Gvt is profligate, fraudulent and ill-disciplined: Biti

People’s Democratic Party (PDP) President Tendai Biti has said that the Zimbabwean government that does not believe in spending what it saves and eat what it kills, describing it  as profligate, fraudulent and an ill-disciplined government.

In a statement Biti said, “We do not accept that the government has no money.  We are dealing with profligate, fraudulent and ill-disciplined government that does not believe in spending what it saves and eat what it kills.  This government is a rogue regime that has spent millions of dollars travels of the president and the first his wife.

“It is ironic that this government has spent over $340m on vehicles and we now have ministers driving around in the most expensive SUVs across the continent.

“We also find it unacceptable and condemn the high levels of corruption in government with the parastatals and other state enterprises being used as conduit vehicles of looting,” reads part of the statement.

The statement added that Zimbabwe is in the grip of a multiple of strands of crises, which are squarely blame on Zanu PF’s Robert Mugabe and Finance minister, Patrick Chinamasa.

“The events unfolding in the country clearly show that we are in serious crisis and that the Zanu PF government has failed and failed dismally.

“This is a serious indictment and the day to day challenges that the people are facing is a fact that this country is in turmoil.  We find that it is regrettably and unacceptable that by mid-July Chinamasa has failed to pay civil servants their salaries.  Where workers provide labour and are unpaid that is the classical definition of slavery in this century and in this day and age.

The former minister of Finance called upon the international community to desists from working with the government.

“We want to make it clear that the international community should not accept this rogue regime, which came empty handed from its re-engagement talks in Brussels Paris and the UK despite much ado,” he said.

Biti also condemned condemned the immediate banning of  importation of  goods.

“The Statutory Instrument 64 recently introduced by the government, which banned the importation of basic commodities when industries have totally collapsed is unacceptable. The SI 64 was introduced by the Smith government in 1974 when the country was at war and when it was under proper sanctions of the United Nations.

“The move by this regime should be repealed as the SI 64 is in breach of SADC trade protocol and the world trade protocols,” said Biti.
He added that his partyis part of the social protest movement that is holding peaceful demonstrations and calling on Mugabe and Zanu PF to resign .

“We want to reassert that it is the constitutional right of every citizen codified in the Constitution to protest.  We are part of all demonstrations including that of tomorrow (Today) and Thursday,” he said.
Going forward Biti said that the Southern African Development (SADC) must take an active interest and urgently intervene and put Zimbabwe on the agenda of the next SADC meeting before the country implodes and the cost of cleaning the mess becomes higher.