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Innocent Ruwende and Nyemudzai Kakore Harare Bureau—
THE European Union yesterday dismissed claims by opposition activists and NGOs that there was a leadership crisis in Zimbabwe, saying those in authority were able to steer the country forward through the implementation of “poverty reduction” strategies such as the Zimbabwe Agenda for Sustainable Socio-Economic Transformation.
Responding to regime-change lobbyists at a forum organised by the Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition at a Harare hotel to discuss the economy and economic sanctions, EU ambassador to Zimbabwe Aldo Del’Arricia chided civil society leaders and opposition politicians for their adversarial approach to the Zanu-PF government.
“On the matter of a supposed leadership crisis, let me tell you this, luckily we do not have a political leadership crisis in this country, we still have a strong leadership,” he said. “If we had a leadership crisis, there would be chaos.
“We still have a leader who still manages to keep at bay and under control these forces that are very much contradictory.”
Del’Arricia said when dealing with the government, opposition parties and civic society should be constructive in attitude and less confrontational.
The EU envoy schooled the civic society activists who had denounced Zim-Asset for alleged lack of a funding strategy, saying Zim-Asset was an economic blueprint that was very much work in progress.
“When you (civic society) are talking about Zim-Asset, l’ve the impression that you are bashing it or ridiculing it regardless of it being a development policy or a poverty reduction strategy,” he said.
Del’Arricia said the government, and in particular the Ministry of Finance, understood the need to operationalise Zim-Asset, hence they were calling on the African Development Bank to provide assistance which would transform Zim-Asset from a blueprint to a development strategy document.
“Zim-Asset is just a blueprint, it is work in progress and I think the Ministry of Finance knows very well that the work is not completed and they’re calling on the African Development Bank in particular, and I know, for assistance. That will commit it to go from a blueprint to a development strategic document which means to take into consideration the resources which are necessary, and to take into consideration the risks which are there and how to handle these, a chronology,’’ Del Arricia said.
He rebuked the NGOs for being “anchored in the past”.
“The civil society has a role to play but I’ve the impression that you are a little bit anchored to the past where instead of seeing NGOs one perceives AGOs, Anti-Government Organisations. And if you start catching the flow of the time, the trend, there is an opening to be worked upon.
“But we had four ministers (Cdes Emmerson Mnangagwa, Patrick Chinamasa, Jonathan Moyo and Joseph Made) sitting with more than 150 representatives of civil society, Churches, trade unions, Parliament to discuss about the national indicative programme of the European Union. We didn’t conclude it, it was Minister Chinamasa who did it,’’ he said.
Turning to proposed amendments to the Electoral Act, Del’Arricia said the government’s commitment was evident in the willingness of Justice Minister Mnangagwa to engage.
‘’We had all the discussions about the electoral law, and we know what happened. The message of the Minister of Justice was not that ‘Okay thank you very much for your opinion, I am not bound to take into consideration, let’s forget it’. He said, ‘let’s go step by step, we remain open and there would be further amendments before the end of the year and your opinion will be taken into consideration.’ So catch this trend, have a constructive role, maybe less confrontational but I think his comments, at this meeting here, are very important,’’ Del’Ariccia said.
He said things were going in the right direction between Zimbabwe and the EU.
Del’Arricia said the EU and the government had been engaging since 2009 when the inclusive government was formed and since then, the bloc had been coherent and constant in its response.
During the discussions, former legislator Cde Patrick Zhuwao hailed the statements by Del Arricia.
“I think the EU ambassador is coming to terms with reality on the ground and I think this needs to be understood from the context of the fact that we have a Constitution we developed as Zimbabweans that was widely accepted and that formed the basis of an election and that has been accepted and we have a government that is in power,” he said.
“The reality of the situation is that civil society needs to move from being anti-government to developmental organisations, that is basically what the Ambassador is saying.”
Del’Ariccia was responding to some participants, among them political scientist Dr Ibbo Mandaza, MDC-T’s Elias Mudzuri and economist and director of the Labour and Economic Development Research Institute of Zimbabwe (LEDRIZ) Dr Godfrey Kanyenze, who had called for a change in leadership as a way of solving the country’s problems.
Online Reporter