Finance Minister Patrick Chinamasa says the in-fighting within the Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front which some have said is going to split the party is healthy. “It’s a good thing, it’s democratic,” Chinamasa said in South Africa where he went to address an investment conference organised by the Business Herald. “At the end of this process I believe we will come out stronger, more cohesive than ever before,” he was quoted by Bloomberg news agency as saying. Chinamasa was at the forefront of the party squabble that threatened to split the party in 2004 but has been conspicuous by his silence in the current saga in which Vice-President Joice Mujuru is under pressure to resign. Mujuru was the main beneficiary of the 2004 purge which saw her rise from number 15 in the party to number two. Now, people, especially First Lady Grace Mugabe who claims that Mujuru is all out to oust her husband President Robert Mugabe, are saying her time is up. Chinamasa told investors that Zimbabwe was now ready and open for investment. South Africans had a moral and business obligation to invest in Zimbabwe. “We are about to run, to sprint. We are looking for partners to sprint with us,” he was quoted by the South African Press Association as saying. “I am saying we rely on you, because when you come to invest in our country you must tell us the challenges you are facing and that will help us correct them… The reality is we are now politically stable. The perception that you have that we don’t respect private property is not true. The land issue has been addressed.” South Africa is Zimbabwe’s biggest trading partner though trade is skewed in its favour.
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