MDC and ZANU-PF officials’ reaction to Mnangagwa’s State of the Nation Address

Here is how some of the people reacted to the first State Of The Nation Address by President Emmerson Mnangagwa today.

Nelson Chamisa, opposition Movement for Democratic Change vice president

(Former president) Mugabe used to make such statements…These are positive indications but we hope with time we will get to see in terms of action what the president is about because yes word is half but the completion is the deed.

He has not spoken about how he is going to make sure that this election is going to be undisputable, he has not spoken how our military is going to make a declaration before hand to all the people of Zimbabwe and the whole world that they are not going to tamper with the electoral outcome and that they are going to salute the outcome as the will of the people.

He has said that he is going to be thorough with fighting corruption which is good but if corruption is to be dealt with it must start within ZANU-PF and within the government. We know that there are a lot of fat cats and big cats who are in government they must be dealt with and that is what we want to see. What is he going to do from within his office right to the lowest man that is what we want to see, if we have not seen heads rolling within his government then we know that it is not a serious talk.”

Simon Khaya Moyo, Minister of Energy and Power Development

We are our own political liberators, now we must be our own economic liberators and this is why (the SONA) is so targeted and this is why it is so focused because within 100 days there must be signs to show that it is not business as usual. We must deliver to the people, remain accountable and of course the greater part of it all is the issue of corruption. It’s a cancer, it’s a disease and it must be eradicated completely. So service delivery is key to our people, accountability is key to our people and also hard work.. I think everybody heard for themselves that this is a very serious matter in terms of our economy development.

Innocent Gonese, opposition Movement for Democratic Change chief whip

While we say let bygones be bygones, we must be guided by the past and in the past the will of the people has been subverted such as in 2008 when the military intervened when it was clear that (former president, Robert) Mugabe had lost and was on his way out.

Sithembiso Nyoni, Minister of Women and Youth Affairs

The state of the nation address is very comprehensive, it touched every sector of the economy, the social side of our lives. I think it is very fantastic, he doesn’t bury and pretend there are no problems. He is facing the challenges of the nation head on and really does something about it and has programmes to try and solve the problems that the nation is facing. For instance, some of our state enterprises have not been performing for years and we have been quiet about it hoping they will improve but he is saying those that are not performing why keep them and those that are performing why not support them for growth.

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