10th January 2008
Dear Friends,
There can be no strong economy without democracy
Since being elected by you in June 2000 if I have had one consistent message it has been that we will not restore and develop Zimbabwe’s economy unless we turn Zimbabwe into a genuinely democratic state. Indeed I have been saying this ever since I returned to Zimbabwe from University in 1983. As far back as May 1991 – 17 years ago! – I gave a speech in Bulawayo (which was then published in the Financial Gazette) in which I said:
“Economic liberalization and political protectionism are incompatible.
It goes without saying that trade liberalization and structural adjustment cannot work in a vacuum. The experience of the world is that genuine democracies have the strongest economies. Economic liberalization will not work in Zimbabwe unless Government abandons its policy of political protectionism. I need to stress that I am not saying that economic liberalization will not work in Zimbabwe. I am simply saying that unless Government is encouraged to bring about genuine democracy in Zimbabwe and liberalize the political environment the long-term economic outlook for Zimbabwe will be bleak… Without the free flow of information even if controls in the economy are relaxed corruption will continue to flourish. Corruption can only be stifled if there is a free flow of information, through ongoing investigative reporting which exposes corruption. I believe that corruption is an epidemic which if allowed to continue will undermine the entire economy and it is therefore imperative, if trade liberalization is to work, that it be brought under control… The history of Africa and other developing countries shows that undemocratic Governments are inevitably followed by increased corruption, increased inflation and eventual economic decline. The only people who flourish are the Government Ministers, the externally based shareholders of multi-nationals and the privileged few Chief Executives of locally based companies who have managed to illegally obtain foreign currency. Because of this I believe that if we are genuinely interested in a future in Zimbabwe and a sound economic outlook we need to take a serious long term view and consider what we as business people can do to ensure that economic liberalization is accompanied by political liberalization… I believe that unless these points are seriously considered … a bright economic future in Zimbabwe will at the least be severely retarded if not reversed completely.â€
Tragically that warning went unheeded by the Government, and even business, and today we all suffer the consequences of living in the world’s fastest collapsing economy. Zanu PF blame the economic collapse on so called sanctions and drought (presumably now with all this rain they will blame it on floods!) but the fact of the matter is that Zimbabwe has got into this pitiful state because our nation lacks, and has always lacked, one critical ingredient, namely democracy. Building a strong nation is rather like baking bread. It doesn’t matter how good all the other ingredients in dough are; if one tries to bake bread without yeast the bread will be terrible…it simply won’t rise. Democracy, which includes listening and respecting people, fighting corruption, having laws that apply to everyone and giving the people a fair chance of selecting who they want to lead them, is like yeast – it doesn’t matter how good a nation’s ingredients are – how educated a nation’s people are, how much gold a country has, how much fertile land a state has; if a country is not democratic it will never prosper in the long term.
This truth is now clear to us all. Zanu PF has been promising for years that there will be an economic “turn around†and yet the opposite has happened. The truth is that there will never be any turn around, never mind long term sustainable economic growth, until there is a deep rooted commitment to installing democracy to Zimbabwe. That includes allowing independent newspapers to operate, allowing all points of view to be aired on our radio and TV stations, allowing the police and judges to enforce the law against all, irrespective of their positions in society, and allowing all people to hold whatever political views they have without fear of arrest and detention. Likewise businessmen and women should be able to operate without fearing that they will be arrested for selling a product at a price which some government official dislikes. The law should rather be used against those who have corruptly become so obscenely rich on the backs of millions of hard working Zimbabweans.
It is shameful that Francistown, which used to be Bulawayo’s country cousin, now has an economy much bigger than ours. It is shameful that Bulawegans have to travel there to buy basic necessities which are not available in our own shops. But the reason why that has happened in the last 30 years is because Botswana has been democratic since independence whereas Zimbabwe has never experienced true democracy.
But we must not just moan about our fate. It is within our own power to do something about this catastrophic state we find ourselves in. There are many of us who know what is needed to be done to restore our pride in Zimbabwe. All you have to do is to help us by not giving up, by registering to vote and then when elections are called to go and vote for those not responsible for getting our country into the mess it is in today.
Projects
In the midst of all the suffering brought about by Zanu PF’s chaotic policies I have done what I can as your MP to alleviate the situation so many of you my constituents find yourselves in. As I have mentioned in previous newsletters I have raised a fund to assist the most vulnerable people in Bulawayo South and I am pleased to report that most of the projects initiated in the last few years are working well.
Farming Projects
In December 2006 the farming project situated at the corner of Nketa Dive and Guqula Road in Nketa, jointly run by the Bulawayo South Development Trust and Loving Hand Orphanage was officially opened by Deputy President of the MDC the Hon. Gibson Sibanda MP. The project has employed “Farming God’s Way†techniques and operates using a highly sophisticated irrigation scheme. The project has been successful and has supplied tonnes of vegetables and mealies to the Nketa and Emgwanin residents in the course of the last year. At the same time 10% of the gross proceeds have gone to Loving Hand Orphanage.
Discussing the crop with the Head of the project Mr Mbambo and a Farming God’s Way agricultural advisor Mr Norton in January 2007
I am pleased to report that in the past year I have managed to obtain further funding and we have now established phase 2 of the project (almost doubling the size of the irrigated lands). This phase will be run solely for the benefit of Loving hand Orphanage. It will have its own kiosk separate from the kiosk which has been opened on Nketa Drive. Crops were planted in November and the first crop has been reaped. It will be officially opened shortly.
This year I have started working with the old age pensioners who work the Vundla Farming project next to Nkulumane Secondary School. Funds have been raised to reconstruct the fence around the project, which will shortly be installed and some food has been secured for the old age pensioners. During 2007 vegetable seeds have been purchased and supplied to the Vundla project and other small scale cropping projects in the constituency.
Hand over of food to Vundla garden old age pensioners August 2007
Cricket nets
In my last letter I advised that I had secured funds for an additional cricket net to be built in Emgwanin. That project has been delayed through the shortage of cement but cement has now been secured and construction of the same is underway again. Funds have been obtained to construct a further net in Nketa 9.
Thanks to the generous donation by a visiting international cricket team I have secured further cricket equipment which is gradually being distributed to up and coming cricket teams in the constituency. In December 2007 the newly established Emgwanin cricket team defeated a visiting team in a fiercely contested game held on a bare earth wicket in Emgwanin!
Computers
Another generous donor has supplied computers for distribution in schools in the constituency. To date computers have been handed over to Emgwanin Secondary, Founders High, Hamilton High and Nkulumane Secondary.
Computer handover ceremony at Founders High School October 2007
Relief Fund
Through the ongoing generosity of two friends who attended the same school as me I have continued the relief fund I mentioned in my last newsletter. During 2007 we assisted disadvantaged people by paying school fees, medical expenses, burial expenses and the like. With the collapse of the economy the fund is more necessary than ever.
Parliament/SADC mediation
Parliament has been dominated by the Mbeki/SADC mediation talks which culminated at the end of the year with wide ranging amendments being made to the Electoral Law, POSA, and AIPPA
The recent passage of Constitutional Amendment 18 and these other amendments, with the consent of both Zanu PF and the MDC, has caused much alarm and confusion within Zimbabwean civil society and even amongst MDC supporters. Some have gone so far as saying that the opposition has sold out. Others think that the opposition has made a serious error of judgment and has compromised not only principle but political advantage. This arises from a perception that, for example, Amendment 18 only helps Zanu PF and that there is no benefit for those struggling to bring democracy to Zimbabwe
Whilst I think we in the opposition did ourselves and our colleagues in civil society a disservice by proceeding with haste in passing the amendments, and by failing to explain our actions sufficiently to our colleagues, I do not think our consent per se was a mistake. There is no doubt that the process used to pass the amendments was flawed. But had we been able to consult widely and argue our case with our civic partners I am sure they would have agreed that we should consent. Accordingly, save for the one reservation about the flawed process, I think history will show that it was the right thing to pass the amendments. I have written in detail why I believe this to be so in an article entitled “The Gorbachev Factor†which has been distributed in the constituency. If you have not read it and have access to the internet you can read it at my web site www.davidcoltart.com.
However perhaps the main fear about the amendments is that they are part of a process which will allow Zanu PF to wriggle out of the hole it has dug for itself. People fear that we may in the next few months witness a much fairer legislative environment without genuinely free and fair electoral conditions being created. We can already see, for example, that although our media legislation has been amended, which in theory should allow independent papers to operate freely, in practise the laws have not been implemented soon enough to enable an independent paper such as the Daily News to start publishing prior to the elections.
In the short term these are valid concerns. There is a real danger that the Mbeki mediation process will result in all the form of a free and fair electoral environment being created without any substance. The mere passage of new laws does not in itself create a democratic environment conducive for the holding of free and fair elections. It takes time for constitutional and legislative amendments to take root and change the way we conduct our politics in Zimbabwe. 27 years of oppression has created a certain mindset within the Zimbabwean electorate. It will take time to liberate the minds of Zimbabweans. The concern of many is that if elections are held too soon Zanu PF will be able to claim legitimacy through a process which has a democratic façade but which in reality does not allow for a genuinely free expression of the informed will of the electorate
These are issues which have not yet been resolved in the Mbeki mediation process and which are still being debated as I write. We in the MDC say that there must be a new democratic constitution in place and sufficient time for its provisions to be implemented before an election is held. Zanu PF appears to be determined to push ahead with a March election without any opportunity for these new laws to have any meaningful effect on the electoral environment. And so at present we are at loggerheads over this issue.
MDC
As many of you are aware I was appointed to be part of the mediation team established in August 2006 by the Mutambara formation of the MDC to negotiate with our brothers and sisters in the Tsvangirai formation of the MDC. In this capacity I have attended numerous meetings in an attempt to create a united opposition to fight the election. In April 2007 the two negotiating teams reached agreement regarding the setting up of a coalition of the two formations which would ensure that a single opposition MDC candidate would be agreed to fight each contest in the Presidential, Parliamentary and Local Government elections. Although that agreement has been accepted by the National Council of the Mutambara formation of the MDC it has not yet been accepted by our colleagues in the Tsvangirai formation. We are doing all in our power to reach agreement and I remain confident that agreement will be reached shortly. What is very clear in my mind is that the opposition cannot afford the luxury of being divided at this critical juncture in our nation’s history.
General
It remains very difficult for me to communicate with you. The police continue to ban meetings I try to set up – the most recent meeting scheduled in Ward 5 for the 17th of December 2007 was banned because the police were not prepared to allow us to meet at the normal time of 5.30 to 7.30. We are of course denied access to the ZBC and the Chronicle never reports on our activities as MPs for Bulawayo. I am sure that many of you will be surprised to read of the many projects I am engaged in, not one of which has ever been reported on by the Chronicle! This strategy is of course deliberate – it is designed to cut us off from our constituents and to give the impression that we as opposition MPs have done nothing for the people who have elected us.
I hope that through this newsletter you will have caught a glimpse of what I and my colleagues have been doing. Space of course does not permit me to write everything that we in the opposition have been doing to alleviate the suffering of Zimbabweans. We have however been working as hard as we can in very difficult circumstances, and will continue to do so, to bring a new dawn of peace, freedom and prosperity to Zimbabwe. If there is anything you would like to communicate to me you can telephone me or write to me at my Constituency office which is located at Nketa 6 Housing Office. Those of you who have access to the internet can write to me through my web site.
I am of the firm belief that the long night of tyranny suffered by Zimbabweans is about to end. Thomas Jefferson, the great American statesman, speaking about the iniquity of slavery in 1781 said “Indeed I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just, and that his justice cannot sleep foreverâ€. God is indeed just and His character has not changed at all since 1781. He abhors what is going on in Zimbabwe and I wait with great expectation to see how He moves to restore justice to Zimbabwe.
In the interim our role is to work hard and to remain committed to certain fundamental principles such as non violence and democracy. In any event we must never give up. History shows that tyrannies have done enormous damage to nations through the ages. But history also shows that these tyrannical regimes always end and often quicker than anyone dares hope for. Zimbabwe will not be an exception.
Thank you all for your ongoing support.
Yours sincerely,
The Hon. David Coltart MP