Opinion / Columnist
'MDC-T playing a very dangerous game'
10 Sep 2016 at 03:01hrs | Views
Vice President and Second Secretary, Comrade Emmerson Mnangagwa, Secretary for Administration, Comrade Ignatius Chombo, Members of the Politburo, Members of the Central Committee, Ladies and Gentlemen, Comrades and Friends. May I begin by extending a very warm welcome to you all to the 103rd Ordinary Session of our Central Committee. This meeting is going to give us an opportunity to review and plan for developments in our Party, Government and the country as a whole.
Since our last meeting in June, some of our comrades have passed on, including two National Heroes, Dr Felix Ngwarati Muchemwa in June and Dr Charles Munhamu Botsio Utete in July. As is our practice, may we all rise up and observe a minute's silence in memory of our dear departed comrades!
Comrades and Friends,
We are meeting against the backdrop of increasingly disturbing indiscipline, which has the potential to undermine our Party. Recently we have had several Politburo meetings and a couple of public rallies, where we strongly denounced any such divisive conduct, which should never be entertained or condoned by any member of our Party.
Such indiscipline distracts the Party from focusing on rallying our people against the common enemy. Instead of turning our guns at the common enemy, we turn the same guns against ourselves.
Since political independence was the initial phase of our liberation struggle, we are currently grappling with the economic empowerment of our people. We now should focus on fully empowering our people, who should also fully utilise the natural resources our country is richly endowed with. We should all work towards the success of Zim-Asset, our economic blueprint.
As you are all aware, our principled stance over our land and its resources has earned us the wrath of our erstwhile colonisers, who have responded by imposing illegal sanctions against us. The illegal sanctions have derailed our progressive policies of socio-economic empowerment. They have instead brought about untold economic hardships among our people. But we should never be seen to relent on what is rightly ours.
President Mugabe's speech at the 103rd meeting of the Central Committee at the party headquarters in Harare on September, 9 2016.
Lately, we have seen how the MDC has joined hands with other recently created political pressure groups. Under the umbrella of National Electoral Reform Agenda (NERA), they are calling for the tightening of illegal sanctions which they believe are going to hurt the economy so severely as to cause disaffection amongst our people.
This, they believe, would compel our people to rise against ZANU-PF and our Government. The demonstrations we have witnessed in the last few weeks were not by accident of history, but were purposefully choreographed and launched in the mistaken belief that time was ripe for a popular uprising against Government and ZANU-PF.
Let the opposition parties, and all those angling for chaos and mayhem, and violent demonstrations, be warned that our patience has run out. Government will take very strong measures against any political party, organisation or individuals that perpetrate violent demonstrations. Anybody breaking the law of the land will be punished accordingly.
ZANU-PF remains alive to, and does not need to be reminded about, the continuing everyday economic challenges facing all our people today. What is happening around us with these concocted demonstrations is distracting us from progressing on with our concerted efforts aimed at improving the performance of our national economy and the welfare of our people.
Our economy has been quite resilient against the Western sanctions onslaught and it cannot get any worse than it already is. It can only get better as we all put our shoulders to the wheel, in concerted efforts to rebuild and develop our country.
The banner of NERA, which they have used as a pretext to resort to violent demonstrations is quite clearly a smokescreen for their real intentions. They want to avoid going to the general elections in 2018 by creating a false electoral crisis which they hope would be addressed ahead of any plebiscite by outsiders.
For the avoidance of doubt, let me reiterate what we have said about our elections. Elections in Zimbabwe are the hallmark of our democracy, and all the elections we have held before in this country, follow the dictates of our Constitution, to the letter and spirit. We have an independent Electoral Commission that runs our elections, and it has performed commendably.
The electoral processes are accountable to our own people, who are entitled to vote for candidates and parties of their choice. When the people decide on the political party that should govern them, so be it. That does not require foreigners. There is no reason to believe that the 2018 elections should be regarded as different.
Comrades and friends,
The misuse of social media by whomsoever, especially to cause instability in the country, will never be tolerated. Political support should not be by coercion on social media platforms, where messages of hate, violence and terror against Government institutions and law enforcement agencies abound. The MDC and its supporters are playing a very dangerous game. We also understand that they are planning to terrorise the rural areas in the mistaken belief that they can intimidate and harass our supporters. Let them be warned. They cannot win that war.
Ladies and gentlemen,
We have reached that time of the year when the summer season beckons us and our farmers to begin focusing on preparing the land for the coming agricultural season. Last year was a bad year for our farmers because of poor rains but indications are that in the 2016-2017 season we are going to receive good rains.
Let us urge our farmers to take heed of the favourable weather forecasts by preparing their land. Government has embarked on Command Agriculture as part of the efforts we are making to increase our chances of a good harvest next year.
Meanwhile, we continue to distribute grain to all areas worst affected by drought to ensure that no one starves.
In conclusion, I want to reiterate the importance of the unity of our Party and country. Zimbabweans must always be united.
Pamberi nokubatana!
Pambili lokubambana!
I thank you.
Since our last meeting in June, some of our comrades have passed on, including two National Heroes, Dr Felix Ngwarati Muchemwa in June and Dr Charles Munhamu Botsio Utete in July. As is our practice, may we all rise up and observe a minute's silence in memory of our dear departed comrades!
Comrades and Friends,
We are meeting against the backdrop of increasingly disturbing indiscipline, which has the potential to undermine our Party. Recently we have had several Politburo meetings and a couple of public rallies, where we strongly denounced any such divisive conduct, which should never be entertained or condoned by any member of our Party.
Such indiscipline distracts the Party from focusing on rallying our people against the common enemy. Instead of turning our guns at the common enemy, we turn the same guns against ourselves.
Since political independence was the initial phase of our liberation struggle, we are currently grappling with the economic empowerment of our people. We now should focus on fully empowering our people, who should also fully utilise the natural resources our country is richly endowed with. We should all work towards the success of Zim-Asset, our economic blueprint.
As you are all aware, our principled stance over our land and its resources has earned us the wrath of our erstwhile colonisers, who have responded by imposing illegal sanctions against us. The illegal sanctions have derailed our progressive policies of socio-economic empowerment. They have instead brought about untold economic hardships among our people. But we should never be seen to relent on what is rightly ours.
President Mugabe's speech at the 103rd meeting of the Central Committee at the party headquarters in Harare on September, 9 2016.
Lately, we have seen how the MDC has joined hands with other recently created political pressure groups. Under the umbrella of National Electoral Reform Agenda (NERA), they are calling for the tightening of illegal sanctions which they believe are going to hurt the economy so severely as to cause disaffection amongst our people.
This, they believe, would compel our people to rise against ZANU-PF and our Government. The demonstrations we have witnessed in the last few weeks were not by accident of history, but were purposefully choreographed and launched in the mistaken belief that time was ripe for a popular uprising against Government and ZANU-PF.
Let the opposition parties, and all those angling for chaos and mayhem, and violent demonstrations, be warned that our patience has run out. Government will take very strong measures against any political party, organisation or individuals that perpetrate violent demonstrations. Anybody breaking the law of the land will be punished accordingly.
ZANU-PF remains alive to, and does not need to be reminded about, the continuing everyday economic challenges facing all our people today. What is happening around us with these concocted demonstrations is distracting us from progressing on with our concerted efforts aimed at improving the performance of our national economy and the welfare of our people.
Our economy has been quite resilient against the Western sanctions onslaught and it cannot get any worse than it already is. It can only get better as we all put our shoulders to the wheel, in concerted efforts to rebuild and develop our country.
For the avoidance of doubt, let me reiterate what we have said about our elections. Elections in Zimbabwe are the hallmark of our democracy, and all the elections we have held before in this country, follow the dictates of our Constitution, to the letter and spirit. We have an independent Electoral Commission that runs our elections, and it has performed commendably.
The electoral processes are accountable to our own people, who are entitled to vote for candidates and parties of their choice. When the people decide on the political party that should govern them, so be it. That does not require foreigners. There is no reason to believe that the 2018 elections should be regarded as different.
Comrades and friends,
The misuse of social media by whomsoever, especially to cause instability in the country, will never be tolerated. Political support should not be by coercion on social media platforms, where messages of hate, violence and terror against Government institutions and law enforcement agencies abound. The MDC and its supporters are playing a very dangerous game. We also understand that they are planning to terrorise the rural areas in the mistaken belief that they can intimidate and harass our supporters. Let them be warned. They cannot win that war.
Ladies and gentlemen,
We have reached that time of the year when the summer season beckons us and our farmers to begin focusing on preparing the land for the coming agricultural season. Last year was a bad year for our farmers because of poor rains but indications are that in the 2016-2017 season we are going to receive good rains.
Let us urge our farmers to take heed of the favourable weather forecasts by preparing their land. Government has embarked on Command Agriculture as part of the efforts we are making to increase our chances of a good harvest next year.
Meanwhile, we continue to distribute grain to all areas worst affected by drought to ensure that no one starves.
In conclusion, I want to reiterate the importance of the unity of our Party and country. Zimbabweans must always be united.
Pamberi nokubatana!
Pambili lokubambana!
I thank you.
Source - the herald
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