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A warning on Simba Makoni's history of failures
A warning on Simba Makoni's history of failures
Zim Standard sunday view by Benjamin Chitate The entry of Simba Makoni into the Presidential race has created a lot of excitement among desperate Zimbabwean intellectuals. I can't blame them; they are desperate. Mutumwa Mawere, Trevor Ncube, Alex Magaisa based in the UK, among many intellectuals, are ululating, trying to influence Zimbabweans to vote for someone who has been tried, but has never produced any convincing results. The crisis in Zanu PF now is about (President Robert) Mugabe's overstay in power, not about any ideological differences.Like Mugabe, Makoni has also over-stayed his usefulness. Makoni was a minister in Mugabe's government in 1980, 28 years ago. His stay was cut short after he was appointed executive secretary for SADC. What did Makoni achieve at SADC? Did he leave a happy man? His stay as CEO of Zimpapers did not improve the company's fortunes. He was fired after clashing with the Editor of The Sunday Mail one of the newspapers under the Zimpapers' stable. But can his praise-singers tell us what he achieved at Zimpapers? Some have described Makoni as a wealthy businessman. What do we know about Makoni's businesses? If you are asked who is a more successful businessman in Zanu PF among Philip Chiyangwa and Makoni, Makoni comes last. Makoni may have won a lot of admiration for "his" decision to devalue the Zimbabwean dollar.I call it "his" decision because it wasn't his decision. Makoni is not an economist — he was simply communicating advice given by the economists employed in the Ministry of Finance. And what did he do? He betrayed the economists by chickening out. He failed not only the economists, but the entire nation by being spineless when it mattered most. Makoni was there when ESAP was introduced under the late Bernard Chidzero. I can't remember whether Makoni was at SADC that time, but, as head of a regional institution, he was supposed to advise the government against Economic Strustureal Adjustment Programme (ESAP). Among people who advised against ESAP was none other than Morgan Tsvangirai. I am not bootlicking here. All in doubt must read "Beyond Esap", a book published by the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU). We never heard Makoni speak a word against ESAP. I couldn't control my laughter when I read him being quoted as saying. "My security is in my people." Now, like Grace Mugabe, Makoni owns people? Or was he misquoted? Let me try to list some of Tsvangirai's achievements. He galvanized the ZCTU into a modern, vibrant labour organization. Most of you may be mistaken that the ZCTU was only popular for street protests. I have already referred to Tsvangirai's position on ESAP. Through his hard work, the ZCTU established what at some point became the regional resource centre for labour issues. The first librarian to run the ZCTU library was the late Nomore Sibanda, who was later joined by another lady whose name I cannot remember. Several other librarians joined the team later. This demonstrates Tsvangirai's vision for information as a tool for decision-making. Because of his leadership abilities, Tsvangirai was elected as chairperson for the National Constitutional Assembly, where he led a team of enthusiastic academics, trade unionists, students, workers — defeating Mugabe in the constitutional vote of 2000. An avid reader, Tsvangirai qualified for a post-graduate diploma in Governance at the Harvard University. He is one of a few Zimbabwean politicians holding such a qualification. It must be against this background that I hear civic society in Zimbabwe seems to be distancing itself from Makoni. He must realise that Zimbabwe lacks chemical engineers with a vision, and should use that to revive Zimbabwe's chemical industry in a country ruled by one with a qualification in Governance. |
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