders say would bring together almost all opposition forces in Zimbabwe, minus Tsvangirai, to confront Zanu PF.
He said Zimbabweans should never trust politicians to come up with "genuine" solutions to the country's problems.
"It is a sign of national failure to delegate this huge task to a small elite called political parties, they are the least people we should expect genuine solutions from because they think territorially.
Here we need a Nelson Mandela character, but unfortunately we do not have Mandela characters in Zimbabwe," the former Finance minister said.
"We have selfish little people with big egos who think that they are owed by the people of Zimbabwe, people who think they own the people of Zimbabwe."
Biti spoke on his relationship with his erstwhile comrade and boss, Tsvangirai, saying he respected what the former Zimbabwean prime minister had done in the fight for a democratic Zimbabwe, promising to take the veteran trade unionist to "dinner when I get paid at the law firm I am working".
The MDC-T secretary general is now fronting a group of hawks in the opposition party agitating for leadership change.
The acrimonious fight for control of the party led Biti into convening a national council meeting on April 26 that ousted Tsvangirai and other leaders.
Tsvangirai responded by convening his own national council, expelling Biti and his comrades.
"The problems that Zimbabwe is facing now are national. Zanu PF is as much the problem as they are the solution. We need a collective solution that encompasses labour, farmers, civil society, the student movement and the opposition is only a tiny component of the country's social make-up," Biti said.
"It is not the responsibility of the politicians to find solutions to our problems. The students, war veterans, farmers, women, civil society, journalists and all sectors of society should be there to find a genuine solution."
Biti has since started calling for a coalition, United Democratic Front, that insiders say would bring together almost all opposition forces in Zimbabwe, minus Tsvangirai, to confront Zanu PF.
He said Zimbabweans should never trust politicians to come up with "genuine" solutions to the country's problems.
"It is a sign of national failure to delegate this huge task to a small elite called political parties, they are the least people we should expect genuine solutions from because they think territorially.
"We have selfish little people with big egos who think that they are owed by the people of Zimbabwe, people who think they own the people of Zimbabwe."
Biti spoke on his relationship with his erstwhile comrade and boss, Tsvangirai, saying he respected what the former Zimbabwean prime minister had done in the fight for a democratic Zimbabwe, promising to take the veteran trade unionist to "dinner when I get paid at the law firm I am working".
The MDC-T secretary general is now fronting a group of hawks in the opposition party agitating for leadership change.
The acrimonious fight for control of the party led Biti into convening a national council meeting on April 26 that ousted Tsvangirai and other leaders.
Tsvangirai responded by convening his own national council, expelling Biti and his comrades.
Source - Zim Mail
