Clive Thabo Dube
THE Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC) bigwigs who have stamped their authority in Zimbabwe’s economic and political dynamics are at loggerheads for the Harare East parliamentary seat.
CCC Members of Parliament (MP) Tendai Biti and Allan Norman “Rusty” Markham are hotly battling it out for the Harare East Parliamentary Seat in the upcoming harmonized elections. Markham’s Harare North constituency was dismantled in the recently gazetted Delimitation Report.
Now the Opposition party is conflicted as to who must represent the party in the polls.
Biti, being the former Finance Minister of Zimbabwe has became what many term an ‘assert’ for the general populace and has always stood outright for the citizens both politically and economically. This makes him an ideal candidate over his competitor to represent CCC and hold a seat in the parliament, especially now that the country is in dire need of an economic miracle
Inflation in Zimbabwe, being the highest in the world, is worsening day by day, spearheaded by political ploys rather than economic traits. When Biti was the Finance Minister during Government of Unity (GU), Zimbabwe had fell deep into the hole of economic meltdown, with inflation rate reaching above 200 million percent, he came up with the multi currency system which stabilized the economy.
But, the ZANU- PF led government is no friends of its citizenry. Why? With the economic decline, the leaders continue on a spendthrift without budgets, this contributes adversely to the decline of the Zimbabwe dollar. The more this government spend, the more the local currency slides into oblivion.
Recently, helicopter ambulances were purchased without going to tender, Judges reportedly, have been given US$400 00 each, Senior Police officers are said to have been loaned US$40 000, each. Ministers and their deputies as well as Members of Parliament were also awarded various thousands of United States dollars as loans.
This has prompted the second republic’s Finance Minister to come up with various measures to try and tame the runaway inflation but he is failing dismally.
The continued use of the Zimbabwean dollar by the citizens is becoming a nightmare.
Sadly, when a nation dollarises, there’s no turning back from that.
The CCC banner is currently the favored opposition in the coming polls and by a mere chance, could the Nelson Chamisa led outfit win the Presidential run and have Biti back in his old post, he possess the means to negotiate with the the international community to rebuild the country’s economy, and resolve the fiscal problems.
On the other hand, Markham also has done well given the circumstances. Shortly after the 2017 elections, Markham took President Emmerson Mnangagwa to court and confronted the current Finance Minister Mthuli Ncube about the African Export Import Bank (Afreximbank) US$500 million loan acquired without transparency.
The cases curiously cooled off.
The two MPs are the heavy artillery in the CCC electoral tank. However putting them in one constituency will cost the yellow nation.
Both Biti and Rusty’s backgrounds foretells the nature of these two economic powerhouses that they are not afraid to hold ZANU- PF accountable of their actions and government which finds loopholes within the constitution and laws to do misdemeanors.
But as the old Nguni proverb goes ( Ilanga aliphumi elinye lingakashoni ), the two heavyweights of CCC are battling it out against themselves.
Tendai Biti, the CCC deputy leader has made headlines on social media for racially abusing Markham after he used the phrase “vasima mabvi” in reference to Markham, which is a Shona linguistic used to describe the colonialists.
The Zambian born politician again faced racism in parliament on Wednesday, this time from ZANU-PF MP Joseph Chinotimba. Clearly, the ruling party has taken notice of the tension taking shape within the Chamisa led outfit and are set to exploit that.
Being the only two conspicuous, outspoken and economically driven opposition MPs, there is need for the two to work together, be professional and support whomever the citizens choose. Though it would be wise for Citizens Coalition for Change to place the two in different areas.
With the current economic events taking shape in Zimbabwe and with elections around the corner, Triple C can not afford to present a dis-jointed front, the party has already lost Job Sikhala to the hands of the ‘law’, Nelson Chamisa might follow suit as the new dispensation is rounding up political leaders who pose a threat through the control of the country’s courts.