Villagers confront Tsvangira over illegal sanctions

PM Morgan Tsvangirai was on Friday confronted by angry MUREHWA villagers demanding to know what he has done to have illegal sanctions he once asked the West to impose on Zimbabwe back in 2000 removed,  state media reports.

Tsvangirai  was visiting Mashonaland East Province to assess Government programmes.

The villagers confronted PM Tsvangirai after getting their way into a closed-door meeting at the district administrator's office at Murehwa Centre.

All hell broke loose when the PM said he was in the province to get first hand information on the state of development projects.

The villagers asked how he expected development when the country was under sanctions.

"As the Prime Minister, tell us what you have done about sanctions?" asked one of the villagers, who attended the meeting.

"How can you expect development when there are sanctions?"

PM Tsvangirai said Government had put in place a Cabinet team to engage the European Union and the United States over the issue.

He said he travelled to Europe and the US to have the illegal embargo lifted, without success.

"We created a Cabinet committee to engage the EU and the US," said PM Tsvangirai, adding: "We have a Cabinet position that they remove sanctions kana vasingadi haisi mhosva yedu."

But the villagers were not done, yet.

"You said you have a key to unlock the economic challenges the country is facing when you come into power, how come you have not done anything to date?"

PM Tsvangirai said he was not in power, but was just part of Government.

The villagers asked why he was not supportive of farmers, especially on the issue of inputs.

PM Tsvangirai reiterated that Government would not give able-bodied farmers free inputs, saying that was a privilege for the elderly.

The villagers said the Grain Marketing Board was failing to pay them for grain delivered, scuttling preparations for next season.

PM Tsvangirai said US$100 million was given to responsible offices for the purchase by GMB of maize for the strategic grain reserves in last year's budget.

He also attacked Government's indigenisation policy, saying giving people shares in companies was not tantamount to empowering them.

PM Tsvangirai said having shares in a loss making company would not benefit anyone, preferring rather a policy that attracted new investment into the country.

But the PM seems to contradict himself because in May at the World Economic Forum meeting in Cape Town he defended the indigenization policy saying it was a national policy.

"Indigenisation is not about expropriation or nationalisation . . . it is about setting fair value. People have raised concerns about indigenisation . . . Across the political divide we agree on the principle of citizenship empowerment." And: "We are trying a model, a matrix that will satisfy both the investor and our desire to see people participate in the economy," the PM said then.

But he has now shifted his stance which observers say is not surprising as it comes hard on the heels of his recent visit to the United States where he was advised against supporting the empowerment programme.

Senior members of his party say the PM remembers the advice of the last person he would have spoken to and parrots that as his stance.

After the meeting, the premier visited Hurungwe Clinic after which the situation got worse when he tried to tour market stalls at Murehwa Centre.

A large group of villagers broke into song and blocked him from viewing the wares.
This saw PM Tsvangirai's motorcade leaving the venue in a huff.

PM Tsvangirai then convened an urgent closed-door meeting at Murehwa Hospital and later toured a number of other projects outside Murehwa Centre.