News / National
'We are sick of Zanu-PF wars'
28 Jan 2015 at 13:30hrs | Views
Zimbabweans say they are sick and tired of Zanu-PF leaders expending all their energy and time fighting each other viciously at the expense of fixing the country's battered economy, creating jobs, upgrading roads, providing clean water and maintaining health facilities at acceptable standards.
In interviews with the Daily News last week, analysts, opposition figures and ordinary folk said it was time that President Robert Mugabe and Zanu-PF concentrated on bread and butter issues for a change, as the country had bled enough politically and economically since Zimbabwe's independence in 1980.
They also all interpreted Mugabe's glaring omission of the most pressing challenges bedevilling the country when he addressed his supporters on his return from his long holiday in the Far East last week as a demonstration that he did not care about the welfare of the people.
Speaking at Harare International Airport, Mugabe said very little about the myriad problems confronting Zimbabwe, preferring instead to launch a blistering and unbecoming attack on his former confidant Didymus Mutasa.
And although he did apologise for returning home late from the long State-funded holiday, his critics said the fact that he had immediately flown out of the country to Zambia on his return was clear evidence that he was more interested in his own welfare and that of his family than that of Zimbabweans at large.
Upon his return from holiday, Mugabe - who left his wife in Singapore - attacked Mutasa, caricaturing him as "an idiot" and a "braying donkey" - much to the delight of his bussed-in supporters.
And barely 24 hours later, he controversially flew off to Zambia, well before the results of the neighbouring country's presidential poll were known.
Mugabe embarrassingly spent three days in Lusaka waiting for election results to be announced so that he could attend the swearing-in ceremony having been in his own country for just 24 hours.
Dewa Mavhinga, a senior researcher with Human Rights Watch said Mugabe had always been absorbed with himself more than he cared about real bread and butter issues.
"That is typical Mugabe style, always to put personal political interests ahead of the collective interests of the people of Zimbabwe.
"He talks passionately about Mutasa and problems within his Zanu-PF party because that is what he cares more about and this is a taste of things to come.
"Do not expect that there will be any serious focus on addressing the welfare of civil servants or reviving of our comatose economy. It is all about increasing his grip on political power at all costs. And that is very sad.
"Yet Zimbabwe needs caring political leaders who are motivated by improving people's lives and not just about political authority," Mavhinga said.
The soon-to-be 91-year-old strongman also came under heavy criticism for not only holidaying in the Far East, but also relying on expensive foreign hospitals for him and his family at a time when the country's facilities were in dire straits.
Since Mugabe was barred from travelling to Europe more than a decade ago, he has been enjoying lengthy and costly State-funded holidays in the Far East, while back home people are wallowing in abject poverty.
Opposition political parties said they felt vindicated that Mugabe had now exposed his true colours in the past few weeks.
Obert Gutu, spokesperson for the mainstream MDC led by Morgan Tsvangirai, said scathingly that Mugabe was "no longer fit for the purpose".
"Robert Mugabe does not seem to appreciate that Zimbabwe is in a debilitating national crisis as evidenced by the crumbling economy, the endless closure of companies, the collapsing health delivery system as well as the severely under-performing agricultural sector.
"He is not even aware that the country is on virtual auto-pilot. Instead of addressing these critical and pressing national issues, he returns from his lengthy State-funded jamboree in the Far East and he starts talking about petty little issues affecting his moribund political party, Zanu-PF.
"The sooner he retires from both government and politics the better for all patriotic Zimbabweans across the political divide," Gutu thundered.
While he contemptuously dismissed Mutasa, political analyst Maxwell Saungweme said the president's preoccupation with ructions in his party showed that he no longer felt secure in the leadership post that he had held for decades.
"It shows that at this juncture, the president is worried more about his political survival and goings-on in his party.
"His preoccupation over the past 12 months has been on internal issues and challenges within his party. He has suddenly realised he has more enemies from within.
"And like anyone else when all is not well at home, you do not perform well at work. For him now, he would rather speak of key issues on his mind, issues about his party, forgetting that not all Zimbabweans care about his party but service delivery by the government he leads.
"Zimbabweans who are not necessarily members of Zanu-PF expected him to talk of real issues facing the nation such as the economy, liquidity problems, civil servants remuneration, corruption, floods, our roads that are now death traps, and so forth," Saungweme said.
Alex Magaisa, a law expert, said there was now an admission in Zanu-PF that as long as Mugabe was in power then the country's current socio-economic problems would persist.
"Evidently, there is a bankruptcy of ideas in government. They all know there is nothing new that he is going to do to solve these long-standing problems and they all know that a new start will only begin when real power passes on to his successor but they do not have the courage to usher in this new era.
"Another thing is that it has become clear that as a general rule the much-vaunted theory of ‘African solutions to African problems' does not apply to the health problems of African presidents and their families.
"They shout themselves hoarse about African solutions but when they feel a twitch, they will hop onto the next plane to a foreign hospital, a privilege which the majority of the people they lead cannot even dream of," he said.
A Harare street vendor Francis Shumba said life was very hard for him and his colleagues and he doubted that the country's leaders cared about them.
"We are sick and tired of their (Zanu-PF) fights. All we want is to be able to make a living and for our leaders to help us, but this is not happening," he said.
In interviews with the Daily News last week, analysts, opposition figures and ordinary folk said it was time that President Robert Mugabe and Zanu-PF concentrated on bread and butter issues for a change, as the country had bled enough politically and economically since Zimbabwe's independence in 1980.
They also all interpreted Mugabe's glaring omission of the most pressing challenges bedevilling the country when he addressed his supporters on his return from his long holiday in the Far East last week as a demonstration that he did not care about the welfare of the people.
Speaking at Harare International Airport, Mugabe said very little about the myriad problems confronting Zimbabwe, preferring instead to launch a blistering and unbecoming attack on his former confidant Didymus Mutasa.
And although he did apologise for returning home late from the long State-funded holiday, his critics said the fact that he had immediately flown out of the country to Zambia on his return was clear evidence that he was more interested in his own welfare and that of his family than that of Zimbabweans at large.
Upon his return from holiday, Mugabe - who left his wife in Singapore - attacked Mutasa, caricaturing him as "an idiot" and a "braying donkey" - much to the delight of his bussed-in supporters.
And barely 24 hours later, he controversially flew off to Zambia, well before the results of the neighbouring country's presidential poll were known.
Mugabe embarrassingly spent three days in Lusaka waiting for election results to be announced so that he could attend the swearing-in ceremony having been in his own country for just 24 hours.
Dewa Mavhinga, a senior researcher with Human Rights Watch said Mugabe had always been absorbed with himself more than he cared about real bread and butter issues.
"That is typical Mugabe style, always to put personal political interests ahead of the collective interests of the people of Zimbabwe.
"He talks passionately about Mutasa and problems within his Zanu-PF party because that is what he cares more about and this is a taste of things to come.
"Do not expect that there will be any serious focus on addressing the welfare of civil servants or reviving of our comatose economy. It is all about increasing his grip on political power at all costs. And that is very sad.
"Yet Zimbabwe needs caring political leaders who are motivated by improving people's lives and not just about political authority," Mavhinga said.
The soon-to-be 91-year-old strongman also came under heavy criticism for not only holidaying in the Far East, but also relying on expensive foreign hospitals for him and his family at a time when the country's facilities were in dire straits.
Since Mugabe was barred from travelling to Europe more than a decade ago, he has been enjoying lengthy and costly State-funded holidays in the Far East, while back home people are wallowing in abject poverty.
Obert Gutu, spokesperson for the mainstream MDC led by Morgan Tsvangirai, said scathingly that Mugabe was "no longer fit for the purpose".
"Robert Mugabe does not seem to appreciate that Zimbabwe is in a debilitating national crisis as evidenced by the crumbling economy, the endless closure of companies, the collapsing health delivery system as well as the severely under-performing agricultural sector.
"He is not even aware that the country is on virtual auto-pilot. Instead of addressing these critical and pressing national issues, he returns from his lengthy State-funded jamboree in the Far East and he starts talking about petty little issues affecting his moribund political party, Zanu-PF.
"The sooner he retires from both government and politics the better for all patriotic Zimbabweans across the political divide," Gutu thundered.
While he contemptuously dismissed Mutasa, political analyst Maxwell Saungweme said the president's preoccupation with ructions in his party showed that he no longer felt secure in the leadership post that he had held for decades.
"It shows that at this juncture, the president is worried more about his political survival and goings-on in his party.
"His preoccupation over the past 12 months has been on internal issues and challenges within his party. He has suddenly realised he has more enemies from within.
"And like anyone else when all is not well at home, you do not perform well at work. For him now, he would rather speak of key issues on his mind, issues about his party, forgetting that not all Zimbabweans care about his party but service delivery by the government he leads.
"Zimbabweans who are not necessarily members of Zanu-PF expected him to talk of real issues facing the nation such as the economy, liquidity problems, civil servants remuneration, corruption, floods, our roads that are now death traps, and so forth," Saungweme said.
Alex Magaisa, a law expert, said there was now an admission in Zanu-PF that as long as Mugabe was in power then the country's current socio-economic problems would persist.
"Evidently, there is a bankruptcy of ideas in government. They all know there is nothing new that he is going to do to solve these long-standing problems and they all know that a new start will only begin when real power passes on to his successor but they do not have the courage to usher in this new era.
"Another thing is that it has become clear that as a general rule the much-vaunted theory of ‘African solutions to African problems' does not apply to the health problems of African presidents and their families.
"They shout themselves hoarse about African solutions but when they feel a twitch, they will hop onto the next plane to a foreign hospital, a privilege which the majority of the people they lead cannot even dream of," he said.
A Harare street vendor Francis Shumba said life was very hard for him and his colleagues and he doubted that the country's leaders cared about them.
"We are sick and tired of their (Zanu-PF) fights. All we want is to be able to make a living and for our leaders to help us, but this is not happening," he said.
Source - dailynews
