The current social and economic challenges in the country where the Zanu PF government has failed to pay civil servants are an indication that the government has failed and the people of Zimbabwe should call for immediate change, People’s Democratic Party (PDP) President, Tendai Biti has said.
President Biti said this at the weekend while addressing party supporters at a rally in Budiriro, Harare.
“The country is in a crisis. During the inclusive government when as ministers we worked tirelessly to improve the lives of the people, Zanu PF officials thought it was easy.
“But only three years after the 2013 elections, they have failed. Where they were supposed to create two million jobs, they have destroyed two million jobs and this shows that Zanu PF can’t govern this economy,” the former finance Minister said while citing the massive closure of industries in Bulawayo and other parts of the country.
He added that industries are being turned into churches and in Bulawayo people are praying in factories as companies have closed because of Zanu PF.
Biti bemoaned the unemployed rate which is believed to be hovering at 91%. He added that girls as young 16 are being forced into prostitution while graduates spend their time as vendors selling tomatoes, bananas and airtime cards a calamity he blamed on President Robert Mugabe.
He said the Zanu PF government has shown that it is clueless as for the first time since 1890 it has failed to pay the civil servants their monthly salaries.
“Civil servants now have to read newspapers to see when they are going to be paid. When I was the Finance Minister, I knew when to pay soldiers on the 11th of each month, teachers on the 19th, war veterans and pensioners on the 29th and bonus in November but Zanu PF is failing to do that,” said President Biti.
“We are being led by a very old person 92 years is not a joke. We cannot allow that. That is why we are asking for one thing only and that is change,” Biti fumed.
He further rattled Mugabe saying “Even in the Bible it is written that God created man in His own image and on the seventh day He rested. That man was Adam. But you don’t see Adam in the entire Bible from Genesis to Revelations and that is not a mistake.
“But in Zimbabwe, for 36 years there is only Robert Mugabe throughout. It is completely unacceptable. It is against the law of nature because the laws of nature demand change and Mugabe is defying the laws of nature,”
He also urged the people to resist any attempts by Mugabe to create a family dynasty.
“Our simple message to Robert Mugabe is please go now. This country does not belong to the Mugabe dynasty. Don’t think that your wife (Grace) will rule this country. Don’t think that your children will rule this country. Tajamuka,” said Biti.
Meanwhile, the former MDC-T legislature condemned the use of violence following the attack of PDP members by alleged Zanu PF hooligans on Friday in Budiriro.
The PDP members were holding a car rally ahead of the weekend rally when they were attacked.
“Only a party without ideas resorts to violence. Only a clueless person resorts to violence. We say to Zanu PF, violence will not work yesterday, it will not work today and it will not work tomorrow. Politics is not about violence but is now about ideas,” Biti concluded.
