Buhera South legislator Joseph Chinotimba says those who support sanctions are no different from Mozambique’s Renamo leader Afonso Dhlakama and if he had his way they would be sentenced to life imprisonment for making life difficult for Zimbabweans.
Dhlakama is threatening to go back to war after more than two decades of peace. He says he does not want war, but is not happy with the way Frelimo has been running things over the past two decades.
Chinotimba said he had evidence of who had called for sanctions and had brought a video to demonstrate this to the House if he was allowed to play it.
He said Zimbabweans should unite against sanctions and congratulated Movement for Democratic Change secretary general Tendai Biti for starting his own law firm saying Biti had realised that it was better to do something progressive instead of “dining with lunatics” in the MDC.
Chinotimba claimed that some of the people that had been funding the MDC from the diaspora had now joined him because they had realised the futility of supporting the MDC.
Below is Chinotimba’s full contribution on Wednesday.
MR. CHINOTIMBA: Thank you Mr. Speaker Sir. I would also want to thank the mover of this motion on sanctions. Every time, when we talk about sanctions, it is everyone’s worry as to how the sanctions were brought into this country. Mr. Speaker Sir, I have evidence to show to the hon. members as to how the sanctions were brought about.
I wanted to show these slides like what Hon. Khupe did last time when she showed us the video on cancer patients. I investigated and found out who called for sanctions but I was told that it was not necessary. In my view, I thought that would help all hon. members to know who called for the sanctions.
Be that as it may, that clip showed the criminality of such a person- I wanted to show the SADC meeting which was held in either Malawi or South Africa. This video shows one of our sons saying this country should not have fuel, electricity and everything.
So you see the criminality and how treasonous such a person is. Right now, we do not have drugs and our children are dying. Even the hon. members are not able to get fuel coupons because of one person.
Mr. Speaker Sir, if they had played it for me today, the whole country would know who it is? Is it President Mugabe, Hon. Chinotimba, Mr. Tsvangirai or Ms. Khupe who called for the imposition of sanctions because we can differ here.
For example Mr. Speaker Sir, if I am the head of a family, whether we teach our children to say no to sanctions or we do not want them, if the father repeats the same statement that he said the day before yesterday about sanctions, some people will experience nightmares.
So, we are dealing with a criminal in our country. Even if the hon. members agree for it to be played in here, I would be well pleased because I have it. We once said that whatever we discuss in here ends here, and this is my video that I brought.
Mr. Speaker Sir, what I am saying here is, I want to bring out the craziness of someone who just wakes up and says the king’s child must die. It is not only about what has been discussed on sanctions but the country was drawn in to be a homosexual country.
If you hear what was said in Britain by the same person on BBC, he went there and said, if I become the President of my country, I would not mind people engaging in homosexuality. These kinds of people are not wanted in our country because they cause loss of life to innocent people.
I can say, the mover of this motion did a good job. To seek for sanctions for your own country is not different from Dhlakama, the leader of rebels in Mozambique. If you ask them what they are fighting for, they do not have an answer, and it is criminality.
Mr. Speaker Sir, in my constituency, where I come from, with the same person who called for sanctions, we do not have roads because there are no graders. This is the foolishness of one of our sons, a Zimbabwean.
Our people in the diaspora, those who were supporting the opposition parties financially, as these days I am communicating with those people who were financing the opposition. I once asked Hon Chamisa if he knows that our children in the diaspora are no longer able to come back home because of sanctions.
Last time we heard Hon. Chikwinya presenting the issue of sanctions saying that they have a relative who passed on in Britain and they failed to bring the body back home for burial. This is because of sanctions. The same nephew of the deceased, when we tell him that there are sanctions, he denies.
Mr. Speaker Sir, I am saying the nation is at stake even if I move another motion. It is my wish that we unite here in this august House and have one goal, that if someone just wakes up and says sanctions must be imposed, he must be sentenced to life imprisonment. It is not only me who is affected by the sanctions as they say that they are targeted sanctions. You heard that I am now the Ambassador of G-Tel –
These people have the problem of going to other countries, the diaspora and are unable to come back, what they have managed to realise is that Hon. Chinotimba is one of the MPs who is participating for their welfare.
These people in the diaspora had financed the opposition parties with the hope that they would bring progress and stability in Zimbabwe. Now, they are regretting. We have people like Chihuri and Spencer in Britain who were funding these opposition parties but they turned back and joined Hon. Chinotimba.
Mr. Speaker Sir, I am talking about the pain of sanctions. People have been hoodwinked into believing that ZANU PF had made life so difficult for them that they should go and seek refuge in the diaspora. It is because of the same person in the video that I had brought to be broadcast to the nation.
You find that the same person, under that leader, comes here to create havoc, telling ministers that they must resign from their posts without the knowledge that their boss is the one who is causing the shortage of fuel.
In winding up Mr. Speaker Sir, in my point of view, if I was one of the opposition members, I will create another party inside the party because I cannot be led by someone who believes that people should die first.
Mr. Speaker Sir, that is why MDC was hammered and rejected by the people of Zimbabwe during the harmonised elections. It is because people were asking who these creatures and enemies are? That is why people rejected them.
Mr. Speaker Sir, sanctions, sanctions, sanctions. They are not affecting me only. We should be united as honourable members, both MDC and ZANU PF. We should agree with each other on sticking issues and seek for solutions in unison.
People deny their own actions when they know that they are responsible for these sanctions. With these words Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank you. I would also want to congratulate Hon. Biti who realised that he was dining with lunatics and decided to concentrate on his law firm. I want to thank Hon. Biti who developed foresight…
MR. MAONDERA: On a point of order, I think it is unparliamentary for the hon. member to call other hon. Members mapenzi.
MR. SPEAKER: Order, Hon. Chinotimba, bvisai izwi rokuti mapenzi.
MR. CHINOTIMBA: Thank you Mr. Speaker Sir. I was not referring to honourable- [HON. MEMBERS: Inaudible interjections]- I withdraw the statement but I was referring to a person who called for the sanctions. I withdraw my statement Mr. Speaker Sir. I would like to congratulate Hon. Biti on concentrating on his law firm rather than concentrating on the MDC politics, a party which has lost direction.
I wish there could be more members from his party who will see the light and consider joining Hon. Biti’s law firm. The MDC would grow into a party of substance instead of being a party which has lost direction and called for sanctions.
With these words, I thank you Mr. Speaker Sir.
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