SEMINAR TOPIC: 2006 In Retrospect and A Prognosis for 2007

DATE : 26th October 2006

VENUE: New Ambassador Hotel

SPEAKERS: Dr L. Madhuku
Mr. T. Biti

Chairperson Mr. T. Murisa

1 Dr Madhuku

Thank you very much for this opportunity to review 2006 and picture 2007 as highlighted
in the topic. In fact one of the things that happened in 2006 is that I am still the Chairman
of the NCA. It is very important to point out that institutions such as the Mass Public
Opinion Institute are very important and relevant in the discourse to open up democratic
space in Zimbabwe. Recently there were some who were arguing that these platforms are
not useful, that they have not taken us anywhere, we are still where we were and so forth.
I just want to say thats a very mistaken approach to life and I think that is also what
simplifies matters if you believe that life is about making infinitive observable changes
because there are so many things that are not observable that happen everyday and which
contribute to what will become observable 20 years down the line. When we then look
back to see where we started making progress we will discover that we made progress
when we were engaging in these debates.

So I want to encourage this process of continuing to debate as Zimbabweans and

continuing to exchange ideas, and as we speak today to look at 2006 we still have 2
months to go, so what we say today maybe overtaken by events. We are not sitting here
to predict the future but we are simply sitting here to analyse what has happened and to
offer ideas. So it will not be a crime on our part if what we say or what we put across as
our prognosis for 2007 does not happen we will not have committed a crime. I think the
Chairperson must have emphasised that and even the organisers must have emphasised
that too, because they knew we were not prophets but they wanted us to give the analysis
of the future on the basis of assumption. Ndizvoka. But pane vamwe vanoti at the
beginning of the year or towards the end of the year the Sunday Mail goes around
vachitarisa some of these guys who talk about the future vachiti aiwa, I think Mugabe is
going to die in 2000 and every year I think they say that, ndizvoka, a-a-a-h I foresee, you
read that. In the state media there are also a few people who are approached and then they
claim that they can start the moon, they can start everything and one of the Vice
Presidents is going to pass away. Thats not what we are here for, we are here as simply
analysts and on the basis of what we find is really something that can determine as far as
our analysis can go. So we may obviously be overtaken by events but we may not be
wrong. So I will very briefly look at highlights of 2006 from a political point and then
quickly go into 2007 what they call the prognosis. I am sure its an indication of how we
might see things unfolding in 2007.

I think when I started this year it was quite clear that the socio-economic situation was
turning for the worst and I thought that was not right for Zimbabwe. The state of affairs
for January 2006 you would remember that poverty levels were increasing, the pain of
our people was increasing everyday. If you were looking for food you would not get it at
the beginning of 2006, things were difficult for everybody. Issues like the question of
employment, these are issues that I will go into in detail but the social and economic
situation in 2006 was very bad. This is also the year that Gono announced the slashing of
zeros and the campaign that also saw the suffering of people when they were asked to
surrender what were then called old bearer cheques and sometimes called old currency.
It was quite clear, I think if you were to study what happened you would find that very
few countries have gone through that. In-fact my own research shows that one or two
countries have also gone through similar situations in the whole history of human beings.

Now our government in terms of that area continued to tell us that the economy was
going to improve. Shortly before Gono made this announcement the President of our
country called for a press conference, I am not sure about the dates but this year, to
announce that there is some reduction in inflation figures. So 2006 was not very different
from 2005, what is clearly different is the deepening of levels of crisis. If you talk about
deepening levels of poverty you talk about unemployment deepening levels, anything it
was really deepening, ndizvoka. So I will use that expression that if 2006 was any
different from 2005 it really reflects deepening levels of crisis or you can say a
deterioration of the situation thats what we saw. So I think that if you were to look at the
standards of living of ordinary Zimbabweans you would definitely see that they were
falling. We were talking of people not being able to have three meals a day and then in
2006 we are talking of people not being able to afford a single meal in a day and in 2007
we will be talking of other things. So I want to leave it at this stage and go to the more
familiar one which is the political scene, iyi yesocial/economic its a clear song for
everybody and that the government is showing clearly its incapacity, incompetency, in
the ability to run the economy. The best illustration to that is Goons well publicised
statement Failure is not an option. It is clear kuti he is failing, ndizvoka. But imagine a
society where everyone sees that you are failing but you can really project a governor of a
reserve bank who says failure is not an option, he could still have the confidence to say
that when its clear that he has failed.

Now not only that, Gono was able to parade himself, he went around the country achiita
shake peoples hands, ndakamuona, he took a walk in first street and he went so on and
so on clearly talking to people who were the victims of his failing policy. Telling them
that, you see, failure is not an option. You tell an unemployed person who says see I
am unemployed because you have failed then you tell him that see, failure is not an
option then you go to people who are at a funeral, they are saying this person has passed
away, there is no medication in hospitals, the medical facility is corrupt and you are Gono
you go to the funeral you tell people failure is not an option, when I have lost my father,
my sister and so forth. You go on , you cant afford school fees for your children and the
government keeps on saying pay up but a top government official can still go around
saying failure is not an option. What is more irritating is the fact that, that kind of failure
can be paraded as having political ambition, to do what, I mean you are Govenor of the
Reserve Bank and you fail totally and then that society said he has a political ambition he
wants to become a President. That is very serious incitement for our Zimbabwean
society, failures vava kuitwa mapossible Presidential hopes. That wont happen in any
other society. What could quantify Gono to be a President is something that I want to go
into in terms of looking at 2007. How can we have that situation, when everything is
corrupt and so forth?

In the political scene I think we opened 2006 very much alive to the divisions in the
MDC caused by the Senate elections. I think ZANU PF was celebrating because they had
their so-called national conference that they held in Matabeleland South and so forth. But
the main thing that focuses our attention politically was the division in the MDC. The
focus in the MDC is very significant and timing it shows that the MDC is a critical player
in our political board of politics and I think you did not understand but you understood it
by the amount of focus that was on the MDC division. It was not just by the state media
but by other media genre.And then this was followed by two MDC congresses sometime
in February-March. One held in Bulawayo and the person who came from outside the
country to be the President of that group was Arthur Mutambara. Then the other group
met in Harare and they re-elected Morgan Tsvangirai as the President. So I think by end
of March it was now clear that we had two political parties emerging from the former
MDC. The two MDC congresses were followed by the ZCTU congress that re-elected the
ZCTU leadership and I wouldnt go into this one because it was straight forward. And
another controversial one was the NCA congress that was held in May, here I am not
speaking I am supposed to be an analyst at this. The top leadership of NCA was also re-
elected according to the constitution of NCA. So 2006 was a year of congresses.

Then we had a meeting which took place in July which was the Save Zimbabwe
Convention where various groups came together and there we decided that we launch a
save Zimbabwe campaign. And almost around that time there was initiated a so called
National Vision, and I call it the National Vision Mission which involves main stream
churches, Catholic Bishops Conference, Zimbabwe Council of Churches, the Evangelical
Fellowship of Zimbabwe, etc.They were successful to have a meeting with our President
I mean it quiet seriously. So having met with our President at the State house this is a
meeting that you must not forget because as we go to 2007 we are going to have the
politics of our country also depended quiet a lot on what is going to happen on this so
called National Vision.

It started as an innocent meeting between Bishops and the President then eventually we
heard that there was an initiative to come up with a document called the National Vision
Document on which they were going to invite peoples contributions. I can tell you that
we were never approached, the NCA didnt participate. They might have only met one
person the MDC president Morgan Tsvangirai but I know they did not meet more people
but they had several meetings with President Mugabe privately and also in public. The
first public meeting was the one to launch the initiative and the second one was the one
you saw yesterday in the papers, but in between they had several meetings with
government ministers like Didymus Mutasa, Nicholas Goche. So eventually they came
up with what is called the National Vision Document which will be launched tomorrow.
Its a big development also in the year 2006, NCA, ZCTU, MDC, ZINASU are part of
the initiative that says put churches in front, the idea of a church led initiative was part of
a broadly shared vision. As we speak now there are two initiatives which are Save
Zimbabwe led by the Christian Alliance and National Vision led by the three Churches.

Then there is an initiative by UNDP and some of you are not aware of it but its a well
organised initiative which is also an extremely dangerous initiative. Now, that initiative is
where they are talking about the establishment of a human rights commission, dialogue
with the government, trying to draft something and they are talking about the amendment
of the constitution of Zimbabwe number 18 which will bring in a ZANU PF appointed
human rights commission and the people involved are very arrogant if you know what the
word arrogant means go and check at the UNDP there are people like that. I think the
arrogance comes from having a lot of money, they are paid in US dollars and they use the
parallel market ivo vanhu ivava. So if you get like 6000 United States dollars in
Zimbabwe where US1 is equivalent to $1600 Zimbabwean dollars and you are supposed
to buy in these shops and your origin is Kenyan or British but you are in Zimbabwe
where you work for UNDP then you have every right to need dinners every 3 to 2 days,
braais and so on. Now to pay back to your host you need to do these human rights
initiatives and so on. I have never met such kind of arrogance; we are going to decide
how to deal with these people. Such people come and mess up our country. So the UNDP
initiative has been put across by people who work for UNDP and where they claim that
they will improve the welfare of Zimbabweans but yet they will be in tune of our
government. When you say you want a new constitution they say no just amend it and get
a human rights commission.

One of the iron water marks of 2006 was the 13th of September when there was the
ZCTU demonstration. The most important thing was not the demonstration but things
that happened around that demonstration. Two things happened, the first thing was the
brutal assault of ZCTU leaders, this was done in Matapi, you know that police station and
as we speak Chibhebhe is not here because I am sure he is still in pain but what we know
is that these people were assaulted, tortured by state officers, the police the CIO, and
members of the army. Its a lie that this was done by ZANU PF thugs, thats a lie and no
one should put across that theory, that people who beat up vana Chibhebhe nana
Matombo were people who are not security agents. And even if they were not, those
people were in their custody so those who beat them were security forces even if they
were not in uniforms.

Another aspect was the Presidents statements. They came out in strong support of the
brutality. It is one of the few occasions that the President has shown his inner heart, his
inner self, the real Mugabe. How can a President come out saying we will beat you up if
you do these things. We are not civilised, we are a real hard core ine dictatorship, thats
what he was saying. No account of trying to be sophisticated, he was quiet direct all
Zimbabweans heard him speaking on national television and addressing other thousands
of Zimbabweans, I dont know where they came from but maZimbabweans aya.
Mugabe spoke in Egypt and his wisdom is very clear akaona kuti akataura kuEgypt chete
munozofunga kuti anotya, you would think kuti the President is hesitating, so he said I
should say these things on Zimbabwean soil, so he reasoned ,the first thing when I arrive
in Zimbabwe Ill make sure I say these same things. So the President then said my
government will operate that way, no peaceful demonstrations, no peaceful expression of
opinions, if you disagree with my government we will beat you up , ndizvoka. But he
didnt say that only, if you can ask malanguage experts, how you can say unodashurwa,
you are saying we will kill you. So what the President did was to tell Zimbabweans that
we will kill protesters, we will kill government opponents and so forth.

That is the point that emerged and I can say that this is a high water mark of 2006. We
have a demonstration and if you look at the demonstration itself there were no much
people marching in the streets so there was no real fear for any possible state of affairs.
Now I want to say that it is a point in quoting, the government believes in creating a
physical disability not anything else ndizvoka. If you want you can eliminate Chibhebhe
he will not be there and I think if nothing else happens ZCTU will take ages to do this so
we have that as a key point.

Then of course the last two aspects we still have are the Chiredzi rural district elections
end of this week and these are like one of the key developments. We know that ZANU
PF has already won 400 of the wards that were not contested by the MDC and other
parties that contested. But the issue to note about is the fact that two MDCs are contesting
elections on a broader basis separately. We had the Budiriro by-election at the beginning
of the year where the MDC that is led by Morgan Tsvangirai won clearly and the other
one earned a nickname 504, but that was to be expected. As people say now we go to
rural district elections I think one of the things we would want to notice there is the
performance of the two factions in the so-called strong-holds. Of the strongholds, one of
the groups claim that in Matabeleland South and North it will be interesting to see what
the performance will become. And so we should look up to this, actually one of my
comments about todays meeting was that it came too early, we would have wanted to see
the weekends outcome.

For ZANU PF the rural district elections are very significant. They are the event that will
make them decide whether to have Presidential elections in 2008 or in 2010. The ZANU
PF machinery is taking the rural district elections seriously; its going to be a test of how
much they can still intimidate. Already the by-election for Chikomba and Rushinga were
used in ZANU PFs rowing rooms as a way of trying to see how far cheaty they can go.
So they are going to look at the pattern that will be made from there. The Mutambara
faction should prove that they have some constituency in reality and they are using the
rural district elections as a basis of trying to say that we have a constituency because they
now accept that Tsvangirais group is bigger, hapana wekwaMutambara anoramba
izvozvo, ndizvoka. They know that its bigger; they might not say it just like Mugabe
haatauri zvimwe zvinhu except aitwa cornered. But every politician here knows that there
are two MDCs the bigger and the smaller one. The smaller one wants to use the rural
district elections as the basis. Vamwe venyu munoseka, munotya seiko kutaura zvinhu
zviri pachena. Then of course we come to that one of ZANU PF divisions. They raised
the issues in the course of the year, but no one got this because its irrelevant whether
ZANU PF is divided or not internally at the moment its not our priority because ZANU
PF is united vis-a-vis those who are outside ZANU PF, they dont want NCA, they dont
want MDC, they dont want a new constitution but there are people in this country who
are concentrating on that, its a very dangerous area to concentrate on. Divided so what?
So saying they are divided does it mean they are wicked? But for me as a common sense
political analyst its irrelevant what ZANU does because ZANU is clearly united vis--vis
the main issues that face our challenges. They are united in saying the economic failures
of our time should not take them out of power. No, you might run down the country, you
might run down the hospitals, he-e-e people are poor, we must remain in government.
Makambosangana nemunhu weZANU PF anoti no, no, no, the divisions are that lets get
out, vamwe voti ngatiite remain in power, have you seen that division, or vanoti give
the MDC a chance, please give MDC more space, there is no such division. Divisions
matter when they also matter, now if you had a party that is divided can you imagine that
the President of that party coming out to say we will beat up protestors, and we will
kill, and then those who are in that party say no, this President has gone too far. Just
start these movements and see where people differ, they differ over key issues outside
themselves murikupanzwaka, but they unite over main pillars. The main pillars
dzeZANU PF is suppression of Zimbabweans, to remain in power.

Now I have the last statement, to look out at 2007. I am looking here at what has
happened and what we see. My initial statement will remain, Gono will continue to make
a statement about, failure is not an option, and he will continue to do that. It is an
insult, so 2007 you will continue to be insulted by Gideon Gono. Zimbabweans will
continue to be insulted and he will change his language, failure is not the agenda, pane
vakambodaro handitika. So achachinja language yake achingonakidzwa zvake handitika.
But that is one area where Zimbabweans must wake up, why did they allow themselves to
be abused. I would like the political analysts to tell us the analysis that they would think
about the possible President. Why would a person go for Gono, why, why, what has he
done, nothing. Now we are economically grounded. Ini handidi kuti aite President, not as
a supporter weopposition or anything, but hapana zvaaita. If you are a Mugabe appointee
you work under Mugabes thinking which is that economics text books will be thrown
away, economics is done paZANU PF head quarters, murikupanzwaka, and this country
is governed from there.

In politics the National Vision Document is going to create problems for us because it is a
ZANU PF project. That project yemaBishps is a clear ZANU PF project. In the history of
our country Mugabe has never given audience to anyone except a person who will dance
to his own tune. Now what makes it problematic is that the Bishops were very nave, they
love closeness naMugabe, their love for television cameras. The Bishops and the UNDP
are going to create difficulties for our country. Now pane maZimbabweans akawanda
anoshandira UNDP ini I have told them that I am going to continue rubbishing them.
Tikasvika kumaruzevha vanhu vachaziva kuti chii chinonzi UNDP, vachaziva kuti chii
chinonzi National Vision Document.
There is also going to be a debate on 2008 presidential elections. My prediction is that
ZANU PF will hold presidential elections in 2008. They still want to pretend to be a
democracy. In 2007, the relationship between NCA, MAC, ZCTU, and ZINASU is going
to be stronger, especially against the National Vision Document. In 2007 Zimbabwe is
really going to be an area of attrition, those in ZANU PF should be warned vazopinda
nemwenje mudziva vari kuda kuisa maKristu pamberi and it doesnt work. Next year, it
will be tit for tat we are likely to remove vatungamiri vechiKristu. The leadership in
the opposition is going to be very radical.

Thank you.

2. Tendai Biti

Thank you Mr. Chairman. A-a-ah in November of 1992, 14 years ago I was invited by
SAPES then it was led by Ibbo Mandaza and the topic was, The review of 1992 and a
Prognosis for 1993. I was just a few years from university and I shared the platform with
Jonathan Moyo in the flash and exquisite background of Crowne Plaza and to me I said
the most important thing that had happened that year was the general strike made by the
ZCTU that had taken place on Saturday the 11th of June 1992, the general strike that was
actually a flop. They tried to do it on a Saturday but it failed but the result of the failure
was that those who were running the ZCTU went to the drawing board to reconfigure
why they had failed and 4 years down the line, on the 9th of December 1997. On Tuesday,
they were able to hold the first ever and the most successful ever stay away in this
country. That stay away led to the launch of the NCA on the 30th of January 1998 and
without the 9th of December 1997 there was not going to be the launch of MDC on 11
September 1999. I hope that Mr. Chairman 14 years from now I will not be invited to
another meeting in which we will still be in the opposition trenches and in which we will
be able to say that yes in the past 14years we did a lot but we fail Zimbabweans a lot.

This is a context in which I see 2006; I see 2006 as a wasted year. I see 2006 as a year
like 2005 that had opportunities but opportunities that we did not take. I understand the
rationalisation of our failures and our weaknesses. I understand the infancy of historical
terms in our struggle and by struggle I am looking at the broad historical phase that we
are in. Africa has gone through two key major struggles. The first struggle was the
struggle against colonialism which was the struggle that was largely completed in the 60s
by the reminisce of countries that were not independent like Zimbabwe, Namibia and
South Africa in 1994.then we have to begin a new level struggle, struggle against
exhausted nationalism, the struggle against the limitations of nationalism, the struggle
against the failure of nationalism. What do I mean by that? What I mean is that
nationalism and political parties such as ZANU, ZAPU, such as SWAPO, FRELIMO in
Mozambique, and ANC in South Africa have a limited role and the role which is very
effective as a weapon and tool for the majority black masses to confront the white
colonial establishment.
But beyond that agenda they have got a limited agenda, beyond agenda of nationalism
they cant comprehend. Nationalism was never designed to comprehend the complexities
of a modern state, the complexities of governance, the complexities of rule of law, the
complexities of physical discipline, so nationalism has to pass the button stick to a new
crop of social liberation. But unfortunately in Africa, nationalism does not pass the button
stick, it continues to hold on in its democracy, it continues to hold on to its old age and
when it does that new forces and new formations are made, and in Zimbabwe we saw the
birth of these new formations in the late 90s. The formation of the NCA, the formation of
the new and energetic ZCTU, those organisations that were formed in the late 90s,
Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights and the Women organisations and so forth. That is
as the reflection of wanting to grab the button stick from nationalism which keeps on
holding to it.

So the struggle that is young is this new struggle in which a new black force in a liberated
country has to confront a black leadership that speaks and coloured in its same language
which most people dont understand. The struggle before independence was simple it was
more or less a black and white issue which expressed itself like other issues, one woman
one man, one vote, the land question and so forth but it still remained the struggle
coloured by colours like black and white. The new post~ national struggle which is what
we are in hand in more intricate ways because it does have a colour and it deals with
issues of class, its more intricate because its so easy to de-legitimise it is sometimes as
Mugabe has been trying to do to us in the past 6 years. Saying they are puppets, they
belong to Blair. If you look at me and Blair we dont look alike so its a complicate
version.

So notwithstanding the effects of the struggle for social liberation in Zimbabwe I think
we had many missed opportunities, notwithstanding our fragility. You know 6 years or 7
years in the history of an individual is a very small limited period. I was talking to a
friend before I came here, I was saying the ANC was formed in 1912 and before the
formation of the ANC youth league in the 50s it was not an organisation that you could
right home about. And that was in the 50s when the young likes of Oliver Tambo, Nelson
Mandela came to form the youth league but it was only in the late 90s that they really
became a force and you saw the Odessa negotiations took place in 1992 in Johannesburg.
So if you put that time scale we are really babies, our struggle in historical terms we are
babies in dippers.

And one of the unfortunate bits about our struggle is that it is complicated in the sense
that everyday we make mistakes, everyday you are walking in an undeterred territory, the
struggle we are fighting does not have a political degree, the struggle we are fighting does
not have someone who has a PhD, thesis in removing dictators like Robert Mugabe. So
each day you are learning, you are going through a kindergarten, you are going through
primary school and sometimes you will graduate and say guys I know how to deal with a
dictator. So each day creates its contradictions, creates its own mistakes. We are just
being plucked and put in a deep end of a vastest seriously dictorial environment and we
have to confront it. Sometimes we are constrained by our beliefs and one of the key
beliefs which is a constraint to our beliefs is that of a non violent confrontation with a
regime in peaceful vehicles of expression against a regime that is not peaceful. Whose
language, whose blood, whose water in it is violent, a regime that believes not
metaphorically, but literally that violence is the way forward. And a regime ladies and
gentlemen whose legitimacy was created by violence, the source of legitimacy of ZANU
PF power is not the elections that were held in this country on the 27th and 28th of
February 1980. So you are dealing with a regime that is already cemented in violence,
which is why you will hear an army general saying nobody who did not go to war will
ever run this country. What they are trying to say is that unless you challenge our source
of legitimacy and confront it within the football pitch that we redefine for ourselves, the
football pitch of violence and armed struggle.

2006 as I said before, I see it as a year of missed opportunities, unfortunately any Marxist
will tell you that small gains cumulated to major gains to follow the directical process
and flow of the regime. So even the errors and mistakes that I feel we made this year and
last year, cumulate them they add up to something of course. But I want to come
specifically to 2006; I want to begin with the state.

I think 2006 saw the consolidation, I used the word consolidation, in other words these
were strains and traits that were coherent and resistant but in 2006 they were
consolidated. In 2006 they became more open from the past years where they were
discussed in corridors by political lecturers at the University of Zimbabwe and so forth.
The concept for instance of the militarization of the state in 2006 has become more open,
there is no discreet that a military junta is running this country, there is no dispute that the
military is running Zimbabwe and that ZANU PF, civil institutions have become mere
major mascara to give this regime some veneer for civilian legitimacy. The fact of the
matter is that a military regime is running the country. I want to give you one example the
NEDPP, this is the states loopy blue print economic reform and theoretically it has to be
an important one considering that we have never found ourselves in such a major
economic program. Now the executing army of the NEDPP, in other words the
implementing agency of the NEDPP is not the Cabinet, is not the Ministry of Finance, is
not the National Security, where in the World did you see something like that except in
the country run by military Juntas.

The other aspect that has been consolidated in 2006 is the privatisation of the state. So
we have got a military state which in 2006 has seen the consolidation of its privatisation.
The complete control that Mugabe has absolutely gone public, the social fabric of the
state, he doesnt do anything, nobody does anything without his blessings. They have to
wait for him, they dont comment or express their opinions and a good example is the
assault of ZCTU leaders on the 13th of September 2006. the entire establishment was
stunned and they were even embarrassed, I was there at Matapi Police station when the
policemen were too afraid that somebody might die and they would call for an
ambulance. They started to give us VIP treatment because they thought somebody might
die. There was silence of commentary by state on the violence that had happened on the
13th of September. They had to wait for Mugabe. Have you ever noticed how Politburo
meetings are done?, Mugabe seats so that they dabble and waffle and then they wait and
read Mugabes language and when he expresses an opinion they all flow that.
The other thing that we have seen consolidated in 2006 is corruption or criminalisation of
the state. I have said this in a public meeting before. I think it was organised by you guys,
whereas in 2000 we were talking of criminals who were in the state, the likes of
Chikowore, the likes of Kumbirai Kangai. Now we are dealing with a criminal state
itself. In other words from a state controlled by criminals and there is a consolidation in
2006 of a criminal state itself. And I said in the meeting you get the criminal activities of
the state, forget about violence, and forget about the land grab because we all know those.
Which is the biggest foreign currency dealer in Zimbabwe? It is the state, or is it the
RBZ and some of the acts?, a-a-h this is a new phenomenon, the student of economics
should write thesis on this. One thing that happened in 2006 was e-e-eh and I want to
comment on the monetary policy of 29 July 2006, the one that redenominated our
currency and removed the zeros. It is the first time in history that you see an economic
crime being committed by the state. The act of printing money is a crime, when you print
money you are stealing peoples values. Do you understand what I mean, just like
inflation itself its theft on peoples values because we are increasing the supply of paper
money , and when you do that because value is a subject of supply and demand you are
reducing peoples values. So what they did on the 29th of July was considered stealing in
two ways, one by printing new money and by doing re-conversion. They stole our
money, they did a lot of things that many a dictator in the past may have wished where
they get the wisdom of doing it. This is to show criminalisation of the state and its
legalisation. There were traffic stops, road blocks every 14km in Zimbabwe, in other
words the state has legalised its criminal activities and people were arrested for having
their money. You know money is an asset protected by a certain section of the
constitution. So if you have money, its like say if I have this shirt and I decide to burnt it
the state has no reason to ask me why I burnt it. So equally the fact that I decided to take
my bearer cheques and put them under my hut in Dotito, thats my business. But you saw
people being arrested for carrying something that belonged to them.

And that is unique, you wont find it even in the most class of banana republics in Latin
America, you wont find such coarseness. The Gideon Gono factor is an illustration of
this privatisation criminalisation of the state. Gonos legitimacy derives from Robert
Mugabe so his contempt for Cabinet Ministers, his contempt for the rest of the
government other than Mugabe is so evident for everyone to see, not only that, even his
contempt for the legitimacy of ZANU PF namely, the national liberation movement is
also clear. When he said I dont care about your CV of national liberation he is
legitimizing the national liberation itself and he is only able to do that because the state
has been so much privatised and Gono gets the authority and legitimacy from the owner
of Zimbabwe Private Limited Robert Mugabe. And some of you might have seen him on
TV touring tobacco farms or bananas, I think he went to Perence Shiris farm and it was
as if Perence Shiri was almost anointing this man and thats a reflection of the
psychological confirmation of the privatisation of the state and all these things are not
new. They have merely been consolidated in 2006 whereas before there would have been
hidden under beds, now its for everyone to see.
I want to come back again to the economy. I think the developments that happened in our
economy are significant and they will be many books written in years to come. First,
Gono is the reserve bank Governor and he is to deal with monetary policy, to use his
language, we are monetary authorities and that is the law. What the RBZ Act says in
section 6, so his brief is to deal with issues of inflation, exchange rate, interest rates, just
those three minor things but those minor things do not drive the economy. What drives
the economy is the fiscal policy or to put it more open, what drives the economy is the
production, the supply inside of economy, your agriculture, your industry and so on. So
monetary policy is a tail on the dough of fiscal policy which is the proper economy and
when we study economy we dont say what the exchange rate is, we say what has been
the domestic product growth rate of that country. We ask for figures of domestic
production for agriculture, figures for tobacco, how many tonnes you produced in 1998
260 million tonnes, and 50 million kilograms in 2002 and 20 million kilograms in 2007.
But what Gono has done and this is a grand theft you know, future students are going to
love this. You have a budget that was passed in December 2005 for 2006 and the total of
that budget was 1, 27 trillion dollars and they are now billions. In the middle of the year
in July they passed a budget that was three times that of December. It was 327, 2 billion
now or trillion then, so this is the budget theoretically. In burgeons economic is reported
that it is money theoretically which citizens through parliament control resources in terms
of their tax and in terms of our constitution all expenditure from the authorised revenue
fund must actually be approved by parliament. Thats why ZANU PF wants to maintain
the veneer of legitimacy; they will go to parliament and seek parliament approval of these
budgets. But the real budget has not been the 327,2 billion that was approved in
parliament in July or the 1,27 trillion that was approved in December. The real budget is
the one that has not been budgeted for, it is the quasi and fiscal activities that Gideon
Gono has been doing and he has been everywhere. Parastatals have been given money,
two months ago he went somewhere and borrowed money he borrowed US$420 on the
security of what, I dont know.

Support the agriculture input, any government official, any minister and any businessman
that has a problem, he doesnt go to the Ministry of Finance but to number 13 Samora
Machel. Now this is the consolidation of theft that I was talking about, because what
Gono does is controlling the resources, he is printing money but he does not have even
the nominal guide and scrutiny of parliament which Mrerwa has to go through when he
presents to the parliament. So you find legitimised theft that is going on in this country.
Who knows how much money Gono is spending, how he spends it. Do you understand
where I am coming from and these are things that even Hitlers scrutiny would never
have been so genius to think of such scrutiny and this is all happening under our eyes
friends. Those statements by Gono read them they tell you a lot about how and what the
dictator is thinking about. The dictator right now knows it has failed, Gono knows that
failure is not an option, that it was on the 18th of December 2003 when he has the maiden
speech. Gono knows that he is institutionalising the failure; he has made the situation
much more badly than it was when he came.

In December 2003 the inflation was 520%, in year end, this year it will be 4000%. In
2003 when Gono came the life expectancy in Zimbabwe was 38 and in 2006 it is 34,
child mortality rate in 2003 was 4 in 10 now its 1 in 10, so by all measures Gono has
failed, he is just a symbol of Mr. Private Property.

But the dictator want a way out on its terms, this is why you will see the proliferation of
the efforts some of which you hear Lovemore talk about. This so called New Vision thing
is the expression of the dictator trying to find a way of getting himself/herself out of the
current status phenomenal, seeking ways of regaining himself/herself whilst holding on.

So 2007 you will see the escalation of the efforts that I was talking about. But then we
will move quickly to the opposition in 2006 and 2007 and I want to make the following
point that firstly, this is Mugabes biggest problem, they will be always opposition in
Zimbabwe and the opposition I am talking about is the average reaction of the worker to
prices. The fact that our inflation is at 4000% and that 80% of our people are not in
formal employment and the fact that 4000 Zimbabweans die every week, and that this is
very real. If 4000 people are dying every week that means 16 000 are dying every month.
Now do we support this, the national liberation from 1962 to 1979, how many years, 27
years. The most optimistic statistics will tell you that 50 000 die as a result of the war of
national liberation struggle. The two most significant battles during the war were
Nyadzonya in August 1976 and Chimoio in November 1977 and in both battles less than
2000 people died. So what it means is that in Zimbabwe on a day to day basis we are
suffering battles that are much more exacerbated than Chimoio and Nyadzonya combined
in this black elected leadership. Now as long as those structures are there it means that
there will be opposition, we dont like ZANU PF, we dont like this regime. Even ZANU
PF doesnt like ZANU PF. If you go to the passport office, I was there yesterday the
number of soldiers and government officials who went with their passports to get them
stamped so that their children and mistresses can go out of Zimbabwe is much more than
us ordinary people. That means they are running away, their children are all over in
Australia, United States and so forth. ZANU PF doesnt like ZANU PF it self. Thats the
extent of the crisis, the extent that South Africa is deporting 300 Zimbabweans everyday,
that they are building a huge deportation centre in Northern Transvaal thats a disaster.

So there will always be opposition and this opposition, is a very significant thing that
happened in 2006, probably the most significant in my opinion was the Save Zimbabwe
Convention that took place on the 9th of July 2006. There you had all major political
actors in Zimbabwe at that tent, at that hotel and at the convention which came out with
decisive clear resolutions on democratic resistance on the need to work together. So in a
way Zimbabweans were atoning and giving themselves a second chance after the
debacles of 2005 and the missed opportunities that arose after the stolen election of
March 2005 and operation Murambatsvina that also took place in May 2005. So we have
a contradiction this is why we require this organisation and I was so happy to hear
Lovemore talking about what is already happening. The chemistry and symbolisms
between the formation of ZCTU, NCA, MDC and other organisations which are members
of the Christian Alliance. And we have to do that to displace state because the state now
has the centre of our lives. The state is dominating us whether you go to the bathroom or
you go anywhere, we ordinary Zimbabweans are at the periphery of the periphery, tiri
kumapeto, tiri kuperekedza vamwe vanhu kurarama, have you ever felt that feeling.
When you are hungry, you are struggling and a $70 000 Lexus passes you by, you get
into a supermarket and you are struggling to buy two items because you have $20 000 in
your pocket and some nicely dressed lady is pushing a trolley full of chickens and so
forth and you will really feel that you are at the periphery of the periphery. So we have to
reclaim the centre of the state because ZANU PF and this state have stolen and
monopolises this centre, we are marginalised and we cant reclaim without organisations.
We cant do that without the chemistry that began to manifest itself within the Christian
Alliance effort.

For 2007 I think we need to e-e-eh, as opposition and when I say opposition I am talking
of you, me, churches, opposition political parties, and student movements. 2006 must be
a watershed, 2006 must be a defining year. The way in which Mugabe has assaulted the
moral fabric of our society, the way in which he planted the seeds, watered the seeds of
the culture of Chibanzi in our society, the culture of chi dealer, one of my friends who
is here has said the Nigerialisation of the Zimbabwe society. You go to a passport
office, wobvunza, shamwari ndakabhadhara passport yangu iri kubuda riini? Answer:
A-a-a-a mudhara unotenga coke here. That is the biggest dislegacy that Mugabe
planted among our people. The feeling that you can actually make it and succeed when
you are not hard working, when you are a thief. Look at it people, I was reading this other
day that Philip Chiyangwa wants to build this thing that will cost US$200 million, what
industry does he have, how many people does it have, how does the elite like that?, how
does he create that wealth?, and that is the biggest assault Mugabe has done because he
has assaulted the basic value. When I was young I knew that if I did not go to school I
would not make it so I worked hard in school. At some industries somebody knows that if
I started working, loading crates in a vehicle and work hard I would end up a supervisor.
But now all that is gone and that is Mugabes dislegacy. And it will take generations and
generations to deNigerialise our Zimbabwe society.

In conclusion I think we have the ingredients of a new democratic Zimbabwe a road map,
we have the democracy charter, I think you must read it. We have so many solid ideas
within our constitution, so in other words within our womb, within the womb of this ugly
Zimbabwe, there is already a New Zimbabwe that is there. The question is; Is the
pregnancy going to be 9 months or 18 months? Please, please we are suffering back pains
everyday. There is no water; there is no electricity and so forth. I urge you Zimbabweans;
lets deliver even if by caesarean section.

I thank you

Questions and comments from the floor

1. I need to help Dr. Madhuku to clarify on the issue of the UNDP vis--vis the Human
Rights initiative. It is very important to understand the context of these issues. Zacharia
was a high ranking member of the FRELIMO, regime and the other comrade of Zacharia
is a friend of Mangwana. We do not need a commission but an overhaul of the
constitutional framework. Zacharia and his counterparts are playing politics and working
in the interests of the regime. There is every reason to block the agenda of the UNDP;
they are an anathema to the democratization process in Zimbabwe. Let us be alert on the
Agenda of the UNDP leadership.

2. My question is directed to Dr. Madhuku, I have been listening to his presentation and
critique on other groupings. My question concerns the demonstration in Harare. It seems
the NCA is concentrating on a small number of demonstrators when in actual fact we
need the whole masses out. I suggest that the strategies for demonstrations be improved
so that more numbers are attracted in to the issues at play.

3. My comment is based on the comparison between the Christian Alliance and the
writers of the vision document (EFZ, CBC, and ZCC). While the later seems to be
drawing mandate from their membership and that they are legitimate leaders of their
respective churches, my fear is raised on the Christian Alliance, though they are radical,
they seem to be liars because of their legitimacy, and representation. I see need for us to
take great care in our approach to the way we analyse the vision document.

4. The problem with us as Zimbabweans is procrastination. Operation Murambatsvina

caused a lot of suffering and the general majority were displaced. Why was there no
demonstrations planned when people were still in pain. The leadership in the opposition
must be alert in identifying real issues and emotions to ride on, when they organise
demonstrations.

5. Of course we are gathered here talking and talking, isnt there need to seriously think
of yet another liberation war struggle where we go to war to demand our sovereignty
from ZANU PF