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Bulawayo
South constituency end of year letter
Hon David
Coltart MP
December 04, 2005
I cannot believe
how this year has flown. In some ways it seems just yesterday that
I was honoured and grateful to be re-elected by you as an MDC MP
with a 76% majority. However that was in March and eight months
have gone by since then. You will recall that in the run up to the
election ZANU PF promised that if they were elected back into power
they would stop the economic collapse, create more employment, bring
an end to fuel queues, bring inflation down, tackle corruption and
generally improve the lives of Zimbabweans. As I warned in my campaign,
this regime does not have the ability, or the political will, to
deal effectively with the many problems our nation is facing. Sadly
the crisis created by the regime's failed policies and incompetence
has escalated greatly in the last eight months. Our nation is now
facing a catastrophe of unprecedented proportions.
It has been
as difficult as ever to communicate with you, my constituents. I
find it ironic that despite the fact that I have now been your Member
of Parliament for almost six years I have never once been invited
to be interviewed by ZBC Montrose studios which as you know is right
in the centre of the Bulawayo South constituency. The reason for
this is obvious-the regime does not want me to be able to communicate
with you. Indeed in the last year communications have become even
more difficult. The Chronicle is still hostile. The Daily News remains
banned and they are now reports that both the Daily Mirror and the
Financial Gazette have been taken over by the CIO. I am not discouraged
by these actions of the regime - it is clearly fearful of what will
happen if I and my colleagues in the MDC are able to communicate
with you freely. For the time being then I will continue to communicate
with you through the means of report back meetings (which I continue
to have regularly throughout the constituency) and these letters.
I ask that you pass this letter around so that as many people as
possible generally about what I have been trying to do on your behalf.
Projects
25 years of ZANU PF rule have subverted many institutions in Zimbabwe.
Members of Parliament are primarily meant to be lawmakers not project
managers but the regime has subverted this role. Even in the recent
Senate election the regime threatened voters saying that if their
candidates were not voted for, development would not come to those
areas that voted against the regime. ZANU PF MPs have access to
state funds for developmental projects, something MDC MPs do not
have.
In the same 25 years of ZANU PF rule the economy has been devastated;
80% of people are now unemployed and as a result most people are
desperate to participate in self-help projects and other projects
that uplift their standard of living. I have recognised that with
the regime not being prepared to yield power through the ballot,
and with no immediate prospect of being able to restore sanity to
the way Zimbabweans are governed, it has been necessary to assist
working-class and unemployed people in my constituency to engage
in projects pending the transition to democracy.
With this in mind I have conducted a fundraising drive to raise
relatively limited funds to support self help projects in the constituency.
I regret to advise that despite approaches made to several embassies
I have not been able to raise funds from that source. However my
approaches to individuals have been relatively successful. As a
result a series of project meetings had been held in the constituency
since March and I have now been inundated with over 30 project proposals
from individuals and groups which would cost well over Z$3 billion
to implement. As I have not been able to raise anything like that
amount of money I have, in discussion with members of the constituency,
decided to focus the funding we have available on a food growing/farming
project. I am pleased to report that the project is on schedule.
Land has been identified in Nketa; permission has been obtained
from the City Council to use boreholes already on the land; some
20 people have been trained to date to farm the land and we are
in the process of purchasing a pump, fencing and the irrigation
equipment required for the project. I hope that in the coming weeks
the project will get under way and that food can be grown in large
quantities to supplement the meagre amount of food available to
the people of Bulawayo. I'm very grateful to the generous individuals
who have donated money and a pump (which alone is worth some Z$200
million).
When I wrote you last year I spoke about raising money to build
Cricket nets. The cricket nets are now a reality thanks to a generous
donation made by the English cricket team. In August the Henry Olonga
cricket nets were opened next to Nketa Hall and are now being used
by many cricket enthusiasts. I am in the process of sourcing cricket
equipment for the people of Nketa and I hope that this will be delivered
early in the New Year. I have also sourced a donation from the Zattner
family which has been used to purchase playground equipment which
also will be installed in the near future near to Nketa Hall.
I am still working with the Toc H Charity organisation to source
funds to construct the aids victim support centre I have mentioned
in previous correspondence in Emgwanin. I have recently been in
contact with a South African-based Aids victims support organisation
and hope that it may be able to make this project a reality. It
is a shocking indictment against this regime that whilst it is prepared
to create costly new institutions such as the Senate it is not prepared
to provide funding for small projects such as these which are so
desperately needed.
Parliament
Parliament is hardly sat this year since the March elections. When
it does sit its sessions often end early and if the MDC does not
debate hardly anything meaningful takes place. The regime has cynically
used Parliament to entrench its own position. This is graphically
illustrated in Constitutional Amendment Bill 17. This Constitutional
Amendment will not create a single new job in Zimbabwe and in many
respects takes our Constitution back to the dark ages.
I, together with my courageous colleagues in the MDC, fought as
hard as we could to oppose the Bill. In conjunction with my colleagues
within the MDC and in civil society I helped draft an entirely new
Constitution for Zimbabwe which was tabled in Parliament. This constitutional
draft was based on an amalgamation of the original Constitutional
Commission draft and the NCA draft constitution, both of which were
debated and discussed in detail in 2000. This draft constitution
tabled by me in Parliament is in essence a reflection of what the
people themselves said they wanted in the run-up to the Constitutional
referendum which was held in 2000. There has been a lot of distortion
in the press and elsewhere regarding the contents of that draft
constitution. This was deliberately done to sow division within
the MDC and to divert attention away from Constitutional Amendment
Bill 17's draconian provisions. Our draft constitution is now however
a matter of public record and if you would like to read it a copy
is available at the constituency office (located at Nketa 6 Housing
Office). I encourage you to read the constitutional draft and to
let me have your comments. If you would like an electronic copy
of the draft constitution please send me an e-mail at byosouth@yahoo.com
and I will send you a copy.
Because of the subversion of Parliament as an institution by the
regime there has been considerable debate as to whether or not we
should continue to participate in it. My own view is that we must
use all institutions, no matter how flawed they have become, to
expose the incompetence, corruption and selfishness of this regime.
In the course of this year I and my colleagues have used every opportunity
to expose human rights abuses and generally to speak out against
the brutal acts perpetrated by this regime.
Murambatsvina
One of the most brutal acts ever committed by this regime occurred
in May and June this year when Operation Murambatsvina was launched.
Although Bulawayo South constituency was relatively unscathed, tens
of thousands of Bulawayo residents were terribly affected by the
destruction of their homes and businesses. Soon after the operation
was launched in Bulawayo I did what I could to expose what was happening.
I spoke out in Parliament. I had a lengthy meeting with the UN Special
Envoy Mrs Anna Tibaijuka and am pleased to report that many of my
concerns and recommendations were included in her final report released
in July. Subsequently I have worked with donors to provide assistance
to the victims. I have spoken out locally and internationally against
what can only be termed a crime against humanity. My belief is that
the actions of the regime constitute a clear breach of Article 7
of the Treaty of Rome, which is the statute which governs the work
of the International Criminal Court. I will continue to work to
get the perpetrators of this atrocity brought to book.
MDC legal affairs Department
2005 has been a very busy year for the MDC Legal Affairs Department.
Soon after the March elections we brought some 15 Parliamentary
challenges. They were not brought because we believed that we could
get MDC MPs into parliament through the courts. These cases are
necessary for two reasons: firstly to demonstrate the MDC's commitment
to respect the due process of law even though the regime has totally
subverted the rule of law and, secondly, to use the court procedure
to substantiate the allegations that we have made that the elections
did not comply with the SADC standards and Zimbabwe's electoral
Law. Our success in this regard is best illustrated in the recent
judgement we obtained in the Makoni North Constituency case. Although
we did not win the case the presiding judge found that food had
been used as a weapon throughout the constituency by the regime.
The finding of this fact alone provides valuable evidence to us
for the future in our quest to show that ZANU PF is guilty of yet
another crime against humanity, namely withholding food for political
purposes.
The presidential challenge case first launched in 2002 continues.
We finally got the Registrar General to bring all the election materials
to court after obtaining a contempt order against him which itself
contained the threat of imprisonment against him. Since August we
have been examining all the voting materials used in the 2002 election.
We will shortly be issuing a report regarding our findings. Whilst
it would be improper for me to reveal what those findings are at
this stage, suffice it to say that the examination of the voting
materials has provided us with valuable evidence that there was
widespread electoral fraud in the 2002 presidential election.
The Senate elections
The Senate elections have come and gone. My own view has always
been that they were an irrelevance. It is most unfortunate that
they have caused such division within the MDC. I took a deliberate
decision not to align myself with either those for or against the
elections mainly because I believed that the arguments were equally
strong for and against. I have been doing what I can in an attempt
to reconcile the opposing sides in this debate and will continue
to do so. I still hope that leaders on both sides will remember
the tremendous contribution to the struggle for democracy that those
opposed to them within the MDC have made and that that reminder
will assist in the reconciliation process.
January 2006 will see the 23rd anniversary of my return to Zimbabwe.
Since my return I have been unrelenting in my work to bring about
meaningful democracy to Zimbabwe. Whilst I hope that the present
division within the MDC will be healed, even if it cannot I need
to remind you of two things. Firstly, I personally am not going
to give up on this struggle to bring freedom and democracy to Zimbabwe.
In saying this I invite you to make contact with me to let me know
your views. You can either write to meet care of the above-mentioned
e-mail address or you can drop off a letter at my constituency office.
Secondly, I should remind you that there are many good people within
the MDC, on both sides of this debate, and in civil society, who
are equally determined to bring about democratic change to Zimbabwe.
Whatever happens to the MDC in the coming months its legacy is already
clear: it has exposed the real ZANU PF to the world, in doing so
it has isolated the regime and in isolating the regime it has ensured
that democratic change is inevitable.
The regime has no solution to the massive crisis that it has created
in Zimbabwe. We for our part must remain committed to using non-violent
methods to achieve our goals, to respecting the rule of law and
to our vision for a new free, democratic and prosperous Zimbabwe.
I fear that, given the desperation of so many Zimbabweans, some
may be tempted to abandon some of these principles. In this regard
I think it is pertinent to remind you of the words of Martin Luther
King:
"I am
convinced that if we succumb to the temptation to use violence
in our struggle for freedom, unborn generations will be the recipients
of a long and desolate night of bitterness, and our chief legacy
to them will be a never ending reign of chaos".
In the New Year
we need to re-energise ourselves to use all peaceful non-violent
strategies to force this regime to come to the negotiation table
which in turn will see a new democratic Constitution for Zimbabwe,
fresh elections and the restoration of a new Zimbabwe that we can
all be proud of.
I am always amazed by the resilience, tolerance and good humour
of Zimbabweans in the face of oppression and exceptionally difficult
circumstances. I have no doubt that these qualities will ultimately
win the day; that good will overcome evil and that Zimbabweans will
soon be free. Let me remind you of some age-old wisdom from Psalm
37:
"Do not
fret because of evil men or be envious of those who do wrong;
For like the grass they will soon wither, like green plants they
will soon die away.
For evil men will be cut off. A little while, and the wicked will
be no more;
Though you look for them, they will not be found.
The Lord laughs at the wicked, for he knows their day is coming."
I thank you
for your ongoing support and wish you a happy Christmas and a peaceful
and prosperous New Year.
The Hon David Coltart MP
Bulawayo South
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