The Herald (Harare)
December 16, 2002
Guard Against Imperialism
Innocent Gore
Chinhoyi
The Sixth Zanu-PF Annual People's Conference ended on Saturday night with
the
party's President and First Secretary Cde Mugabe calling upon members to
remain
vigilant and jealously guard against imperialism.
Cde Mugabe said the enemy the party had fought and vanquished still had
his own
ways of recovering and Zanu-PF members should not allow him to infiltrate
the
party.
"As we close this conference, we must remind ourselves why we are here.
Chii
chatakavinga? Ndezvipi zvatakakwanisa kuita pamazuva ava? (Why did we come
here
and what did we achieve over the past few days?)," he said when closing
the
conference attended by more than 3 000 delegates.
"We came here on a definite mission to achieve definite purposes. We have
reviewed the past year and have looked forward after examining the
present."
Zanu-PF should tackle the challenges facing the country and build on its
successes over the past year. The party should be rejuvenated,
re-invigorated
and dynamised so that it remains "the party of the people, the party of
the day,
the party of the revolution, and the party that has in-built vigour". All
these
had been derived from the three Chimurengas the party had fought.
"Otherwise we become a dying movement. Zimbabweans have a history,
Zimbabweans
have the experience of fighting for freedom, for their sovereignty.
Zimbabweans
therefore have that essence of unity to resist imperialism. The future
will
demand of you that spirit of fighting, the indomitable spirit of
Zimbabweans.
"Yes, yesterday we fought and vanquished the enemy, but the enemy has his
own
way of recovering. There was a tendency to go to sleep, but we discovered
we had
the enemy, the black enemy who agreed to be a stooge of the enemy
overseas. And
that black enemy turned traitor and joined hands with the people we had
forgiven
through the spirit of reconciliation despite the fact that they
suppressed,
repressed and killed thousands among us.
"And so let us not be deceived. When Rhodesians of yesteryear come and say
they
are Zimbabweans, don't believe them until you see their actions. Now this
is
Zimbabwe. Yava Zimbabwe ino. The Rhodesians should go to Rhodesia. I don't
know
where it is. (British Prime Minister) Blair will show them where Rhodesia
is.
"President Mugabe is President of Zimbabwe. We are Zimbabweans, the soil
is
Zimbabwean, the mountains, the forests, the rivers, the birds, the animals
all
sing a Zimbabwean song, the national anthem of Zimbabwe. You might as well
give
them (the whites) this test: ask them to sing the national anthem . . .
and as
long as the words are correct, then you pass him as Zimbabwean."
Cde Mugabe called upon party cadres to remain vigilante, and committed to
Zanu-PF's ideals.
"Remain revolutionary at heart, we are a people-oriented party. Ours is to
serve
the people. We are there to serve the people and not for the people to
serve us.
And that must guide our actions everywhere as we organise them in the
villages,
districts and wards. We are a party whose leadership is dedicated to
safeguarding their interests. That way the people will get to know who are
genuine and who are bogus."
He said the MDC was made up of murderers.
"If I were to show you the pictures of the postmortem of Jongwe's wife,
you will
never want to hear about the MDC again," he said, referring to the eight
knife
wounds that Rutendo Jongwe-Muusha sustained when she was allegedly stabbed
by
the late Kuwadzana MP Learnmore Jongwe.
"The party is on its way out. Whatever Blair says or does about it, it's
out,
out and out. But do not forget that when they are a dying horse like that,
they
may have a fatal kick. They are used to killing. I want to tell you what I
have
told my former wife and my present wife: that when it comes to serving my
family
and the people, the people come first. And this is the commitment that we
showed
when we went to join the liberation war."
In frank discussions during the three days of deliberations, delegates
discussed
the hardships facing the country, namely the fuel and foreign currency
shortages, the food situation, price increases and HIV/Aids.
Resolutions calling upon the Government to find urgent solutions to these
problems were adopted.
President Mugabe expressed concern at the problems in fuel procurement
following
revelations that the National Oil Company of Zimbabwe (Noczim) was
contemplating
terminating the fuel supply agreement signed between Zimbabwe and Libya.
Under the agreement and because of Zimbabwe's foreign currency position,
Harare
would buy fuel from the North African country using local currency.
The Libyans would, in turn, use the money to go into joint ventures with
Zimbabwean companies in the fuel industry, tourism, agriculture and in
purchasing Zimbabwean agro-products such as soya beans, tobacco and beef.
But Noczim was allegedly buying fuel from other suppliers using foreign
currency, a move which had upset the Libyans who had agreed to enter into
the
agreement after appreciating Zimbabwe's foreign currency position.
"I am going into this matter in a more serious way. It is absolutely
nonsensical, it is absurd. Why do we dilly-dally and upset the Libyans?
What
for?"
Noczim officials want cash deals which allows them to deal on the parallel
market. They are against the Tamoil deal because it has no room to line
their
pockets.
Officials at Noczim, Reserve Bank and the Ministry of Finance are working
together in attempts to frustrate the Tamoil deal.
As a result, Zimbabwe has been hit by its worst fuel crisis ever with long
winding queues at filling stations being the order of the day. Angry
motorists
are calling on the Government to dismiss all officials playing games with
a
strategic commodity. They said this week the country was losing millions
of
dollars as industry has been grounded because of the fuel shortage.
"We are suffering in these very long queues simply because some officials
want
to make money. That is nonsense. We want fuel, we do not really care where
it
comes from. But if people are not performing as they should then they must
be
shown the door," said a frustrated motorist.
Some said in difficult economic times tough decisions have to be made
because
strategic parastatals such as Noczim should not be managed by people of
questionable credentials.
The Government is not happy that Noczim is defying Government directives
and
continues to allocate more fuel to multi-national companies instead of
indigenous oil firms.
Big companies have been told to import their own fuel and make money and
not to
make huge profits from Government subsidies.
The annual conference also talked in great detail about the land reform
programme, the progress that has been made so far and what still needs to
be
done to ensure that the new farmers produce enough food for the nation.
While there are no major allocation problems for the A1 model there are
problems
with the A2 one.
Some of the people allocated land have not taken up the plots while fights
have
been reported on some farms.
The ruling party wants all these problems ironed out so that the new
farmers are
focused on food production.
The shortage and high input prices were also discussed at the conference.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Ivinicus factus sum veritabem diceus." ( I have become an enemy for
speaking the truth ) St Paul!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Mitayo Potosi
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