Zimbabwe Independent

11th December 2015

ZIMBABWEANS must be casting envious glances at Tanzania where, like a breath of fresh air, President John Magufuli has broken from the African leader mould to win the hearts of many on the continent and beyond.

The hashtag #WhatWouldMagufuliDo has been trending on Twitter.

Hitting the ground running after a low-profile inauguration — on his insistence — last November, Magufuli has shown that he is prepared to roll his sleeves high up and get his hands dirty in an effort to usher a new era of hands-on and progressive leadership.

This has seen him tackle issues head-on from day one through strategies that include the unconventional, as he thinks outside the box to improve the living standards of one of the poorest countries in the world where economic gains have failed to trickle down to the majority.

This has seen him introduce a swathe of austerity cuts and crackdowns on public corruption, as he battles profligacy, graft and inefficiency — Zimbabwe’s nemeses.

Among his interventions has been cutting the budget for celebrating his inauguration and opening of parliament from US$100 000 US$7 000 so that the difference goes towards health delivery; banning public officials from unnecessary foreign travel; cancelling Independence day celebrations and instead ordering a clean-up campaign, which he led, to fight the spread of cholera.

Some of these actions would be unimaginable in Zimbabwe, where Mugabe is a not-so-hands-on leader who cuts an aloof figure. He spent much of the year on costly foreign junkets, accompanied by bloated delegations at an unsustainable cost to a bankrupt Treasury.

Certainly, the political elite that revels in a life of entitlement mostly due to liberation war credentials while the majority wallow in poverty, would be apoplectic at such measures. Of course, the likes of Elton Mangoma, David Coltart and Kwekwe mayor Matenda Madzoke are notable exceptions as they have resisted the trappings of public office.

Magufuli looks set to transform Tanzania much in the same way leadership in the likes of Rwanda, Ghana, the Ivory Coast and neighbouring Botswana and Mozambique, has lent credence to the Africa Rising narrative.

Yet in poverty-stricken Zimbabwe we had over US$1,2 million splurged on Mugabe’s birthday bash, with eight cakes baked for the function and many beasts killed. There will be similar festivities for about 4 500 delegates at the US$3 million Zanu PF conference — read talk fest — starting today, under the patently deceitful theme “Consolidating People’s Power Through ZimAsset”.

After the orgy of food and drink, sloganeering, solidarity messages, singing and dancing, and Mugabe deification, the majority of party cadres will return to the real world of joblessness and the daily grind of ekeing out a living in an imploding economy, while Mugabe and his ministers live large.

The chefs will return to a surreal world of mansions and ostentatious government vehicles that are the envy of even CEOs in the private sector.

Daily News

By Jeffrey Muvundusi

13th December 2015

Missing human rights activist Itai Dzamara was voted the Overall Human Rights Defender of the Year during the Zimbabwe Human Rights Association (Zimrights) annual awards ceremony held at a local hotel in Bulawayo on Friday.

Dzamara was allegedly abducted by suspected State agents in March this year and his whereabouts are not yet known. Opposition political parties, civil society and individuals have to no avail pressured the government to take action on the activist’s disappearance.

On Friday, a sombre atmosphere engulfed the auditorium when Dzamara was announced the winner ahead of former deputy Prime Minister Thokozani Khupe and Rashid Mahiya.
His brother Paddy Dzamara received the award which had a holiday voucher on Itai’s behalf.

“We are not giving up, we are still hopeful that those who abducted him will release him,” Paddy said.

“We are not wavering on that and we hold government responsible for Itai’s disappearance. We need to condemn that because if it happened to him then it can happen to you as well,” he said.

Harare West MP Jessie Majome was the toast of the day after she bagged two crucial awards. Majome won the People’s Choice award and was also voted the Outstanding Female Human Rights Defender of the Year.

In the People’s Choice award category, Majome was battling it out with Itai, David Coltart and Hope Sadza.

Coltart won the male education activist award of the year for 2015.

Terry Mutsvanga, who last year won the Male Journalist Human Rights Defender of the Year award through his touching documentary on people that were affected by floods in Chingwizi, Masvingo, scooped the same award this year.

Deputy chief justice Luke Malaba, who was the guest of honour at the event urged the government to prioritise human rights issues.

Radio VOP

9th December 2015

HARARE,- PRESIDENT Robert Mugabe’s administration has failed to pay lecturers and other support staff at state universities for the past five months in what analysts say is a firm confirmation the Zanu PF government is insensitive to the plight of its public workers at a time Zanu PF has budgeted at least $3 million for its annual talk-shop presently going on in Victoria Falls.

The Zanu PF 15th annual conference opened on Monday until Sunday next week where nearly 7 000 cherry-picked delegates are expected to be feted, eating and sinking their teeth to the choicest of meats.

Expensive wines and whiskies, among other “eats” usually associated with the opulent lifestyle of its leadership, are part of the menu and so is beer for the party faithful.

Several cows, sheep, goats, wildlife and chickens have been donated for the week-long political jamboree as bootlickers fall over each other to appease Mugabe and his inner circle of the ruling party.

But critics note that while Zanu PF feasts, public workers at the state universities are wallowing in poverty due to non-payment of their monthly salaries.

Information at hand indicates lecturers and support staff at the country’s 13 university, including the former prestigious and oldest University of Zimbabwe, were last paid half salaries in August this year amid growing discontent among staff. They have not been paid for September, October, November and December, with Christmas less than two weeks away.

In an attempt to placate livid lecturers in the midst of marking end of year examinations, Jonathan Moyo, the minister of Higher and Tertiary Education, Science and Development, said in a statement Wednesday said his ministry has engaged the Finance and Economic Development ministry in desperate attempts to address the issue “as failure to pay university staff threatens Zim-Asset success.”

But critics point out at the lavish Zanu PF annual chin-gig at the hot resort town of Victoria Falls as a clear sign Mugabe’s party and administration has its priorities upside down. Instead of channelling the funds towards paying the university lecturers, Mugabe and Zanu PF, are content with winning and dinning while public workers at state universities faced a bleak festive season.

Ironically, Moyo and coterie of Mugabe’s cabinet ministers are enrolled at the University of Zimbabwe where they are doing law degrees.

“The government is well-nigh broke,” former sports and education minister, David Coltart told Radio VOP. “Hang in there for a rollercoaster.”

Maxwell Saungweme, a development analyst, said while there is no doubt that non-payment of salaries demoralises staff it would have the adverse effect of compromising the quality of education they provide.

“That they (Mugabe administration) hold a conference when the lecturers are not paid is a clear manifestation of how Zanu PF priorities are misplaced just as the misplaced as priorities of the government,” said Saungweme.

The government has also fired to pay civil servants their bonuses as promised by Mugabe in February this year amid revelations 80 % percent of the budget is gobbled by salaries at the expense of service delivery.

Soldiers were due to be the first batch of public servants to get their bonuses in November but they are still waiting as the government battles low revenue collections and a dip in pay as your earn due to job losses in the private sector.

“They focus on such issues as conferences bent to deal with issues of their party’s power matrix and they don’t focus on service delivery. They have money but can’t put it on service delivery and paying staff such as lecturers providing an important service education,”added Saungweme.

Jacob Mafume, the spokesperson for Tendai Biti’s People’s Democratic Party (PDP), said the Zanu PF government was heartless as it prefers wining and dining while the generality of the population is estimated to be surviving with less than $2 a day.

“When we grew up government was this big thing with answers to the people’s problems but now the government is a poor caricature of what it should be. It is a pale ghost drowning in the chaos brought by Mugabe and his family.

“The incompetence of Zanu PF has become an art form -no one celebrates emptiness and futility quite like Zanu PF. Their conference will be historic in its non-achievement of addressing people’s issues. It is just a holiday jig for them to enjoy the fruits of uselessness,” said Mafume.

“They have missed the point as government by a wide margin. They will rather spend government money on Zanu PF conferences and themselves than the citizens of Zimbabwe. After this meeting they will be planning another, the voter has to wise up and realise that nothing good can come of the house that Mugabe has built. It is a long period of lamentations for the people of Zimbabwe .they are not even planning to buy food in the wake of the up-coming drought.”

More than two million people, mostly in rural areas are reportedly in urgent need of food relief due to serious food shortages blamed on poor rains.

Obert Gutu, the MDC-T spokesperson, added his party’s voice on the Zanu PF prioritisation of its annual conference instead of dealing with the outstanding issue of people’s daily toils such as failure to pay salaries of public workers.

“The Zanu PF annual conference in Victoria Falls this week as usual is an occasion to feast, drink and dance. It’s just another jamboree of obscene extravagance for the ruling elite amidst a sea of grinding poverty for the majority of Zimbabweans,” said Gutu.

“The economy will continue to implode in the coming year because the Zanu PF regime is utterly clueless regarding what precisely should be done to arrest the economic haemorrhage. Zanu PF is now irreparably damaged because of endless and mindless factionalism. That party now belongs to the archives of history; it is yesterday’s party. The only solution to the deepening political and socio – economic crisis in Zimbabwe is to have Zanu PF out of power. Nothing short of this will do.”

South African-based human rights activist, Thamsanqa Mlilo, added his voice on the issue, saying failure to pay lecturers and support staff on time reduced them to beggars.

“It can’t be a norm. This is very abnormal and unacceptable. Job security without financial reward amounts to slavery. It is in the best interest of the country to handsomely and consistently pay lecturers timeously. Let us protect the dignity and stature of our hard working professionals lest they become laughing stock of the society. The Minister must do something now to avert mass exodus which will greatly compromise quality of Zimbabwe education. This is not the time for “vanity” conferences or prestigious events. Such things are in bad taste and insensitive,” said Mlilo.

News 24

7th December 2015

Harare – Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe has praised China, saying the Asian country has done more for Africa than its former colonisers.

Speaking during the Forum on China-Africa Co-operation (FOCAC) in Johannesburg on Friday, Mugabe, who is also the current chairperson of the African Union (AU), blasted as distorted claims that China is a neo-colonialist that is draining Africa of its natural resources.

“Once again our detractors have sought to portray and reduce our relations to purely commercial ties driven, as they say, by China’s appetite for and desire to extract raw materials from our continent. That’s what they say.

“On contrary, reality fortunately does not conform to such distorted, imaginative creations. Our relations go much deeper than the extraction of resources. We are committed to strengthening the current and multi-facetted and multi-dimensional relations between African countries and China.

Reports indicated that China was a shrewd investor and that its investment focus in Africa was guided by resource exploitation opportunities.

China’s president Xi Jinping was in Zimbabwe last week where he signed 10 investment deals and pledged to continue co-operating with the investment-hungry southern African country as it attempts to reverse a prolonged economic meltdown, according to Fin24.

Jinping signed deals worth more than $4 billion with Harare, according to state media.

The state-run Herald newspaper said the deals, which include the building of a new parliament building outside Harare and the expansion of Hwange power station, would “usher in a new era of technical and economic co-operation between the two countries”.

Zimbabwe has over the years been shunned by most international investors for uncertainly of property rights. The country has looked to China for investment in key infrastructure projects such as power, telecommunications and construction.

Mugabe on Friday said Jinping was a “God-sent person”.

Second colonisation

“Here is a man representing a country once called poor, a country which was never our coloniser. He is doing to us what we expected those who colonised us yesterday to do… We will say he is a God-sent person.”

Back home, however, Mugabe’s rivals criticised China’s investment in Zimbabwe, saying it was akin to second colonisation.

Former finance minister, Tendai Biti, who also leads the opposition Progressive Democratic Party (PDP), said Jinping’s visit was not different from the 1890’s Pioneer Column’s invasion of Zimbabwe, New Zimbabwe.com reported.

The visit by “Chinese President Xi Jinping and other Chinese top leaders is no different from Cecil John Rhodes-led Pioneer column which effected the colonisation of our country and put it through almost 100 years of bondage,” Biti was quoted as saying.

Another senior opposition official, former education minister David Coltart of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), criticised the so called mega-deals signed between China and Zimbabwe, saying they will “employ very few Zimbabweans and involve very few companies”, reported News24.

Writing on Twitter , Coltart said: “We desperately need construction deals which will involve our architects, our engineers, our builders, our workers, our companies not Chinese.”

News24

3rd December 2015

Harare – So-called mega-deals signed between China and Zimbabwe this week will “employ very few Zimbabweans and involve very few companies,” a senior opposition official has warned.

Writing on Twitter, former education minister David Coltart of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) said: “We desperately need construction deals which will involve our architects, our engineers, our builders, our workers, our companies not Chinese.”

In a visit heralded with much excitement by Zimbabwean state media, Chinese leader Xi Jinping visited the country for just over 24 hours before flying to South Africa on Wednesday. It was the first visit of a Chinese head of state to the southern African country in 19 years.

During his brief stopover in Harare, Xi’s delegation, which included government and business officials reportedly signed 12 deals with President Robert Mugabe, including a loan worth more than $1bn to refurbish the Hwange Power Station.

The state-run Herald newspaper said on Wednesday that the deals, which include the building of a new parliament building outside Harare, would “usher in a new era of technical and economic cooperation between the two countries”.

Teetering on the brink of economic crisis, Zimbabwe desperately needs foreign help, and Mugabe’s government appeared keen to portray the Chinese visit as, in part at least, the turnaround the country has been waiting for.

Coltart’s note of caution was echoed by others on social media, with Twitter user Suzgo Chingati saying: “The problem with Chinese loans [is that] such terms and conditions are not negotiable [and] they bring their own manpower and 50% of materials.”

Journalist Zenzele Ndebele wrote: “My question is how many years will it take to have these deals implemented?”

However, Harare-based blogger Ranga Mberi said Zimbabweans should rethink their views on China. “Some of our people still think, that it’s not ‘investment’ if it’s not from Europe or Washington.

“China is just doing what China does; putting its wares on the table. What we get depends on what we bring to the table, and how well we bargain.”

The finer points of Zimbabwe’s side of the agreements haven’t been made public. But independent business news wire, The Source, said most of the loan for the power station will be repaid at an interest rate of just 2%.

Shunned by the West over its poor human rights and democratic record since 2000, Mugabe’s government has been pursuing a “Look East” policy since 2000 to try to lure much-needed foreign capital.

Eyewitness News

2nd December 2015

HARARE – Zimbabweans have been reacting to news of 12 deals signed between President Robert Mugabe’s government and a delegation led by Chinese President Xi Jinping.

The Chinese leader touched down in Zimbabwe yesterday on a visit many hope will be a major boost for the country’s economy.

An editorial in today’s main state-run Herald newspaper says a new era of economic co-operation between Harare and Beijing has been ushered in.

The most significant deal signed at State House yesterday was a loan of around $1,2 billion for the desperately-needed refurbishment of the Hwange Power Station, in the west of the country.

Another deal is for the construction of a new Parliament building outside Harare.

But Some Zimbabweans are sceptical.

Opposition official David Coltart says these deals are likely to employ few Zimbabweans and involve few local companies.

RadioVOP Zimbabwe

18th November 2015

HARARE, November 18, 2015 – PRESIDENT Robert Mugabe is on Friday and Saturday expected to cap thousands of graduates at Bindura and Midlands’ state universities as more and more learned youths join the ranks of unemployment amid fears of increased company closures and job losses next year due to the comatose economy.

The months of October and November have in fact been hectic for Mugabe (91) as has officiated at more than six state universities and other state-run institutions of higher learning, capping graduates.
Last week Friday he was in at the National University of Science and Technology in Bulawayo while the previous week he officiated at the Harare Institute of Technology after having dealt with the University of Zimbabwe earlier.
Information obtained by Radio VOP indicated the Zanu PF leader, who to his credit holds more than seven degrees and is an advocate of education, has been pencilled to cap graduates on Friday at Bindura University of Science Education before proceeding to do the honours at the Midlands State University in Gweru on Saturday.

The following week he is due to perform the same rituals at Lupane State University in Matabeleland North, among other pending graduations.

But critics say the new graduates are destined to swell the ranks of unemployment, probably as vendors of airtime and other products peddled in the streets, in a country where unemployment is estimated at over 90%. The critics are adamant Mugabe’s much-hyped Zim-Asset, the Zanu-PF economic blue-print taunted as the panacea to Zimbabwe’s economic problems, has failed to create any jobs.

Under Zim-Asset, Zanu PF envisaged creating more than 2 million jobs by 2018 but the critics say it is impossible citing policy inconsistencies in government, the economic melt-down, corruption and the resurgence of political violence ahead of the next general elections.

More than 20 000 workers were retrenched since the July 17 Constitutional Court ruling which allowed employers to terminate contracts of workers after three months’ notice.

The government then rail-roaded amendments to the Labour Act, which among other things, directs employers to pay the retrenched workers two weeks’ salary for every year served but the employers have appealed against the amendment, arguing companies have no money to pay retrenchees due to the harsh economic environment.

But questions abound where jobs would come from for the new university graduates at a time companies are operating at less than 30% capacity and battling to finance operations amid a renewed economic melt-down.

Former education minister, David Coltart told VOP that the fundamental problem with Zimbabwe’s education sector for more than 2 decades is that the entire system is lopsided in favour of academics. “We have produced hundreds of thousands of graduates with excellent academic qualifications with very few jobs to accommodate them. Nothing much has changed and so the future in the short term for most of these graduates is bleak, with little prospect of employment for most,” said Coltart.

“Until there is a radical change in government policies that situation won’t change; and even when the policy changes are made it is going to take about a decade for the full benefits of the change to be realised. Sadly neither Mugabe not ZANU PF generally has a solution to the crisis because they are locked in the past and do not have the capacity to mobilise the massive international funding required transforming our education sector,” he added.

Promise Mkhwananzi, the director of Zimbabwe Informal Sector Organisation (Ziso), charged that the only solution Mugabe has for Zimbabwe is to step down. “As Ziso we are receiving jobless graduates every day in the informal sector which in itself is not only already saturated but barely able to provide the basic needs of the players in the sector due to government’s warped policies and ignorant approaches and attitudes towards the informal sector,” said Mkhwananzi, a former student leader.

Makomborero Haruzivishe, an executive member of the Zimbabwe National Students Union, concurred, saying there is no future to speak of for these new graduates.
“There is a clear dereliction of duty and responsibility by Mugabe on the issue of providing living opportunities for these graduates. Employment is an empowerment process that involves individual discovery and change. Millions of youth are denied these opportunities. As such the only solution Robert Mugabe has is to step down and give way to socio economic transformation,” he said.

Blessing Vava, a political analyst and former student activist, agrees the future looks bleak for the thousands of graduates being churned out from institutions of higher learning.
“There is no job market to consume them and this is mainly caused by the economic decay, which in fact had caused unemployment levels to rise. Most of the graduates will find themselves in the streets. Mugabe has failed this country, he has destroyed hope especially for the young people,” said Vava.

“The young people no longer have any ambitions to pursue their dreams, when we were growing up we would say I want to be a doctor, a pilot. Nowadays those ambitions and wishes are gone.”

RadioVOP Zimbabwe

By Sij Ncube

HARARE, November 16, 2015 – DIE-HARD white former Rhodesians domiciled elsewhere in the world nostalgically marked the 50th anniversary of Ian Smith’s UDI Wednesday last week much to the chagrin of Robert Mugabe’s administration but former Rhodesians still domiciled in the country agree old Smithy “did a silly thing”.

Most Rhodies, as the former Rhodesians under Smith are known, took the gap soon after Mugabe assumed the reigns at in 1980, finding sanctuary in far flung places such as Australia, New Zealand and Britain, Zimbabwe’s former colonial master.

Last week some of them lined up events to commemorate Smith’s UDI as they remember the “good old days under Dear Old Smithy and his Super Rhodesia, raising anger within Mugabe’s Zanu PF who view some whites Zimbabweans of being unrepentant 35 years into independent.

But the few former white who lived and served under Smith’s UDI but stayed on to live under Mugabe’s controversial rule, took note of the 50th anniversary in Zimbabwe albeit without any fun-fare.
However, the few whites still domiciled in Zimbabwe say they have embraced Mugabe’s rule and are in agreement UDI was fundamentally flawed when Smith unilaterally declared it in 1965.

David Coltart, a celebrated human rights lawyer who served as a policeman under UDI and is also a former cabinet minister under Mugabe during Zimbabwe’s ill-fated government of national unity, is presently writing a book chronicling life under Smith’s UDI.

Coltart, considered a fiery critic of Mugabe’s rule since independence, hopes to publish the book early next year.

“Despite the worries of people like my parents and last minute efforts of the British Government to dissuade them, the RF (Rhodesia Front) continued with its helter-skelter policy to declare independence. Somewhat disingenuously at 11am on November 11 1965, Armistice Day, during the traditional two minutes silence to remember the fallen in the two World Wars, the Rhodesian Cabinet gathered around Smith as he signed the Declaration of Independence. The declaration itself and the ceremony was modelled on the American declaration but omitted two keys phrases, that “all men are created equal” and the “consent of the governed”.
“The timing was made to emphasise the sacrifices that Rhodesians had made for Britain. Attached to the declaration was an amended version of the 1961 Constitution severing all ties to Whitehall and creating a separate Rhodesian monarchy (making Elizabeth II “Queen of Rhodesia”, a title which she was never well disposed to take up).

“As was his custom, my Father came home for lunch that Thursday. The Rhodesian Broadcasting Coporation had announced that the Prime Minister would be addressing the Nation at 1.15pm. After a quick lunch we moved to my Father’s study to listen to the radio. I sat on my father’s lap with my Mother alongside. Smith announced what he and the Cabinet had done in his clipped Rhodesian accent. My Father shook his head throughout the broadcast and at the end turned to me and said in his lilting Scottish accent “Oh Davie boy – Mr Smith has done a very silly thing”, reads part of an extra from Coltart’s forthcoming book.

John Robertson, a respected Harare-based economist and economic commentator who also lived and served under UDI, says the UDI made life tough for the country as it dependent heavily from outsider assistance.
“Our Declaration of Independence made us anything but independent. We soon became totally dependent on South Africa and Portugal and on just South Africa after 1975. The claim that UDI spurred Rhodesia’s industrialization ignores the large industrial foundation that was built even before the Federation started,” said Robertson.

“The country has never recovered from those 15 years of isolation, despite the many remarkable successes of people who loved the country, even though a high proportion of them were very critical of the RF government.”
But Mugabe’s supporters are adamant there are unrepentant whites outside Zimbabwe who still cherish UDI 50 years later after the Zanu PF leader instituted land reform.

Mugabe’s controversial land reform has largely been perceived by the outside world as reverse racism after he seized farms for redistribution to landless blacks. But seizures of white held farms appear to be escalating ahead of the 2018 polls. For instance, in Matabeleland South, poplar farmer David Connolly is desperately fighting the take-over of his farm in Figtree by Mugabe’s aide Ray Ndhlukula, the deputy chief secretary of cabinet and President’s Office.
Despite several court rulings, Ndhlukula has refused to leave the farm, giving credence to assertions Mugabe wants to flash out of Zimbabwe the few remaining white former Rhodesians.

Giving his perceptive published on an Australian website rhodesia.com.au last Wednesday to mark the 50th anniversary of UDI, Mark Dale, a reservist who had a modesty experience in the bush war in former Rhodesia, attributed Zimbabwe’s present political and economic quagmire squarely on Mugabe leadership.

“Rather than make the effort of running the complex modern economy and efficient infrastructure that Mugabe inherited, “he (Mugabe) preferred to become a paramount tribal thug similar to many of the tyrants found elsewhere in Africa. He ran a kleptocracy based on patronage. The web that held the hierarchy together was corruption. Corruption is essential so that the leader has a hold over his cronies,” wrote Dale.
“Mugabe sent his infamous North Korean brigade to the west of the country to slaughter thousands of Ndebele. He sent the national army to the Congo in search of loot. Meanwhile at home the country spiralled into impoverishment. He printed money that led to inflation that surpassed even that of the German Weimar republic.”

Dale notes that a significant proportion of the population is now outside the country seeking work and “an existence at least marginally better than poverty and hopelessness at home.”
“There is always enough for the favoured few at the top of the dung heap. Mugabe and his Close cronies have enjoyed lavish lifestyles for decades. Intriguingly Mugabe, now 90 years old, looks and sounds little different from the Mugabe I left behind 35 years ago. He is a little bulkier round the middle but I put that down to a bullet proof vest under his stylish suit. If I believed in the supernatural I would say he had sold his soul to the devil.”

Sunday News

15th November 2015

FORMER Education, Sport, Arts and Culture Minister David Coltart recently came under heavy attack from Zimbabwe Cricket after he had taken to Twitter and Facebook lambasting the Zimbabwe Cricket leadership led by Tavengwa Mukuhlani while glorifying former head of ZC Wilson Manase.

Sunday News senior sports reporter Mehluli Sibanda (MS) spoke to Coltart (DC) based on the statement released by ZC. Below are excerpts of the interview.

MS: Wilson Manase was part of the ZC board that was led by Peter Chingoka and was vice-chairman from 2011 until he took over as interim chairman from Chingoka in July last year. How can he be dissociated from the decisions made by the previous ZC board he was part of?

DC: Manase was vice-chairman in the Chingoka board and to that extent shares responsibility for the decisions it made. However, during my time as minister I always found Manase a constructive force who tried to persuade the Chingoka board to act responsibly.

MS: Manase was once your subordinate at Legal Resources Foundation, could this be the reason why you have gone all out to glorify him on social media? Manase was outvoted for the ZC chairmanship, why don’t you seem to respect that and if he had done such a wonderful job during his time as interim chairman how come he could not even get onto the ZC board?

DC: Manase was never my subordinate in the LRF. He was director of the Harare Legal Projects Centre when I was director of the Bulawayo Legal Projects Centre. He later became national director of the mother body the Legal Resources Foundation. I have no idea how Manase lost the vote. From an objective outsiders position it seemed to me that he had done a good job in turning Zimbabwe Cricket around so I was surprised that he lost. I am afraid that the new Zimbabwe Cricket constitution can hardly be viewed as the epitome of democracy. Ever since it was changed by Chingoka’s board it has generally prevented people who enjoy the support of the players and the cricketing public from securing high office. The reality is that cricket in Zimbabwe is now controlled by a small Harare based clique who do not have the national interests of the game at heart. The fact that Bulawayo has not hosted a Test playing nation for well over a year is adequate testimony of that fact.

MS: Is there any truth in that Manase took orders from you when he took over as ZC interim chairman? Did you ever send him a lengthy e-mail with a four point plan soon after he took over from Chingoka, the action plan starting with the sacking of Stephen Mangongo as national team coach just before the World Cup?

DC: There is no truth in that allegation. Being friends we exchanged e-mails but he is his own man and at no time did I ever give orders, nor did he ever act on any other basis than what he viewed as best for cricket. I think the sacking of Mangongo was the result of the utterly disastrous tour of Bangladesh last year and growing dissension in the ranks of the players who thoroughly disliked his management style. Many national players, of all races, have confirmed that to me. Mangongo’s sacking therefore had nothing to do with any views I may have had, which in any event were informed by the sentiments expressed to me by many of the players.

MS: If you were really sincere about fighting racism in cricket, how come you were silent when former national team player Mark Vermeulen called black people apes?

DC: I was not silent when Vermeulen made his disgusting remarks. My Twitter feed is ample evidence so any allegation that I was silent is an absolute falsehood.

MS: You vigorously fought against England, Australia and New Zealand coming to Zimbabwe citing human rights abuses in the country, was denying the cricket loving public in Zimbabwe watching the top cricket playing nations in itself not a human right violation on your part?

DC: Once again this is a shameful falsehood. I have never tried to persuade any of these countries not to come to or play against Zimbabwe – in fact the record shows the complete opposite. If you read Henry Olonga’s book you will see that in 2003 I met with the English team to persuade them to fulfill their obligation and to come to Zimbabwe. Duncan Fletcher’s autobiography I think confirms that too. If you need confirmation of this stance speak to both Olonga and Flower who were present in the meeting which took place in the Cullinan Hotel in Cape Town in February 2003. When I became minister I almost singlehandedly restored cricketing ties between Zimbabwe and England, on the one hand, and Australia, New Zealand and Ireland, on the other hand. In June 2010 I travelled to Australia and New Zealand and persuaded them to restore cricketing ties with Zimbabwe which resulted in both countries touring Zimbabwe again. In August 2010 I flew to Belfast and persuaded the Irish team to tour which they did shortly after. During the same period I met with both the Scottish and English to persuade them to come but my efforts were blocked by Whitehall.

MS: You accuse the ZC board of racism in sacking Andrew Waller as national team batting coach and post glowing batting statistics for batsmen since Waller took over but have all those statistics contributed to Zimbabwe winning matches?

DC: Sadly these statistics have not contributed towards Zimbabwe winning matches because in most of our losses, since Waller started, the side has been let down by very poor bowling performances. In fact under Waller the team has scored some of its highest totals ever which its bowlers have been unable to defend – here are a few examples:
– 277 all out against South Africa in World Cup, 286/6 against the UAE in World Cup
– 289 all out against the West Indies, 326 all out against Ireland, 287 all out against India, 334/5 v Pakistan in the first ODI, – 268/7 in the second ODI while the third ODI was disrupted by rain, 251 against India in the first ODI, 304/3 in the first ODI against New Zealand.

Match winning total of 276/6 against Pakistan in September. I would argue that Zimbabwe hasn’t consistently scored better than this in a long time. But during the same period our bowling has been abysmal. It is inexplicable that Waller should be fired but the bowling coach Hondo appears to have been kept on.

MS: Do you want to be consulted by ZC when they are firing and hiring coaches?

DC: Of course not. However, I am a Zimbabwean citizen with a lifelong interest in the game and it is my right to speak out when I see the game being destroyed.

MS: Before you accuse the Mukuhlani led board of racism, are you aware of the following proposals for appointments that the same board you accuse of destroying cricket: Trevor Gripper to be on the cricket committee and he turned down the offer, Ray Price to be on the cricket committee and to be the U19 specialist bowling coach and he turned down the offer, Whitestone Primary School of Bulawayo were approached to give representation on the development committee and the offer was turned down, Ruzawi have declined to give ZC their coach for national under-13, St George’s College declined for their school to serve on the development committee, Gregory Lamb was offered the appointed U-19 batting coach post and he has taken up the position.

DC: See above. I have no idea about whether what the ZC board has told you is correct or not. If it is correct then they should make this public and also explain why they have sacked Waller. I see no evidence before me which suggest that Waller was fired on the basis of cricket. It is incumbent on ZC to explain on what cricketing grounds Waller was fired.

MS: The question that still remains unanswered is in what capacity did you send that email to Wilson Manase, were you a consultant for Manase?

DC: No I was not a consultant and did not write in any formal capacity. Manase and I have been friends and colleagues for some 30 years and he wrote asking for my opinion. If you look at the e-mail published in The Herald you will see that I was responding to his request.

MS: Does it mean any ordinary Zimbabwean can write to the chairman of the ZC board and have their views actually implemented?

DC: If any person has the 30 year friendship I had I suppose so. But what is not being stated is that Manase only implemented some of my suggestions – for example he disregarded my views regarding Makoni?

MS: Did you play a part in the tour to Pakistan as well where Manase defied the Sports and Recreation Commission and Government in embarking on such a risky tour to a civil war ravaged country?

DC: No I had no role of any sort in that decision although I supported the tour.

MS: You championed the #Bringackwilsonmanase to #Zimbabwe #cricket campaign on social media yet Manase lost an election to Tavengwa Mukuhlani so how are you going to bring back Manase to cricket and through which means?

DC: I am a citizen and it is my right to use whatever influence I have to persuade the cricketing public to support my views.

MS: If Manase was indeed the man for the job why did he lose to Mukuhlani, Manase was within while Mukuhlani was outside the ZC structures yet he lost.

DC: I have no idea but am aware that Manase was trying to deal with cricket’s murky past and powerful forces were activated to make sure he was stopped in his tracks.

MS: How come you are not as vocal on other sports which are not doing well in Zimbabwe, you are only vocal about cricket yet other sports codes are going down in this country?

DC: Cricket has always been a particular passion of mine – the only other sport I have a similar interest in is golf.

MS: The looting story that was published on ZC you have not acknowledged that it was for December 2014 when Wilson Manase was ZC interim chairman?

DC: I have always acknowledged that Manase was vice-chairman when the ICC loan scandal took place but have seen no evidence that he was personally involved. As stated before I found Manase cooperative when I was minister.