A warning on Simba Makoni's history of failures
Zim Standard
sunday view by Benjamin Chitate
The entry of Simba Makoni into the Presidential race has created a lot
of excitement among desperate Zimbabwean intellectuals.
I can't blame them; they are desperate. Mutumwa Mawere, Trevor Ncube,
Alex Magaisa based in the UK, among many intellectuals, are ululating,
trying to influence Zimbabweans to vote for someone who has been tried,
but has never produced any convincing results.
The crisis in Zanu PF now is about (President Robert) Mugabe's
overstay in power, not about any ideological differences.Like Mugabe,
Makoni has also over-stayed his usefulness. Makoni was a minister in
Mugabe's government in 1980, 28 years ago. His stay was cut short after
he was appointed executive secretary for SADC. What did Makoni achieve
at SADC? Did he leave a happy man?
His stay as CEO of Zimpapers did not improve the company's fortunes.
He was fired after cla****ng with the Editor of The Sunday Mail one of
the newspapers under the Zimpapers' stable. But can his praise-singers
tell us what he achieved at Zimpapers?
Some have described Makoni as a wealthy businessman. What do we know
about Makoni's businesses? If you are asked who is a more successful
businessman in Zanu PF among Philip Chiyangwa and Makoni, Makoni comes
last.
Makoni may have won a lot of admiration for "his" decision to devalue
the Zimbabwean dollar.I call it "his" decision because it wasn't his
decision. Makoni is not an economist — he was simply communicating
advice given by the economists employed in the Ministry of Finance.
And what did he do? He betrayed the economists by chickening out. He
failed not only the economists, but the entire nation by being
spineless
when it mattered most.
Makoni was there when ESAP was introduced under the late Bernard
Chidzero. I can't remember whether Makoni was at SADC that time, but,
as
head of a regional institution, he was supposed to advise the
government
against Economic Strustureal Adjustment Programme (ESAP).
Among people who advised against ESAP was none other than Morgan
Tsvangirai. I am not bootlicking here. All in doubt must read "Beyond
Esap", a book published by the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions
(ZCTU).
We never heard Makoni speak a word against ESAP.
I couldn't control my laughter when I read him being quoted as
saying.
"My security is in my people." Now, like Grace Mugabe, Makoni owns
people? Or was he misquoted? Let me try to list some of Tsvangirai's
achievements.
He galvanized the ZCTU into a modern, vibrant labour organization.
Most of you may be mistaken that the ZCTU was only popular for street
protests. I have already referred to Tsvangirai's position on ESAP.
Through his hard work, the ZCTU established what at some point became
the regional resource centre for labour issues.
The first librarian to run the ZCTU library was the late Nomore
Sibanda,
who was later joined by another lady whose name I cannot remember.
Several other librarians joined the team later. This demonstrates
Tsvangirai's vision for information as a tool for decision-making.
Because of his leader****p abilities, Tsvangirai was elected as
chairperson for the National Constitutional Assembly, where he led a
team of enthusiastic academics, trade unionists, students, workers —
defeating Mugabe in the constitutional vote of 2000.
An avid reader, Tsvangirai qualified for a post-graduate diploma in
Governance at the Harvard University. He is one of a few Zimbabwean
politicians holding such a qualification.
It must be against this background that I hear civic society in
Zimbabwe
seems to be distancing itself from Makoni.
He must realise that Zimbabwe lacks chemical engineers with a vision,
and should use that to revive Zimbabwe's chemical industry in a country
ruled by one with a qualification in Governance.
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