Top stories for April 1-5

Jonathan Moyo says Tsvangirai is now history – Information Minister Jonathan Moyo today said Movement for Democratic Change leader Morgan Tsvangirai is now history. There is nothing he can do now that he has not been able to do in the past 15 years that he has been leader of the MDC. Moyo was commenting on remarks by Tsvangirai at a rally in Zhombe at the weekend that people must take action against President Robert Mugabe because he does not care about the problems that they are facing. “We will soon be mobilising Zimbabweans to take action. Zimbabweans cannot be held hostage by one man,” Tsvangirai was quoted as saying. “We are now a basket case. Mugabe must be brought to the negotiating table, not by the MDC but rather by the masses of Zimbabwe.” Moyo said Tsvangirai’s statement was a cheap publicity stunt. ”Government will not be distracted by publicity stunts…..There’s no serious person out there, including among the MDC-T’s founders and original funders, who believes that Morgan Richard Tsvangirai can now do anything ‘massive’ which he has not been able to do over the last 15 years since the ill-fated 1999 formation of his embattled party which is now in a coma on its assured way to the political graveyard. Tsvangirai has exhausted all his options. What this means is that he is now history,” Moyo said.

Mutsvangwa says CIO squandered US$70 million on a failed tractor project
Deputy Foreign Affairs Minister Christopher Mutsvangwa today said the Central Intelligence Organisation borrowed US$70 million from China to start a tractor project with locals but it never took off after the directors of the company squandered all the money. The debt has now been passed on to the government to be paid back by taxpayers. He said Zimbabwe had no good credit rating with China which should be our friends. Zimbabwe should learn to repay its international loans and not ask for debt forgiveness because this was credit suicide as this meant that you were denying yourself access to capital. Mutsvangwa said Zimbabwe should mend its relations with China because it was now a global giant and western nations were thronging to Beijing for financial support.

Arrest Chihuri
Movement for Democratic Change Shadow Minister for Home Affairs Lillian Timveous today said the Commissioner-General of police Augustine Chihuri should be arrested for legalising and habituating corruption. She said that Chihuri could not deal with corruption at all because he was as corrupt as the system. “The MDC is seriously concerned by the lack of will exhibited by the ZRP, Commissioner-General, Augustine Chihuri in spearheading investigations and arrests of several senior ZANU-PF officials who have been implicated in high levels of corrupt deals. As a high ranking government official, Chihuri must walk the talk against any form of corruption and curb the scourge that has spread to all sectors of the economy including the police force. According to a recent survey carried out by Transparency International Zimbabwe, 53 percent of Zimbabweans said they had paid a bribe to police officers and the blame to end this scourges stops with none other than Chihuri.” Timveous said it was totally unacceptable to have police roadblocks on almost every major road where motorists and other road users were forced to pay fines yet the revenue collected from the fines was not accounted for. “As a party, the MDC therefore urgently demands that Chihuri should be arrested for legalising and habituating corruption within the ranks and files of the supposed law enforcers in this nation. Because he is as corrupt as the system, he has no capacity at all to deal with corruption in the country especially in the police force that he heads,” Timveous said.

Formalising Zimbabwe’s informal economy
The Minister of Small and Medium Enterprises and Cooperative Development Sithembiso Nyoni today announced plans to formalise the informal sector which she said generates about US$7.4 billion. She said a study in 2012 had established that small and medium enterprises had created 5.7 million jobs. There were 2.8 million small business owners of 3.5million of small businesses. Seventy-two percent of the owners did not employ anyone and only 28 percent, representing 800 000 owners, employed 2.9 million. Nyoni said formalisation entailed registering and licensing the enterprises.

Tsvangirai barred from visiting Tokwe-Mukosi flood victims
Movement for Democratic Change leader Morgan Tsvangirai has been barred from visiting the Tokwe-Mukosi flood victims at their holding camp at Chingwizi according to his spokesman Luke Tamborinyoka. Tsvangirai wanted to visit the camp to talk to the people and give them some assistance. Tamborinyoka said Masvingo Provincial Affairs Minister Kudakwashe Bhasikiti said if Tsvangirai had anything to give to the people it should be channelled through the government offices in Masvingo.

MDC split now imminent

Suspended Movement for Democratic Change deputy treasurer Elton Mangoma’s supporters today ruled out any unity with party leader Morgan Tsvangirai saying the purported unity that Tsvangirai talked about was a farce. “You cannot unite with yourself. You cannot say I am uniting when you don’t call the aggrieved party,” Mangoma’s spokesman Jacob Mafume said. Mafume who was accompanied by MDC youth assembly secretary general Promise Mkwananzi said Tsvangirai was acting as if he owned the MDC. “When you are elected to a post, you are not given title deeds and that is where we have always complained. When you are elected to be a president of a country, you are not given title deeds, same as a political party. What happens is that you are given responsibility that you are supposed to carry out. When that responsibility is questioned, you don’t behave like someone is taking your personal property.”

(10 VIEWS)