Pfeesident must help Dabengwa in his hour of need

 Pfeesident must help Dabengwa in his hour of need
Published: 28 April 2019
Many States have a public official titled the State architect - for us and one such person is no doubt Dumiso Dabengwa, the former head of intelligence for the Zimbabwe People's Revolutionary Army, the former Home Affairs minister, now the leader of the opposition Zapu party.

Dabengwa, together with the late general Solomon Mujuru, are no doubt Zimbabwe's founding fathers who structured the present military and left a legacy that has shaped the country.

But beyond their legends, the founding father Dabengwa had to be rushed to India earlier last week to receive further medical treatment after a previous surgical operation in South Africa. He is battling a deadly liver ailment.

Zimbabwe owes a debt of gratitude to Dabengwa. And Hon Criss totally agrees with UK-based journalist, Chofamba Sithole, that the ailing Dabengwa is the builder of the modern Zimbabwean army that has now, sadly, been turned into a partisan and factional, coup-staging militia.

The likes of Dabengwa and Mujuru are the men to whom all of us owe eternal gratitude, and to whom our nation and the means at its disposal must attend in their hour of need.

Clearly, there is far too much hypocrisy in political rhetoric today. The PFeesident is always repeating ad nauseum ad infinitum about the supreme sacrifice of war veterans, some who laid their lives for the liberation of the Zimbabwean State, yet show little value for the lives of soldiers like Dabengwa in their time of need.

The PFeesident, despite Dabengwa being his political opposition must help the ailing old man, he is a man in need, and surely, this will reflect a fitting gratitude for service he rendered and sacrifices he shouldered.

By looking at the appalling experiences of today's veterans, and by examining the meagre incentives created by current policies and absence of charitable practices, the PFeesident must certainly develop a support system more helpful to, and more worthy of, Zimbabwe's defenders.

Hon Criss wishes Dabengwa a speedy recovery.

Just a warning to the PFeesident, the willingness with which our young people are likely to serve in any war, no matter how justified, shall be directly proportional to how they perceive the veterans of earlier wars were treated and appreciated by their nation.

Bobbi Wine under house arrest  

As the Uganadan despot Yoweri Museveni was fraternising with the PFeesident at the Zimbabwe International Trade Fair in Bulawayo last week, back home, his most popular political opponent, Robert Kyagulanyi, known by his stage name Bobbi Wine, was languishing under house arrest. Who does that? This is the epitome of archaic politics.

Eyebrows have also been raised about the PFeesident's decision to invite Museveni — a brutal dictator in power for 33 years to open Zimbabwe's biggest trade showcase — at time he claims he is keen to turn a new leaf in the post-Mugabe political dispensation and at a time despots are under siege across Africa.

The musician, popularly called the "Ghetto President" was again detained on Tuesday ahead of Museveni's Harare visit, after Ugandan police accused him of failing to comply with safety precautions ahead of a concert on Monday.

Police in helmets and armed with riot shields surrounded Wine's One Love Beach Busaabala venue, and set up roadblocks along the way ahead of the event.

A defiant Wine made his way to the concert, saying he was prevented from performing due to political reasons.

Even on his way to the venue, Wine was met with cheering crowds on roadside, until his convoy was stopped by a row of riot police, according to a report on NTV Kenya. Wine was bundled into a van along with a colleague and driven back to his home in the back of a police van. Police fired teargas and water canon on his fans, in full view of television news cameras.

Later, in a statement from his home, Wine vowed to peacefully stand up to the government's repressive tactics.

Police still parked outside of Wine's home in Kampala and informed the lawmaker that he was under house arrest. By detaining Wine again, Museveni's government is unwittingly amplifying his position as a man of the people.

And Hon Criss understands there could be more to Museveni's visit to Harare. It had nothing to do with the ZITF, but organising some amnesty deal for a deposed dictator.

Chamisa rolls to victory

Nelson Chamisa has rolled to victory across all the MDC's 13 provinces, extending his winning streak across all nominating contests.

The outcome provided him his solid chance to assert that the MDC presidential race, which had seemed to be heading into a protracted standoff with Douglas Mwonzora, had broken in his direction. And it left Mwonzora facing weeks in which he had few opportunities for the kind of victory that would alter the race in his favour after a string of defeats notable not just for their number but also their magnitude.

Mwonzora certainly kept things interesting — maybe a little too interesting but realised he was heading for an embarrassing shellacking and strategically pulled out of the race. Hon Criss is glad someone told Mwonzora to chose his battles wisely.

Zanu-PF's Pyrrhic victory at ZITF

Zanu-PF bagged some Pyrrhic victory at the ZITF. An award was handed to the ruling party by Museveni, Imajeni! And the award was for "fast delivery service!" The Gods must be crazy! The award attracted uncharitable comments on social media. "I hope there is competition for corruption otherwise this is a huge and laughable circus in Blues!"

Zupco buses supplied by G40 cabal?

Hon Criss received the following open letter addressed to the PFeesident.

Dear your Excellency.

I watched on ZBC in awe your commissioning of the Zupco buses on the 16th of April 2019.

However, I wish to let you know that the supply of these buses is linked to the G40 cabal based on the following facts which you are free to verify: -

1. The buses were procured a company (name supplied) located along Mutare Road in Msasa.

This company is indirectly owned by the former minister of Finance Ignatius Chombo. He has interests through his proxies ... the MD who is married to his daughter and … who is Chombo's son as Operations Director. The Chief Operating Officer … is a proxy of former Local Government minister Saviour Kasukuwere.

2. A meeting was held in Xiamen China in September 2017 with Xiamen Golden Dragon who supplied the buses. The meeting was attended by …, …, … and Kasukuwere.

We have video footage of the meeting. Golden Dragon representative at the meeting was Luis Zheng director of Sales Africa.

3. The initial arrangement was to fund G40 activities through what was termed BRT system meaning Bus Rapid Transportation adopted from Tanzania. BRT was to revive urban transportation by reviving Zupco with all buses being acquired from Golden Dragon through the G40-linked company. The quartet after the meeting in China proceeded to Tanzania to learn from the system.

4. BRT was to be spread to all provinces of the country in 5 years and had a billion-dollar budget that was approved by Kasukuwere. The strategy was to fund the G40 cabal by inflating the price of the buses and forex allocations prioritised to the company that is why Chombo was appointed minister of Finance.

5. Please also note that this company was corruptly awarded tenders for supply of refuse compactors and skip bins in 2017 through Kasukuwere as Local Government minister and …  his proxy paid bribes to executives at City of Harare i.e. engineer … an inlaw of Chombo and engineer … who is also a relative of Chombo.

They were was paid in full but to date they have only supplied half of the fleet and the money was diverted by … who is Chombo's son-in-law.

6. The company also fully paid for a trip SA for Kasukuwere and the two engineers prior to the tender being flighted. We have evidence of flight tickets and accommodation.

7. The company also had a corruptly awarded sole supplier authority of buses for all government schools through a G40 ally, who was the Education minister then, who is also related to ….

The company ripped off government schools by selling units at inflated prices funding the cabal.

8. They were also corruptly awarded tenders for Zesa for the supply of tipper trucks in 2017 and despite being paid in full the trucks, they have not been supplied to date and they unilaterally changed truck specifications outside tender.

9. Chombo's relative who was CEO … for … RDC also corruptly awarded direct purchase of trucks from the company with the influence of Chombo and Kasukuwere in spite of other suppliers offering the trucks at cheaper prices.

10. Your Excellency this intelligence is to guide you to be aware of oiling the G40 cabal machinery without being properly informed.

Yours faithfully

No to Corruption
- dailynews
Tags: Dabengwa,

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