Madam Speaker, I was in that Portfolio Committee when Mr. Munodawafa came, he confessed that it does not really matter how much money we put into Air Zimbabwe. Air Zimbabwe can never be viable for as long as they use the business model that they are using. It is there; it is recorded and he said it, yet he is the same man, one month earlier he allowed $27 million to be put into Air Zimbabwe without even a single sentence to say I have put money into that parastatal. That money has been thrown down a bottomless pit and it will never be recovered.
That level of impunity; that level of entitlement cannot be allowed to continue. I can guarantee you, with this type of reports, one day we will not be Members of Parliament, but our sons and daughters will be Members of this Parliament. They will go and spit on our graves and say, what were you doing in that Parliament talking and talking and yet you allowed these fraudsters to continue to steal our money.
There is another issue of $ 1.9 million which has been stolen. We have orphans; children who have lost both parents to either road accidents or diseases. Those children are not going to school and yet this Government fails to account for $1.9 million and the person who has caused the disappearance of that $1.9 million is still there wearing a suit, going to a Government Complex and pretending to be working for Government. It is not acceptable – [HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear.] –
The Lion King accident claimed two people from my constituency. One of them was a young woman, 32 years old and she left two young children. One is about nine months old and the other one is about 4 years old. We were at that funeral and Government had not disbursed $200 for the funeral. There are children who have to be looked after until they turn 18 years. Those children – [HON. HOLDER: Inaudible interjection.] – I will not listen to that man. I will call him names if he continues to do that and I will not be very charitable when I call him names.
THE TEMPORARY SPEAKER: Hon. Maridadi, focus on the debate.
HON. MARIDADI: Please tell him to keep quiet. We are discussing serious matters here and if he continues to disturb me, I will call him names and I will call him names that is so unpalatable; he will never like me. I am very good at that by the way.
THE TEMPORARY SPEAKER: Order, order Hon. Maridadi. I will not allow emotions to go over this motion because it is important for us to have a report of this motion. Hon. Holder please, can you please respect the Member who is speaking so that he can debate. If you have any comments, I will allow you to debate on the same matter.
HON. MARIDADI: This matter is a serious issue. I get emotional about this matter because it is a serious issue. This is Zimbabwean money which is being stolen by individuals that we know. I represent a constituency of about 80 thousand people. If I go round that constituency, there are households and I am going to one of such households today, where there are 18 people living at that household; none of them knows where to get the next meal.
I was talking about that lady who passed on. The children, one of them is about one year old and the other is about four years old. We do not have a mechanism of looking after the disadvantaged in society. Those children must now be a responsibility of this Government. Now, how can the State take responsibility of such people when such money is disappearing without trace?
Madam Speaker, we are talking here of ZINARA – [HON. HOLDER: Inaudible interjection.] –
Continued next page
(477 VIEWS)
