Dr Simba Makoni saying MDC Corrupt is like the Pot calling the Kettle black
HARARE – Opposition leader Dr Simba Makoni has slammed Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai’s MDC party for sinking into the abyss of corruption hardly a year after entering government through the unity pact with President Robert Mugabe’s Zanu-PF party.Makoni, for years a senior member of Mugabe’s Zanu-PF party, says the optimism ushered in by the installation of the inclusive government in February 2009 has quickly faded away, as “fat cats especially in the MDC”, have settle into comfortable positions, abandoning service to voters by engaging themselves in fierce struggles for power, and a mad rush for bigger shares of the meager national resources.
“Much to the dismay and disbelief of all of us, the new members of the government from the MDC formations, did not take long to learn and adopt the ways of their experienced Zanu-PF peers,” Makoni said in a loaded New Year’s statement. “They seem to have quickly forgotten the suffering of the people, and the promises they made upon entering the government; to work for improvements in the lives of all citizens. Readily and willingly, they joined the race to pillage the already empty fiscus; clamouring for motor cars, allowances for foreign trips, etc. Fights for jobs for more of them intensified, as the year wore on.”
According to the Finance Minister Tendai Biti, foreign travel by officials in the inclusive government amounted to US$28.6 million between February and October.
Makoni, a former Finance Minister and one of the losing presidential candidates in last year’s elections, contested the March 29 2008 elections as an independent, and scrapped through with a paltry 8, 3 percent of the national vote against his adversaries, Tsvangirai of MDC who won 47, 9 percent of the vote while President Robert Mugabe trailed him with nearly 43 percent of the vote.
Makoni’s corruption accusations against the MDC come as the party’s UK and Ireland provincial executives have been suspended pending an investigation into financial irregularities.
The corruption problems are apparently not limited to the overseas branches as the MDC’s national council recently dissolved its Chitungwiza Provincial Executive over similar problems. The MDC leadership has watched in consternation as rampant corruption took its toll in the sprawling town.
Councillors have allocated big housing stands to themselves amid a grinding housing shortage in the dormitory town. The MDC has fired the Chitungwiza ceremonial Mayor, Israel Marange, after he was convicted on corruption charges.
There has been primitive accumulation by the 24 Chitungwiza councillors, with almost all of them grabbing commercial and residential stands for themselves.
The perception of MDC officials feathering their nests is particularly awkward for Prime Minister Tsvangirai, a former opposition leader who spent years championing the lot of ordinary Zimbabweans during the economic collapse presided over by Mugabe. Tsvangirai has personally had to contend with outright defiance by 25 of his MPs who refused to return cars allocated to them by Reserve Bank governor Gideon Gono.
Despite claims by Makoni that corruption is raging among the three parties in the ruling coalition, his own Mavambo/Kusile/Dawn party is emerging from a fractious dispute, with the party’s leadership accusing Makoni of abusing the party’s financial and material resources.
Makoni is accused by colleagues in his party of concealing huge amounts of money ranging from US$1, 5 million and US$3 million sourced through donations from well wishers and further refusing to open an audit on the use of the funds.
He has allegedly allocated his personal and family use, two Jeep Cherokee vehicles, five Mazda BT50 and two Nissan 1 tonne trucks from the party’s pool of vehicles. Makoni and two of his lieutenants allegedly abused more than 250 000 litres of fuel donated to the movement. The party’s entire election campaign used less than 50 000 litres of fuel.
Additional Reporting: The Zimbabwe Times
Posted by Wellington Chadehumbe
on January 3, 2010. Filed under Main Headline.
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