News / National
Mugabe promotes tribalism in Zimbabwe
20 Jul 2015 at 18:14hrs | Views
MDC politician, Priscilla Misihairabwi-Mushonga has criticised President Robert Mugabe for unnecessarily stirring tribal tensions in the country through his recent appointment of a Shona vice chancellor to lead Lupane State University.
Professor Pardon Kuipa was early this month appointed to the job by President Mugabe.
Priscilla Misihairabwi-Mushonga's full speach below:
The first issue that I want to deal with is the issue around ethnicity, the politics of ethnicity. You can only push a country if everybody feels they are part of that nation. We have gotten to a point in this country where we do not feel bad about calling each other a minority group. There is no minority group but are marginalised communities. There are marginalised communities because we continue to refuse to put them at the centre of where things are happening Mr. Speaker. Unfortunately, each time you raise this issue, it is turned around to be a leash of tribalism. Mr. Speaker Sir, I brought a motion here that was speaking about the issue around representation in parastatals and the problem that arises with that representation. Before the week was over, what happened? In Lupane, when we were now appointing a Vice Chancellor, who do we pick? We pick somebody who is coming from Mashonaland to become the Vice Chancellor of Matebeleland.
There is no economy that has ever succeeded when you have a people who do not feel to be part of that economy, it has never happened. This is why I started by raising the issue of the fact that, the silence of women in here should be a cause for concern. It means that they are completely out of this debate and feel that there is no point in raising it.
The issue of the politics of ethnicity is a reality in this country and if we do not deal with it, we will continue to have problems. It is not by accident and the President of this country has continued to speak about it.
He has continued to speak about places like Bulawayo for example, being dead economically. Where he has not gone that far, is to begin to say, but why is it dead? It is dead because those people in that particular area do not believe they are part of this country, they do not believe they are part of Zimbabwe. It is not only in Bulawayo, it is places like Masvingo and Manicaland.
When we begin to have one particular class of people who think that they are the only dominating tribe or class in every sphere of everything that goes on, then we have a problem Mr. Speaker Sir. Until we deal with the issue around ethnicity, we have a problem. Our problem as Zimbabweans, and I look around all these people, when we are walking out - I have only called you hon. members because you love being called hon. members. However, I have never heard President Mugabe call himself, His Excellency, he calls himself Robert Gabriel Mugabe, but people here are so desperate to be called honourable, so I will call you honourable. It is sad that you want to be called honourable in an economy we have right now - [HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear] - The hon. members that are sitting here when you go out there - if it is about challenging a particular person like we now have and removing him from a farm, they use none other than the issue of ethnicity. Even if you are here in Mashonaland, somebody has a farm in Mashonaland West, that person will be thrown out because they happen to be Karanga. If you have a farm.
I will go to point 2. Mr. Speaker Sir, the other elephant that is in the living room, which was raised by Hon. Mashakada in his motion, is when he calls upon the discussion and dialogue that is needed between stakeholders.
We cannot ask stakeholders outside to begin to have a dialogue when we are failing to have a dialogue amongst ourselves here in this House. You cannot ask people to do that.
I know that my other colleague raised the issue about how much we failed as the Inclusive Government. It is his opinion and I will let him carry it. However, one thing that I can tell him is that, it was only during that time where you could tell that there was dialogue in Zimbabwe. You may have failed anywhere else, but we had dialogue. The unfortunate thing that has happened and which is why I keep going back is the fact that women are tired of speaking because they see no point in raising it.
I was fortunate enough to sit for about 4 and a half years with this man that we call Cde. Robert Gabriel Mugabe. He would give as much as he got, he was not a man to run away from dialogue, you could disagree or agree or he would compromise to the point. What has happened right now is that we have a President in captivity, a small clique of people as if they own him. When President Mugabe is at Munhumutapa, he is a President of everybody else; he is not a President of ZANU PF. He becomes a President of ZANU PF when he is sitting at the 'Shake Shake Building.'
Until he is able to listen to the voices of those that do not say things he want to hear, he will not understand the kind of issues that we are talking about. I have no idea who is protecting the President from coming here so that he can hear the pain and hurt. I know that he has such capacity to answer for himself. If there are people who are denigrating the President of this country, it is the people who are on the ZANU PF bench. You are refusing him to give the capacity that I know he has, let him come here and address the House.
Let us raise the issues around the economy, let us have dialogue with him and let him be able to respond to the issues that are being raised in this House. These people that he enacts and they feel that they are able to do his job, they do not. They are busy gossiping, lying, playing politics - [HON. MEMBERS: Inaudible interjections] - we want him to come here and be able to know what is happening in this country. We need to talk about it.
The reason why the economy is not happening, I can speak for myself. I have had investors come to this country and they have been shoved from one corner to another until I have had - I think you have probably noticed when I am sitting here, I am literally running back and forth onto that bench. The reason why I am running to that bench is that, I am trying to say, is it possible for you to come and see somebody who wants to open a cement firm, or to come and do this and that. This is because we have such blockages and people cannot go in. A secretary when you want an appointment with the Minister will ask for a phone, 'please can you bring me a telephone next time when you come.' They cannot get into the gate.
If I were to ask, I probably got one year, because I have been told about certain people who have been asking for money so that they can bring investment in this country and I can name them. I have been requesting for an appointment so that I can sit and say Cde. Robert Mugabe, bring so and so here and I sit here, so and so has been asking for US$10 million from this person, but the 'gatekeepers' are there.
During the Inclusive Government, it was easy because as he was going out, I would immediately follow him and I will sit there and say, do you know that Minister so and so was asked to facilitate investment by investor so and so and he did not. The good thing about him is, he would immediately pick up his phone and say please come to my office and it would be dealt with. But now, you have closed those that are able to speak and it is deliberate. It is a clique, a baron, a team and it is people who have decided that this is what they are going to do to their President. It is unfortunate that no one even gets him to read the Hansard so that he can know.
If you were to put a box outside there and say to the people of Zimbabwe, there is no policeman who will see you, please indicate how you feel about this Parliament, none of these people will stand up and have the pride of saying I represent Zimbabwe because the people are sick and tired. They think that we sit here because we want fuel coupons and cars because this is what they hear. Wednesday is a joke and I hope that Mr. Speaker, one day you would not come here and sit on that chair. You would go and look for a television set and watch what would be happening here. It is disgusting and sad to think that when you are walking there and people are saying to you honourable they mean it. They could clap all of us because we have done absolutely nothing on their behalf other than screaming, shouting and talking about how bad the other person is.
Professor Pardon Kuipa was early this month appointed to the job by President Mugabe.
Priscilla Misihairabwi-Mushonga's full speach below:
The first issue that I want to deal with is the issue around ethnicity, the politics of ethnicity. You can only push a country if everybody feels they are part of that nation. We have gotten to a point in this country where we do not feel bad about calling each other a minority group. There is no minority group but are marginalised communities. There are marginalised communities because we continue to refuse to put them at the centre of where things are happening Mr. Speaker. Unfortunately, each time you raise this issue, it is turned around to be a leash of tribalism. Mr. Speaker Sir, I brought a motion here that was speaking about the issue around representation in parastatals and the problem that arises with that representation. Before the week was over, what happened? In Lupane, when we were now appointing a Vice Chancellor, who do we pick? We pick somebody who is coming from Mashonaland to become the Vice Chancellor of Matebeleland.
There is no economy that has ever succeeded when you have a people who do not feel to be part of that economy, it has never happened. This is why I started by raising the issue of the fact that, the silence of women in here should be a cause for concern. It means that they are completely out of this debate and feel that there is no point in raising it.
The issue of the politics of ethnicity is a reality in this country and if we do not deal with it, we will continue to have problems. It is not by accident and the President of this country has continued to speak about it.
He has continued to speak about places like Bulawayo for example, being dead economically. Where he has not gone that far, is to begin to say, but why is it dead? It is dead because those people in that particular area do not believe they are part of this country, they do not believe they are part of Zimbabwe. It is not only in Bulawayo, it is places like Masvingo and Manicaland.
When we begin to have one particular class of people who think that they are the only dominating tribe or class in every sphere of everything that goes on, then we have a problem Mr. Speaker Sir. Until we deal with the issue around ethnicity, we have a problem. Our problem as Zimbabweans, and I look around all these people, when we are walking out - I have only called you hon. members because you love being called hon. members. However, I have never heard President Mugabe call himself, His Excellency, he calls himself Robert Gabriel Mugabe, but people here are so desperate to be called honourable, so I will call you honourable. It is sad that you want to be called honourable in an economy we have right now - [HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear] - The hon. members that are sitting here when you go out there - if it is about challenging a particular person like we now have and removing him from a farm, they use none other than the issue of ethnicity. Even if you are here in Mashonaland, somebody has a farm in Mashonaland West, that person will be thrown out because they happen to be Karanga. If you have a farm.
I will go to point 2. Mr. Speaker Sir, the other elephant that is in the living room, which was raised by Hon. Mashakada in his motion, is when he calls upon the discussion and dialogue that is needed between stakeholders.
I know that my other colleague raised the issue about how much we failed as the Inclusive Government. It is his opinion and I will let him carry it. However, one thing that I can tell him is that, it was only during that time where you could tell that there was dialogue in Zimbabwe. You may have failed anywhere else, but we had dialogue. The unfortunate thing that has happened and which is why I keep going back is the fact that women are tired of speaking because they see no point in raising it.
I was fortunate enough to sit for about 4 and a half years with this man that we call Cde. Robert Gabriel Mugabe. He would give as much as he got, he was not a man to run away from dialogue, you could disagree or agree or he would compromise to the point. What has happened right now is that we have a President in captivity, a small clique of people as if they own him. When President Mugabe is at Munhumutapa, he is a President of everybody else; he is not a President of ZANU PF. He becomes a President of ZANU PF when he is sitting at the 'Shake Shake Building.'
Until he is able to listen to the voices of those that do not say things he want to hear, he will not understand the kind of issues that we are talking about. I have no idea who is protecting the President from coming here so that he can hear the pain and hurt. I know that he has such capacity to answer for himself. If there are people who are denigrating the President of this country, it is the people who are on the ZANU PF bench. You are refusing him to give the capacity that I know he has, let him come here and address the House.
Let us raise the issues around the economy, let us have dialogue with him and let him be able to respond to the issues that are being raised in this House. These people that he enacts and they feel that they are able to do his job, they do not. They are busy gossiping, lying, playing politics - [HON. MEMBERS: Inaudible interjections] - we want him to come here and be able to know what is happening in this country. We need to talk about it.
The reason why the economy is not happening, I can speak for myself. I have had investors come to this country and they have been shoved from one corner to another until I have had - I think you have probably noticed when I am sitting here, I am literally running back and forth onto that bench. The reason why I am running to that bench is that, I am trying to say, is it possible for you to come and see somebody who wants to open a cement firm, or to come and do this and that. This is because we have such blockages and people cannot go in. A secretary when you want an appointment with the Minister will ask for a phone, 'please can you bring me a telephone next time when you come.' They cannot get into the gate.
If I were to ask, I probably got one year, because I have been told about certain people who have been asking for money so that they can bring investment in this country and I can name them. I have been requesting for an appointment so that I can sit and say Cde. Robert Mugabe, bring so and so here and I sit here, so and so has been asking for US$10 million from this person, but the 'gatekeepers' are there.
During the Inclusive Government, it was easy because as he was going out, I would immediately follow him and I will sit there and say, do you know that Minister so and so was asked to facilitate investment by investor so and so and he did not. The good thing about him is, he would immediately pick up his phone and say please come to my office and it would be dealt with. But now, you have closed those that are able to speak and it is deliberate. It is a clique, a baron, a team and it is people who have decided that this is what they are going to do to their President. It is unfortunate that no one even gets him to read the Hansard so that he can know.
If you were to put a box outside there and say to the people of Zimbabwe, there is no policeman who will see you, please indicate how you feel about this Parliament, none of these people will stand up and have the pride of saying I represent Zimbabwe because the people are sick and tired. They think that we sit here because we want fuel coupons and cars because this is what they hear. Wednesday is a joke and I hope that Mr. Speaker, one day you would not come here and sit on that chair. You would go and look for a television set and watch what would be happening here. It is disgusting and sad to think that when you are walking there and people are saying to you honourable they mean it. They could clap all of us because we have done absolutely nothing on their behalf other than screaming, shouting and talking about how bad the other person is.
Source - hansard
