Judge for yourself: Transcript of BBC Hardtalk interview with Nelson Chamisa

Sackur: With due respect Mr Chamisa, politicians who say they can fix a problem that has been dogging the country for years, fix it in two weeks that just sounds silly.

Chamisa: During the inclusive government with all due respect Mr Sackur, during the inclusive government, when I was the Minister of ICT, Mr Biti who is my colleague was the Minister of Finance, we fixed this problem within a matter of four days. There was cash across the board in all the banks so it’s not just a question of hyperbole; it’s not just a question of political promises. We know our competence we have a track record, we can trusted, we can deliver and we will deliver.

Sackur: Well it reminds me of the promise you made to party supporters in Chinhoyi saying you gonna build a bullet train from Bulawayo to Harare. You said that under your tutelage this infrastructure will allow people to travel from one city to another in 35 minutes.  That is beyond nonsense. That’s just complete Alice in Wonderland.

Chamisa: That is the future. I’m a visionary. I’m a young man and I have said we must begin to build infrastructure such as the infrastructure you have in the UK, what it doesn’t doesn’t tell…

Sackur: I’m no transport expert but  it’s more than 400km from Bulawayo to Harare and what this train of yours it’s gonna be travelling at 800km an hour which by the way fastest Maglev train in the whole world can’t top much  more than 400km an hour so I don’t know where you are finding your trains from?

Chamisa: What I must emphasise is that I was emphasising the point of modern transportation, bullet trains being elsewhere on the African continent. You are aware of Morocco recently unveiled a bullet train that was launched, You are aware of Ethiopia where they have had tube trains. This is the kind of examples that I was giving……that I know is a credible promise…..

[Ed: The Shanghai Maglev train, the fastest in the world has a top speed of 431km an hour]

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