“The Act is racist – if you are black, you are indigenous and if you are white you are not,” said the leader of Mavambo/Kusile/Dawn told The Zimbabwean, adding that some whites who were forced off their land were Zimbabwean citizens, born and bred, who had never set their feet elsewhere.
Promulgated in 2007,the Indigenisation and Economic Empowerment Act says “at least 51 percent of the shares of every public company and any other business shall be owned by indigenous Zimbabweans”, who are defined as “any person who, before 1980, was disadvantaged by unfair discrimination on the grounds of race and any descendant of such person.”
Makoni castigated Zanu (PF) for using the land as a political mobilisation tool rather than an economic development tool. “This is why I ask Mugabe: why is it that the people who used to feed themselves are now being fed 13 years beyond fast track?
Agrarian reform is very important and it is necessary to do even after Zanu (PF) says we have finished taking land because we must now enable our people to feed themselves,” said Makoni. He said even ardent members of the party were expressing “discontent” at their performance on the farms because the government had destroyed “systems that supported agricultural production.”
He also revealed that many members of the politburo were disgruntled with the manner in which Zanu (PF) was being run, saying he maintained a cordial relationship with many comrades and associated with them “clandestinely” because the majority of them feared the implications of this. “A large number of members of Zanu (PF) including those in the politburo are not happy with the way the country is being run at the moment,” he said.
“I would always question why we were doing things in certain ways that is why I was viewed as a square plug in a round hole. I know there are many comrades in Zanu (PF) who believe the same as I do, and who feel just as hurt that the party has brought so much hardship to its own citizens. The misfortune is that i was foolish enough to speak out my mind while others suffer quietly,” he added.
Makoni dismissed the assertion that he was linked to the Mujuru faction and said Mugabe was bitter because he had left the party and stood against him in 2008. All his attempts to seek an audience with the President had been futile, said the man who at one time was touted as a possible successor to Mugabe.
Post published in: News