Opinion / National
Shameless Mnangagwa in UN trip of lies
29 Sep 2018 at 13:00hrs | Views
THE MDC is irked by President Emmerson Mnangagwa's misrepresentation of the Zimbabwean situation in front of the whole world in a shameless attempt to sugar coat his limited capacity.
The best way to move forward is to correctly define and characterise the status quo as well as appreciate the challenges ahead.
Mnangagwa's misrepresentation of facts in New York is worrying.
This misrepresentation of facts might win him a few gullible, impressionable and excitable fanatics back home and maybe abroad, but certainly the world is not blind.
To make matters worse, Mnangagwa lies about issues which are on the fingertips of the people he is trying to impress, this is a second layer of a false start considering the legitimacy issues already arresting the country.
The issue at hand is one that has to do with confidence building, overstating Mnangagwa's achievements of the past seven months simply exposes his dishonesty and sadly it is a disservice to the nation.
In New York, Mnangagwa lied with a straight face that gross domestic product (GDP) per capita in Zimbabwe rose to $1 500 in the first seven months of his reign of shame.
Zimbabwe's per capita income is $890 according to the United Nations' country statistics.
The African Development Bank places it at $840 while the World Bank using the Atlas method places our per capita income at $840.
Mnangagwa is known for confusing figures including his infamous addition of 10 plus four adding up to 40; he can be forgiven for making mathematical mistakes, but certainly not for the other lies.
That the National Peace and Reconciliation Commission is a creation of his, is an insult not only to his audience, but to the democratic contingent, victims of political violence and their families.
Mnangagwa claims to have created the commission when, in fact, it's a constitutional creation.
He further claims that he appointed the commissioners when these were appointed during former President Robert Mugabe's time. It exposes Mnangagwa as a liar, but also shows that appointment of commissions are no indicator of real reform.
He further created an impression that the commission had been mandated specifically to deal with the issue of Gukurahundi.
In May of 2017 while he was still the Vice-President, he claimed that Zimbabwean banks were seating on $9 billion with no viable projects to fund.
In its latest report on the banking sector at the time, the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) had released information to the effect that only $6 billion was in the banking sector.
A serious leader ought to have at least got the official figures from his subordinates at the RBZ before embarrassing himself and the country as a whole.
He also sensationally claimed that the Mugabe government created 2,2 million jobs, a joke not so funny, but rather sickening and an insult to the unemployed masses of Zimbabwe.
His Finance minister Mthuli Ncube seems to be learning fast, he also lied and mismatched figures while addressing the Zimbabwe Investor Forum on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly.
He overstated statistics on the Zimbabwe Stock Exchange's cumulative return since March 2009 to 2 000%, whose variance to the actual 600% return is just too much of an irreconcilable gap.
Then, in a clear sign of selling his soul and committing integrity suicide, Ncube supported Mnangagwa's claim to create a medium-income economy of $3 500 GDP per capita by 2030.
This cannot be reconciled with Ncube's projections of 6% annual growth rates.
Achieving the above per capita income by 2030 will require an average growth rate of 11%, considering population growth does not go beyond 16 million.
Forget the poor show by RBZ governor John Mangudya in his New York presentation, the lies by Mnangagwa assisted by Ncube did serious damage in portraying Zimbabwe as a country of dishonest, global citizens.
It was a shameless show.
We expect Zanu-PF to know that the apparatus used to rig elections back at home are unavailable in the global village.
We need honest re-engagement based on realities on the ground.
Legitimacy issues must be sorted out, there is no substitute to that. The high country risk profile must be eradicated through respect of human and property rights, the rule of law and an honest shunning of corruption. There must be institutional, political and painstaking economic reform.
In the interim, Zimbabwe must do away with pictures dominating international media those of deadly diseases, starving children, economic chaos, political instability and conflict.
These must be issues any serious government will focus on then use this strong foundation as a basis for honest re-engagement.
The UN trip has gone down the drain and taxpayers' money gone to waste.
------
Bekhithemba Mpofu is the MDC national deputy spokesperson
The best way to move forward is to correctly define and characterise the status quo as well as appreciate the challenges ahead.
Mnangagwa's misrepresentation of facts in New York is worrying.
This misrepresentation of facts might win him a few gullible, impressionable and excitable fanatics back home and maybe abroad, but certainly the world is not blind.
To make matters worse, Mnangagwa lies about issues which are on the fingertips of the people he is trying to impress, this is a second layer of a false start considering the legitimacy issues already arresting the country.
The issue at hand is one that has to do with confidence building, overstating Mnangagwa's achievements of the past seven months simply exposes his dishonesty and sadly it is a disservice to the nation.
In New York, Mnangagwa lied with a straight face that gross domestic product (GDP) per capita in Zimbabwe rose to $1 500 in the first seven months of his reign of shame.
Zimbabwe's per capita income is $890 according to the United Nations' country statistics.
The African Development Bank places it at $840 while the World Bank using the Atlas method places our per capita income at $840.
Mnangagwa is known for confusing figures including his infamous addition of 10 plus four adding up to 40; he can be forgiven for making mathematical mistakes, but certainly not for the other lies.
That the National Peace and Reconciliation Commission is a creation of his, is an insult not only to his audience, but to the democratic contingent, victims of political violence and their families.
Mnangagwa claims to have created the commission when, in fact, it's a constitutional creation.
He further claims that he appointed the commissioners when these were appointed during former President Robert Mugabe's time. It exposes Mnangagwa as a liar, but also shows that appointment of commissions are no indicator of real reform.
He further created an impression that the commission had been mandated specifically to deal with the issue of Gukurahundi.
In May of 2017 while he was still the Vice-President, he claimed that Zimbabwean banks were seating on $9 billion with no viable projects to fund.
In its latest report on the banking sector at the time, the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) had released information to the effect that only $6 billion was in the banking sector.
A serious leader ought to have at least got the official figures from his subordinates at the RBZ before embarrassing himself and the country as a whole.
He also sensationally claimed that the Mugabe government created 2,2 million jobs, a joke not so funny, but rather sickening and an insult to the unemployed masses of Zimbabwe.
His Finance minister Mthuli Ncube seems to be learning fast, he also lied and mismatched figures while addressing the Zimbabwe Investor Forum on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly.
He overstated statistics on the Zimbabwe Stock Exchange's cumulative return since March 2009 to 2 000%, whose variance to the actual 600% return is just too much of an irreconcilable gap.
Then, in a clear sign of selling his soul and committing integrity suicide, Ncube supported Mnangagwa's claim to create a medium-income economy of $3 500 GDP per capita by 2030.
This cannot be reconciled with Ncube's projections of 6% annual growth rates.
Achieving the above per capita income by 2030 will require an average growth rate of 11%, considering population growth does not go beyond 16 million.
Forget the poor show by RBZ governor John Mangudya in his New York presentation, the lies by Mnangagwa assisted by Ncube did serious damage in portraying Zimbabwe as a country of dishonest, global citizens.
It was a shameless show.
We expect Zanu-PF to know that the apparatus used to rig elections back at home are unavailable in the global village.
We need honest re-engagement based on realities on the ground.
Legitimacy issues must be sorted out, there is no substitute to that. The high country risk profile must be eradicated through respect of human and property rights, the rule of law and an honest shunning of corruption. There must be institutional, political and painstaking economic reform.
In the interim, Zimbabwe must do away with pictures dominating international media those of deadly diseases, starving children, economic chaos, political instability and conflict.
These must be issues any serious government will focus on then use this strong foundation as a basis for honest re-engagement.
The UN trip has gone down the drain and taxpayers' money gone to waste.
------
Bekhithemba Mpofu is the MDC national deputy spokesperson
Source - Bekhithemba Mpofu
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