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By Our Correspondent
HEADLANDS, October 2, 2007 - Simba Makoni, the former minister of Finance and Economic Development, has described leaders within the ranks of the ruling party as dictators and selfish individuals bent on serving their own interests instead of those of the people of Zimbabwe at large.
He described government's land reform programme whose centerpiece was the violent seizure of white-owned commercial farms in 2000 as a complete failure.
Makoni, who is a member of both the Central Committee and Politburo in Zanu PF recently shocked Zanu-PF leaders in Manicaland Province and traditional leaders when he castigated the haphazard manner in which the land reform programme was conducted.
Makoni was invited to speak on behalf of Didymus Mutasa, the minister of Lands, Land Reform and Resettlement and State Security, but requested to represent himself at a function organised recently by the governor of Manicaland, Tinaye Chigudu.
The function was held at Chigudu's farm in Makoni District.
Mutasa did not make it to the function, which was attended by senior ruling party officials and traditional chief in the province because he was attending a funeral.
Before launching the blistering attack on the ruling party leadership and government, Makoni requested that he be allowed to speak in his own capacity rather than on behalf of Mutasa. Permission was granted.
"I am standing in front of you today as your guest of honour in my capacity as the only politburo member present," Makoni said, "as minister Mutasa could not make it here today. What I am about to say here is not what he would have said. These are my own words which must not be linked to him in any way.
He said the land reform programme was a big flop as it had brought unnecessary suffering among the people.
"Why is it that after the country embarked on the land reform programme there has been starvation in the country? Let us not blame it on droughts but on our own greedy leadership."
"It is shameful for a country such as Zimbabwe to beg for food from countries like Malawi yet this is now happening."
Makoni said the political leadership in Zimbabwe wanted things to come their way on a silver plate. He said it was wrong for people to just grab farms and occupy farmhouses that they never built.
Makoni said such infrastructure did not just come from heaven like manna. Some people would have worked tirelessly to build such houses. But other Zimbabweans only wanted to get such huge investments for free. This met with a deafening silence.
He was addressing requests submitted to Chigudu by the chiefs that they also be allocated farms with mansions such as the one now owned by the Governor.
Makoni told the chiefs to work hard and build their own mansions at their own homesteads.
"If the government allocates you such mansions outside your jurisdictions, how then are you going to administer your areas," said Makoni.
He then lambasted the Zanu-PF leadership describing them as dictators and selfish individuals who only think about themselves first before they consider the welfare of others.
Makoni said good leaders were those who visited the people regularly and not only when elections were around the corner. He said good leaders consult the people and ask them what they want from the government and not the other way round.
"It shows that there is a problem when you see the people going to their leaders with their grievances," Makoni said. "Our problem in Zimbabwe is that our leaders take their people for granted. They think that they know their problems and prescribe their own solutions.
"Good leaders are expected to ask from the people what they want the government to do for them. The government should not tell the people what to do without consulting them as is happening in our country today. That is dictatorship."
He described the Zanu-PF leadership as lazy, greedy and corrupt.
On the issue of corruption in the country, Makoni said he did not blame it on ordinary citizens, saying it was being fuelled by the leadership. Makoni said it was very difficult for a father to stop his child from doing bad things when the child was only copying what the father was doing.
"In short they say a fish rots from the head," he said.
During his hard hitting speech those in attendance maintained a fearful silence unlike when previous speakers took turns to shower praises on Mugabe and the land reform programme.
After giving his speech Makoni said he was happy Mutasa had failed to make it to the function as this had given him an opportunity to speak out on what he thought were problems affecting the country.
"I am happy for Minister Mutasa's failure to grace this important occasion with his presence because it gave me a rare opportunity to say what I feel about my country," he said.
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