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Dr Mashakada

Tafara Shumba Correspondent
Dr Tapiwa Mashakada is reminiscent of Tonganai Muponda, the oldest boy in our grade 5B class taught by Madam Mombeshora. May their souls rest in peace. Madam Mombeshora would demand an answer from every pupil, especially on questions that required a list of answers. When it came to Tonganai’s turn, he would say “ndozvandange ndichida kutotaurawo,” meaning the answer that the previous pupil would have said was exactly what he also wanted to say.

He would leave everybody in stitches when he could even fall short of repeating what he claimed he had wanted to say. Dr Mashakada claimed credit for the 10-Point Plan unveiled by President Mugabe in his State of the Nation Address. He also claimed glory for the business visit to Zimbabwe by Mr Aliko Dangote, Africa’s richest man who announced his intention to invest in power generation, a cement manufacturing plant and coal mining in Zimbabwe.

It makes an interesting reading, one that cannot go uncontested, unless it was just a social media hoax from the good doctor, meant for the usual credulous MDC-T adherents. “Although it was an adulterated version of what I said in Parliament, you can see that my ideas were plagiarised without acknowledgement,” said Dr Mashakada, who accused Zanu PF of being good at stealing MDC ideas.

The MDC-T, with learned people like Dr Mashakada, has crafted a number of economic blueprints that received a backlash for their lack of substance. There was the Job, Upliftment, Investment, Capital and Environment (JUICE) and the Agenda for Real Transformation (ART) which did not inspire anyone including the MDC-T itself.

If Dr Mashakada had these brilliant ideas, why didn’t he save his party from the embarrassment of coming up with a JUICE without any juice? It is hard to believe the learned doctor, who waits until something is said or done, and all of a sudden, comes up to say that is exactly “my ideas”. That should be left to the fifth graders or the Tonganais of yesteryear.

This writer had the opportunity to listen to the doctor when he presented his ‘10-Point Plan’ in Parliament. There is not even a modicum of similitude in his Parliament motion and the President’s address. Dr Mashakada did not invent any wheel in his motion. What he said was not out of this world. It was the obvious that even a layman from Jambezi appreciates. Everybody knows for sure that the issue in Zimbabwe is all about economic growth. President Mugabe went a step further in laying the strategies that can grow the economy. Dr Mashakada was only seized with criticising Zanu-PF policies that he alleged to be suppressing economic growth.

After obtaining a doctorate recently, Dr Mashakada suddenly thinks that he is the sole custodian of brilliant economic ideas. He is under a grave delusion that makes him believe there is nobody in all government departments who can think like him.

For his information, President Mugabe has a rich base of economic gurus in his government, some of whom could be Mashakada’s mentors in this area.

Let us give the doctor the benefit of doubt and suppose he is the originator of these ideas. What is then wrong with the President using them? Dr Mashakada was once a cabinet minister whose duties included advising the President on economic issues that fell under his Ministry of Economic Planning and Investment Promotion. It is in order for the President to revisit the advice he once got from Dr Mashakada when he feels the opportune time to implement them has come. In future, in case that happens, Dr Mashakada must not be too excited for it is proper.

In any case, it is ideal for the opposition to proffer alternative policies. It was only recently that the MDC-T leader Mr Morgan Tsvangirai announced that they would now desist from the politics of criticising zanu-PF policies without proffering alternative solutions. Dr Mashakada defies that position in a bid to seek relevance.

It was startling as well to read that Dr Mashakada claimed accolade for the visit of Mr Dangote. He claimed that he discussed with the billionaire on investment opportunities in Zimbabwe and exchanged contact details in London. I believe he is not referring to the Dangote who was here recently. Of course, there are namesakes. Dangote the billionaire was brought here by Josey Mahachi, a Zimbabwean journalist based in Nigeria.

If Mashakada had Mr Dangote’s contact details, why didn’t he make some follow-ups? Some lies are so naked as to expose the liar.