Chamisa says you don’t need Mugabe to tell you the state of the nation- you can see for yourself

Full contribution 

HON. CHAMISA:  Thank you very much Hon. Speaker Sir.  I want to start by thanking hon. Simbanegavi and Hon. Mlilo for their very important motion.  You are aware that, the most important thing in any nation is the view and perspective of a leader of that nation.  In our situation, you can clearly tell that the views of the President reflect on the situation on the ground.  But, what is clear is that, from the State of the Nation that we got from President Mugabe, that State of the Nation is actually indicative of the actual state of our nation.

I say so because you do not need a speech of the President to know how the people are 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.  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.

Hon. Speaker Sir, the state of the nation can only be articulated by your workers.  Go and ask the workers, they will tell that the state of the nation is such that companies and factories are closing.  The state of the nation is such that, you go and ask those who are working, they have gone for seven, eight or nine months, you name it; whether it is in the city council or even in the private sector, companies cannot pay workers their salary.  There is simply no decent wage.  That is the state of the nation.  You go and ask the state of the nation and the pensioners will tell you that they have not received their pensions.  In fact, their pensions were eroded away because of our migration from one currency to another.  That is the state of the nation.

The state of the nation is better articulated by the War Veterans who will tell you how they are struggling in an independent Zimbabwe to have a decent wage and to have a decent salary. Our War Veterans are living a miserable life.  They are living under squalid conditions and I can tell you that War Veterans have a serious challenge in this country.  They have not been catered for…

*HON. CHINOTIMBA:  On a point of order Mr. Speaker.  The Vice President of the opposition party, my young brother, we want to hear what he is saying but he is the same person who is questioning why War Veterans were given money.  It is painful to hear someone talk about this issue and yet the party that he leads does not recognise war veterans.  If they want us to vote for them, I am sorry, we will not vote for them. – [HON. MEMBERS: Inaudible interjections.] –

*THE TEMPORARY SPEAKER (HON. MARUMAHOKO): Order, order! Hon. Members.  Hon. Chinotimba, what you have said does not need a point of order.  We will give you an opportunity to debate.

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