The cover page is a balancing act, featuring a photo-shopped image of Robert Mugabe (which looks very odd indeed), a picture of vice president Amai Mujuru and words by the late vice president John Nkomo to the effect that peace is the responsibility of all of us. Mugabe’s image makes one think of a certain irresponsible and petulant leader of North Korea who has been threatening to blow anyone who stands in his way to smithereens.
It is deceitful of Zanu (PF) to continue to abuse the well meaning words of Nkomo – “Peace begins with me; Peace begins, with you, Peace begins with all of us”. It is the responsibility of the government to provide peace, full stop.
There is a lack of attention to simple arithmetic throughout the document. Page 50, for example, has a table called the $42 billion cost of the sanctions burden, the actual total of the figures in the table is $46 billion. It is criminal that a party that expects to be in government for the next five years cannot add five rows in a spreadsheet.
The errors on page 105 could have been corrected with simple rounding: 590,050 multiplied by 10 is equal to 5,900,500 and not 5,900,498.
“Lest we forget” – what would a Zanu (PF) document be without those words? They are conveniently placed on a pre-independence picture of a white man piggy backing on a black man’s back as they cross a river. The intention is obvious but the result is disastrous. If you are in Zimbabwe replace the white man with the picture of a Chinese man. If you are a Zimbabwean in South Africa you will feel the pain of the dishonesty in the picture.
Aside from the issues outlined above which have left me convinced that the document was a rushed job done without input from the different factions of the party, there are other deceitful elements. Was there a policy conference to discuss the contents of the manifesto?
The document lists what it calls the goals of the people, 23 of them. These include Independence, Sovereignty, Unity, Security, Respect for the values and ideals of the liberation struggle, Patriotism, Education for all, Equity, Peace, Freedom and democracy, Non-violence, Health for all, the youth as the future among others.
What is the difference one may ask between peace and non-violence? Why are they listed as different goals? Where is justice, employment? The words sell out also find their place somewhere in this section. I am surprised that they didn’t find time to list warm sunshine, well-behaved children and a three day weekend.
Zimbabwe is an independent country and has been since 1980. The fact that Zanu (PF) failed to use that independence to improve the lives of its citizens doesn’t make it any less independent. It’s done, its over, let’s move on. How can the people of Zimbabwe have as a goal something that they already have?
As for sovereignty, we don’t have our own currency thanks to the same liars who wrote the document. Walk into any supermarket and count the number of products manufactured in Zimbabwe. Don’t mention the Chinese.
The youth of Zimbabwe should be ecstatic. The party has realised that they are the future. And what is the promise to the youth one may ask, well more of the past is the answer. – Kumbirai Muchemwa, kmuchemwa@mdcsa.co.za
Post published in: Letters to the Editor