Movement for Democratic Change deputy president Nelson Chamisa told Parliament this week that people did not really need President Robert Mugabe to tell them the state of the nation but they could see for themselves what the true state was.
Speaking during the debate on the motion to convey the House’s gratitude towards President Mugabe for his State of the Nation Address, Chamisa said one did not need a speech from Mugabe to know how the people were living in the country.
“All you need to do is to go out in the street, go out into the villages, go out into the rural communities and ask people how they are surviving,” Chamisa said.
“The state of the nation is better stated by the situation of our rural communities who have challenges with access to basic necessities who have problems with access to issues of food and issues of good roads to make sure that they can access one place or another.”
Chamisa said some workers had gone for as many as eight to nine months without a salary and war veterans were living a miserable life.
“The state of the nation is so sorry that the revolution is now devouring its own fathers,” he said.
“Not only that, we have even gone to the extent of having war veterans when they are demonstrating, we teargas them.”
The MDC-T deputy leader asked: “What was the liberation struggle all about?
“The liberation struggle was about one man one vote, the sovereignty of the people, the dignity of a people, the people of Zimbabwe and that is what we want.
“Let us go back to the ideals of the liberation struggle. To do that, we must not repeat the mistakes of 2013, of having a disputed election.
“Let us not have the mistake of having disputed elections. How do we have agreed elections in this country? There are two things Hon. Speaker Sir.
“Number one – let us call for a national dialogue from all political parties and all national stakeholders…
“The second issue which is my suggestion as a resolution to move forward is, let us come together and agree on the nature, character and the extent of elections we want to have in Zimbabwe…….”
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