Zim sitting on untapped $30 trillion mineral wealth- ZimFirst

The ZimFirst leader Maxwell Shumba has said Zimbabwe is sitting on $30 trilion mineral wealth which it is failing to tap due to ineptitude of the Zanu PF government.

Shumba said as a new party with its unique vision that is positively transformative and a breath of fresh air in Zimbabwean politics we have been chastised instead of being celebrated.

"Zimbabwe, a country with $30 trillion mineral wealth sitting untapped or exploited (due to a combination of Zanu PF ineptitude and corrupt activities), needs new blood that can take exploit these natural resources to develop the people and the country. It needs a new value system and a technocratic approach that matches other countries with sound economies. In any normal country, our presence would be cause celebre'," he said.

"BUT, alas, we are called all sorts of unpalatable names. CIO I am labeled by the crazies in opposition ranks . He is a thief -he stole Morgan's money, goes another crazy hymn from another choir of rabid idiots from the same opposition corner (By the way this is how Zanu PF operates and clearly these crazies and idiots have learnt very well Zanu PF MO very well. Zanu PF and them two sides of the same coin now. You can't tell the difference now. Zanu shouts 'Puppet of the West' to those with opposing voices and 'CIO' is opposition members' mantra against upcoming political parties)."

He said at some point this has to stop so that we can focus on who can best redeem our country from the present economic and social morass.

"But why are we chastised? Because the culprits are fixated on getting only one man to become President of Zimbabwe no matter what. Forget about the country's needs. It is about that person. The man is deemed to own the votes and everyone else who comes up with better alternative solutions for our country is up to no good because the party and the new people will assumed to divide the man's vote . Crass mentality," said Shumba.

"Democracy is about competing for and sharing votes and the one with the highest votes is declared winner no matter how many participants are involved. The movements we are creating to fight for democratic change are precisely about competing for the available votes and should are expected to celebrate our existence if indeed the movements are genuinely about promoting democracy. Are votes divided in reality?"

He said any political player worth their salt should not worry about the division of votes.

"They should worry about selling themselves to the electorate with a message that should give them the majority of the votes. There are no votes to be divided but votes to fight for. The electorate can never be owned nor should be taken for granted," said Shumba.

"Zimbabwe has 8 million potential voters . Historically past participants have not garnered more than a ball park figure of 3 million votes. That leaves 5 million votes out there for anyone to grab. As ZimFirst we have built our own follower-ship outside the 3 million. We are contesting without fear for our share of the 8 million potential votes that are out there. Accusing us of diving votes is a sign of emptiness and a sign of panic."

He said let the best vision win and if it is for the country every manifesto counts.

"Every man and woman who step up to cause for others counts and every party that dedicates time and resources for a people's cause. Our country like all others in this global village is expected to be forward looking. Matakadya kare haanyengedze mwana (help translate) they say in Shona," he said.

"Forget about what happened in a decade ago election. 2018 is a new election year and there will be no vote to divide. There will new votes to campaign for. There might be 90 political parties in Zimbabwe . We will battle it out or we will find each other. Some will fold before Election Day and some will unite . That is the political mathematics that will make Decision 2018 an interesting one. As for ZimFirst , we will not fold. Our vision and our ground game are solid."