Zimpapers Logo

Tendai Mugabe Senior Reporter
MDC-Alliance leader Mr Nelson Chamisa is not a “Messiah” or the answer to the current economic challenges since the role to fix the economy is the responsibility of all Zimbabweans regardless of political affiliation, Government has said. Mr Chamisa has of late been eulogised in the private media as the one holding keys to the current problems affecting the country.

His spokesperson Dr Nkululeko Sibanda has also been all over the show, telling anyone who cares to listen that Government had failed and should engage his boss.

Deputy Chief Secretary to the President and Cabinet (Presidential Communications), who is also the Presidential spokesperson Mr George Charamba, told The Herald yesterday that implementation of good economic principles by all Zimbabweans was the only solution to the economic challenges facing the nation.

“I pity Chamisa because he is being invested with Messianic powers which he doesn’t wield,” said Mr Charamba.

“At one level, he is supposed to be conferring legitimacy to the winner of 2018 elections, now I notice he is supposed to be the panacea to spurring the economy.

“This one young politician with a mortal life being invested with all these powers — God help us. He is a mere man and an erring man like all mortals. The economy of this country will be turned around by the hands of the citizens of this nation.

“There is no magic wand, there is no Messiah, only principles of good economics and these are what are being followed by the Government. There is a very clear strategy enunciated in the Monetary Policy, buttressed by the Fiscal Policy and all both expressing themselves in the context of a Transitional Plan.

“Those are the instruments for spurring the economy forward, not a mere individual.”

Mr Charamba said opposition members should not celebrate the economic hardships because they were also citizens first before they become opposition politicians.

He said it was also unfortunate that some were still in the election mode at a time when focus should have shifted towards economic recovery.

“In any case, in the recovery of this economy, the opposition are citizens before they even oppose,” said Mr Charamba.

“They are also consumers of goods and services and suppliers of goods and services in spite of the fact that they are in opposition.

“So, if they have a role to play in the economy, it is alongside many other citizens, but not because they are in opposition and its taking too long for some commentators in this economy to realise that we have long moved from the ballot to the market place where rules are different.”