Where are the promises of the Zanu-PF 2013 electoral message?

On 06 March 2013 during a policy dialogue forum discussion organised by the Southern African Political Economy Series (SAPES) under the theme "Whither opposition politics in Zimbabwe" the MDC-T Secretary General Tendai Biti conceded for the first time that his party had lost the 2013 elections to a better organised Zanu-PF.
 
In a rare admission Biti who previously claimed the elections had been rigged, said Zanu-PF's Bhora Mughedi was more clear and juicy to the electorate compared to what he called a "sophisticated" MDC-T's Jobs Upliftment Investment and Creation of Employment (JUICE).
 
Biti's utterances were met with the usual expected response from Zanu-PF - that it had finally been vindicated. The national broadcaster ZBC went to give acres of space to Zanu-PF aligned analysts who went at length to explain how the party had outwitted the opposition MDC formations and ZAPU in the 2013 General Elections.
 
What was and is still disappointing is that the same analyst found it not necessary to tell us of how the electoral message that won the election for Zanu-PF was being made practical.
 
Notwithstanding that, Biti's statements should also be viewed as a challenge as to whether Zanu-PF is living to the expectation of the promises it set for itself as it went into the 2013 General Elections which, it won overwhelmingly.
 
Biti statements are appealing to the conscience of the electorate to take a pause and see if what Zanu-PF is doing at the moment is in line with its promises of the Bhora Mughedi.
 
True, the adoption of ZimAsset by the Zanu-PF Government is a clear testimony that the party is committed to meet part of its bargain. President Mugabe has also been clear on the thorny issue of civil servants salaries and has committed himself to ensure that by June 2014 the lowest paid civil servant would be pegged at the Poverty Datum Line.
 
While, that could be seemingly be the trend there are some areas that needs urgent attention if the revolutionary party is not to concede an on goal come 2018.
 
For example on 3 March 2014 the Zimbabwe Republic Police's Minerals Unit and Dog Sections rightly descended in the Totororo and Senkwa areas of Zhombe in the Midlands to restore sanity after 1000 unlicensed artisanal miners besieged the gold rich area.
 
The million dollar question here is what has happened to the Government initiative to formalize small-scale gold mining? In the run-up to the elections artisanal miners were made to believe that the Minerals Marketing Corporation of Zimbabwe had set aside cash investment of US$5 million, part of which was to go into the creation of service and buying centers in all the major gold mining towns. Ironically the first such state of the art service centers was penciled for Zhombe and a site was handed over to the Ministry of Mines and Mining Development officials by the traditional leadership of the area.
 
The harnessing of our gold rich resources is set to go a long way in addressing even the liquidity crunch the nation is facing at the same time improving revenue inflows into the fiscus.
 
It does not really make sense for Minister of Finance Patrick Chinamasa to announce his ministry if failing to effect a salary increase when information being gleaned from the illegal practices obtaining in the gold sector tells us that as a nation we are losing at least US$50 million to South Africa every month in gold leakages alone.
 
Think of the downstream impact the gold service and buying centers will have in each of the country's district.
 
Food security is another major goal Zanu-PF has set its self to achieve. The Good Lord has given us a blessed 2013-14 farming season. Besides the areas that were hard hit by floods we are assured as a nation of food security at house hold but are worried of where the surplus is to go to.
 
The Minister of Agriculture Dr Joseph Made is yet to convince the nation on the preparedness of the Grain Marketing Board to handle the surplus grain. There two critical issues in this regard - money to pay for the surplus and the storage facility.
 
We will not dwell much on the first one as Zimbabwean have over the years shown their loyalty to the value of food security as they continue to deposit their grain with the parastatals despite late payments.
 
On storage reports coming from Aspindale Depot in Harare for example are not encouraging at all. Of its total 18 silos only 2 are reportedly functional with the bulk 16 not suitable for grain storage. The situation is likely to be the same across the country. Despite this state of affairs the nation is yet to be appraised on what necessary arrangement to the responsible ministry is undertaking to ensure that by harvest time all our silos would be functional.
 
Moving to indigenisation, whether Ministers Cdes Emmerson Mnangagwa and Saviour Kasukuwere duped President Mugabe or not should not be the story now. What the people of Zimunya-Marange wants to hear is the position of the current minister in so far as redressing their plight is concerned.
 
As for Cde Kasukuwere, he scored an off side during his recent visit to Hwange National Park during the commemoration of World Wildlife Day. Far from the Minister's outcry - perceived or real - that the increase in human population was leading into encroachment into conservancies, the people of Matabeleland North wants to hear that when are those harvesting million of dollars from the hunting concessions in the province are going to start ploughing back to the communities that they are operating in.

Whereas there could be a population implosion in Masvingo near Gonarezhou the situation is different in Matabeleland north Cde Minister as people are sparsely populated.
 
More disturbingly the party seems to be focusing more of its energy into factional fights that have since spilled into Parliament and there is urgent need for that same energy to be re-directed into real bread and butter issues.
 
Why are the MPs not discussing the issues of the highly inflamed prices that the generality of Zimbabweans are being subject too by a syndicate of business that is bent on profiteering