MDC-T hijacks national programmes

Harare. Eight years down the line, claims of the same nature were reproduced at the 13th anniversary celebration of the MDC-T when the party claimed ownership of the national programmes for political mileage.
Having failed to identify any significant projects that the Government departments under their ministers did for Matabeleland region, the party found it expedient to skyjack national programmes and beg credit for them. Among the programmes that were usurped include the dualisation of Plumtree-Harare-Mutare highway, the refurbishment of Hwange Power Station and the computerisation of schools, among others.
Stranger than fiction promises were made, some of which were akin to the promises of double york eggs made to our musical girl. False claim of ownership is a very old propaganda technique that was originated by Satan when he took Jesus up on a high mountain. The devil showed Jesus all the kingdoms of the world which he said were all his and would give to Jesus if he worshipped him. Jesus knew the owner of the kingdom, thus he refused to worship before the devil. In the same vein, Zimbabweans must know the actual people behind the programmes, lest they worship the devil.
For starters, the Plumtree-Harare-Mutare highway dualisation project is a brainchild of the Zimbabwe National Road Authority (Zinara), an arm of the Ministry of Transport, Communication and Infrastructure Development headed by Zanu-PF’s Cde Nicholas Goche.
Zinara realised that with the debilitating sanctions that were called for by the MDC-T, it would not secure the funding needed for the rehabilitation of the highway. It, therefore, courted the partnership of Group Five International of South Africa and came up with a joint venture called Infralink. It was Infralink that sourced the US$206 million for the rehabilitation of the highway from the Development Bank of Southern Africa (DBSA).
It was the visionary President Mugabe who then suggested the change of the scope of the project from rehabilitation to dualisation, with an additional US$300 million needed. DBSA did not object to the change.
MDC-T in the form of Tendai Biti only came in as the custodian of the national coffers. Initially, the MDC formations had reservations about the project arguing that the traffic volume was so low to warrant dualisation.
The MDC parliamentarians later suggested the dualisation of 10km stretches in and out of major towns along the highway. Biti himself refused to give a duty-free status to the equipment imported by Group Five with some equipment being turned away at Beitbridge, resulting in the South African firm using its money to pay the duty. So claiming ownership of the Infralink project parallels a barren woman who claims motherhood to someone’s child because she has realised she cannot bear children or that child has become a prominent figure in society.
The expansion of Hwange Power Station was mulled before the inclusive Government. In 2007, President Mugabe visited Namibia where he signed the interutility co-operation agreement between Zesa and Nampower.
Nampower provided US$40 million for the revival of the dependable capacity of Hwange Power Station through rehabilitation works in return for a supply of 150MW of electricity for five years. Under the MDC-T Minister of Energy and Power Development, Zesa has failed to honour the agreement. A look at the attitude of the MDC-T towards other current national programmes can be instructive in determining the authenticity of the MDC-T claim. The Minister of Energy and Power Development, Elton Mangoma has been vehemently resisting the Chisumbanje Ethanol Project despite the tremendous national benefits on the horizon. It will not come as a surprise to hear MDC-T claiming credit for the ethanol blending some two years down the line.
Claiming ownership of the computerisation of schools programme was the worst political grandstanding without a parallel. Even a primary school child will tell you that they were told President Mugabe pioneered the programme 10 years ago in which he donated at least 10 computers to each secondary school in Zimbabwe. The Presidential Computerisation Programme has moved a step further through the introduction of elearning in schools. The President launched the National E-Learning programme in March at Choguguza Primary School in Domboshava and it will spread to 100 more schools under the pilot project.
I wonder what came into Chamisa’s mind when his party made such claims, considering that he showered praises on President Mugabe for pioneering the computerisation of Zimbabwean schools.
“We want to thank His Excellency for appreciating that for us to have successful innovation, we need leadership from the populace. The President has provided that leadership and we are willing to be passengers,” said Mr Chamisa. Chamisa should explain to the people when the MDC-T, which has been hitherto a passenger, became a driver.
Even the Minister of Education, David Coltart also praised President Mugabe for transforming the education system through the introduction of e-learning. He said President Mugabe has been instrumental in promoting education and information communication technology in Zimbabwe. Zimbabwe National Chamber of Commerce Matabeleland Vice President, Sheila Sidambe, once told a South African business delegation in Bulawayo that President Mugabe was a pioneer on computerising the country.
“In fact, I have to make a special mention here, a huge thank you to President Mugabe for his visionary work on computers. He pioneered ICT in Zimbabwe,” she said.
MDC-T has a perennial tendency of claiming credit for the economic stability prevailing in the country. A US journalist, Erin Conway Smith, dismissed such claims.