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Lloyd Gumbo Senior Reporter
MDC-T Member of Parliament for Southerton Mr Gift Chaminikire has taken a swipe at Western countries for interfering in Zimbabwe’s internal affairs. Mr Chimanikire said this while debating a motion by his party colleague, Dr Tapiwa Mashakada (Hatfield), calling for de-dollarisation and adoption of the rand as the anchor currency, and addressing the fundamental structural causes of the financial and economic crisis facing the country.

Mr Chimanikire said it was high time Zimbabwe withdrew from some protocols that it has signed that did not benefit the country such as the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES).

“We agree not to export our own rhino horns and elephant tusks,” he said. “We are very foolish. Sorry to say Mr Speaker. They do not have elephants in London, America and China. They are here but we are paralysed and we cannot even sell what we have.

“We have to burn what we have simply because we want to satisfy those colonial powers. Are we forgetting that they are imperialists? What is wrong with us? That is why in my presentation, time and again I said we must be mad.”

Mr Chimanikire added that it was high time Zimbabwe withdrew from protocols that did not benefit the country.

“We should withdraw from CITES and start selling our ivory. Can we be labelled a poor country when we have in excess of 8 000 elephants in the Hwange Game Reserve? We are sitting and selling four of them to China. When we do that, there are news headlines to say why you are selling four young elephants to China. Who are they to tell us that?

“That is why at some stage, I once said the Americans can go to hell when it comes to selling our diamonds,” said Mr Chimanikire.