Arthur Mutambara: What Zimbabwe needs now.

[joughin88]

Aaaawwwwww have the poor Zimbabweans just realised that they should'nt have killed all the whites who were producing all the food.

[chikorombo]

you are part of the problem sorry there is a new party being formed fuck zanu and mdc

[zimstyle]

I am beginning to give Mutambara props since his heroes day speech. We are on the right track

[zimstyle]

Another idiot just like Tsvangson...

[mnnh1]

Mutambara's greatest asset is that he understands why Africa does not function properly-balance of trade deficits etc. He sees the need for a more innovative economy-though Im not sure he knows quite how to achieve it.He knows that support and investment from the developed world whether its the US,Uk or China, never comes without strings attached. His weakness is the WAY he thinks-how stubborn he is, and how difficult he would be to work with

[nyashcm]

stubbornness comes with the leadership package, a leader does not back down. am not even sure if stubborn is the right word. i think he is firm and focused. he seems to be a well rounded leader, people just need to listen to what he says and to get to understand him.

[mnnh1]

No,Nyashcm, Mutambara IS stubborn- and incredibly elitist too! Make no mistake about it. As I said , while I believe he is progressive and potentially a great visionary, I have little confidence in his ability to give Zimbabwe the fresh start that it needs. That would take a man with vey paticular qualities-which none of the above currently boast.

[mnnh1]

The MDC has an image problem. What people need to understand is that there is a suspicion, justified or not, in the general population in Zim that the MDC in power will mean Britain ruling by proxy, or at least Tsvangirai having his hand guided by downing street.MDC needs to define itself as a Zimbabwean party with no vested foreign interests, particularly those of the ex-power. Progress/reform cannot be dependant on MDC being on good terms with downing st, or any foreign power for that matter

[nyashcm]

well, i dont think that it is just a suspicion, i think it is reality. if tsvangirai wins, brit will rule by proxy. people do not realise how rich in natural resourses Zim is. tht is good enough reason (or motive, as they say in law) for brit to be heavily involved in zim. i think its more than an image problem

[mnnh1]

The fact is, once this power-sharing joke is finalised, somebody will have to go knocking on somebody's else's door looking for money. Big money! And as I said before, money always comes with strings attached. Estimates vary, but this economy will need at least $1 billion in a year in aid alone over the next ten years to achieve any meaningful rehabilitation. No matter how much of a genius you think AM is, he's not exactly gonna be able to pull that kind of money out of a bunny hat, is he?

[nyashcm]

no he is not. so are you saying that the only chance for reviving Zim is if we have in power someone who will be able to source the money better, someone like tsvangirai who can source it from UK?

i think we should get the basics right first. we need our 100% sovereignity to start with and for me, that eliminates tsvangirai becauses he seems to me like someone who will be easily influenced by outside forces. if we have to forego the $1b then we should work it out ourselves. we have resources

[mnnh1]

Sovreignty, my dear friend, is a relative term. In what way can you regard yourself as 'sovereign' if you rely foreign aid just to feed yourselves. Sovreignty is as much a factor of a nations wealth as it is of its self determination. No country which is too poor to feed or treat it citizens, or which is in receipt of aid can truly regard itself as sovereign. That should be made clear. Nobody can bring about real transformation in Zim without serious cash. Not Bob,not Tsvangison, not even AM !

[nyashcm]

i disagree that sovereignity is a relative term. when a legitimate gvt borrows money, the only condition should be the return of the money.

mugabe siezed to be legitimate when he took the land therefore cannot borrow. we fought the chimurenga wars 1 and 2 to get back the land however, the land in zim is so fertile and full of resources tht they want to control it. our land is worth more than the billions.

can i please ask for your source on the $1b estimate

[mnnh1]

who controls the purse strings nyashcm? And who funds the IMF and the bretton woods institutes?? Read it up! No enemy of the west ever gets funding from the IMF. For the source, google 'reuters zimbabwe reconstruction 1 billion'

[nyashcm]

does it mean that you have to suck up to the powers that be.

[mnnh1]

I'm always amazed how much people believe in natural resources as medicament to all probs. I'll tell you something. The greatest resource any nation can have is its human, not natural resources.

Prob No. 1 In Africa in general we largely rely on wstrn multinational to mine our own minerals.The likes of Rio Tinto, BHP and Anglo american mine all the major minerals in Zim. Why? Cos Africans have not been detrmined enough to devlop their own human resources control their own national treasures.

[nyashcm]

i agree, human resources are most important. i should have made metion of it. its also true that we lack determination, but it doesnt mean that we are not capable of determination. western people are not more intelligent than us, they just have more advanced societies, but that doesnt mean that we cannot catch up.

therefore my answer to your problem No.1 would be to improve our determination. it will not be easy or quick, it could even take a genaration but it can be done.

[mnnh1]

Prob 2. African economies short change themselves by being primary extractor/producer countries. Again because of an absence of human capital, foresight and innovation we find ourselves exporting tobbacco instead of cigarettes, gold instead of jewellery and steel instead of cars. We only sell things that literally come out of the ground. That, my friend, is called short-changing yourself. You can never be competitive in a global economy exporting steel iron only to import back cars.

[nyashcm]

problem 2 can be solved through developing our human resources. we need to change our mentality coz we think of ourselves as inferior and not capable of doing wht the west can do. look at what arab countries are doing, namely Dubai. they are building metropolitans cities from foundation. they have natural resources in oil and they just developed their human resources. i think the main issue that zimbabweans have a problem with is belief in ourselves. even western countries started from nothing.

[mnnh1]

Can you imagine the British exporting north sea crude. No! But I'll bet youve bought petrol from BP in Zim at some point. So you may have even bought the same crude- just in its finished form for maybe 20 times the price. What Africans do equates to them selling us the crude so that we can sell it back to them in the UK as petrol. Of course they are not stupid enough to ever entertain that. Who's smiling?

[nyashcm]

this is the modern day oppression that we shd fight against. i would like to think of it as chimurenga 3, fight against neo-colonialism. because it is clear from wht you have said above that we are still slaves only without chains. like i always say, it will take a fight to turn things around. we fought for independence and lots of lives were lost. we had an easier option of being subservient but we chose to fight. why cant we do it now. we need to leave our comfort zones for a better tomorrow

[mnnh1]

Basically the prob is that Zim needs to get over its colonial hangover and get with the program. They need to come to terms with how the global economy works and stop bitching. Zim could easily be pound for pound Africas most prosperous economy. While we were genrating 100's of millions of $'s in tobbacco revenue we should have bough shares in British American Tobbacco, bought high street jewellery chains in the west with gold revenues etc or better still founded our own. But there you have it.

[nyashcm]

well, i think its clear now that our methods are on the opposite ends of the spectrum although we are both for the prosperity of zim. my beliefs are rooted in the fact that all human beings are equal and nothing good comes without a fight. i think it is selfish to give up the fight when thousands died for our freedom and sovereignity, its like they died for nothing. these people colonised us and enslaved us for centuries, it would be naive to think that they have changed.

[munyambu]

Mutambara has more balls!

[beefbutcher]

Mutambara seems like he has more balls than Tsvangirai.He is still in Zimbabwe and speaking openly against Mugabe.After the publisher of one of his letters was arrested He said that he stood by every word in his article and would work for Mr. Mugabe's defeat "come hell, come sunshine." "It's our country,", "We're not going to run away." Thats a real leader who speaks his mind and stands his ground! Zimbabweans must defend themselves with whatever means its their right!

[nyashcm]

on the other hand, when the going gets tough, tsvangirai runs to the west for help, he hides in a western embassy. i mean, common, imprisonment cant be that scary when you are fighting for such a cause. mandela stayed in prison for decades. if you decide to represent a mass of people you need to get out of you comfort zone. Change has always been something difficult to achieve wherever, whenever because the people benefiting from tha status quo will fight to the death to preserve it

[Cueil]

Without seperation of power this is what happens.

[CheeezMaster]

this man is just as corrupt

[OZZAZIM74]

this was the language yu used in 1989..doesnt work in in 2008!

[tigerone1970]

It is a bit selfdefeating to have a Brit 'interviewing' him, and calling him 'Arthur'. He is saying the same thing over and over again. I don't know what 'Morgan' did to deserve this. :)

[thipha]

I am not sure whether its me or him but he doesn't seem to be answering the interviewer's question but repeating his usual msg. i tend to be a bit suspecious of people who speak like that having lived in the west where everything is straight out of the spin dr's mouth. i like leaders who speak from the heart but not practiced speeches. i know he is trying to send the msg globally.please do not get me wrong i think his msg is great.

[tigerone1970]

All the Zimbabwe opposition leaders are a bit suspect. If they are not careful, they could trigger a civil war.

[gldmj55]

I suggest disabling comments before all the racists and spambots begin flooding the comments section.

[mclight81]

It seems that there is always an opposition leader everyone thinks will save them from the current horrible dictator...ending in another dictator that everyone needs saving from. (Amin in Uganda etc.). Many African nations would benefit from more separation of powers...

[novacastrianpanther]

Dr. Mutambara seems like a great man, I hope that he can deliver change and hope to all Zimbabweans.

Magabe is one of the worst dictators of this century (so far) and the sooner Zimbabwe get rid of him, the better.

[Chivalryaintdead]

Seems like a great guy

[XPhenomonal]

This guy is not white.What zimbabwe needs is a white,male president.Now then all their problems would disappear.

[OZZAZIM74]

we have had a white PM before and he was a fuckin racist!

[kemorex]

This guy is -exactly- what Zimbabwe needs. I liked everything he said.. being able to hold a proper election would be the first of many steps that would have to be carried out in order to repair that country. I wish him all the very best.

[gideontx]

Howdy

I like the idea that some one might "help" repair Zim.Question is, what 'help' will the international community offer?The UN? PLEASE NO!!!NOT AGAIN THE SAME IDIOTS!!

THIS TIME AROUND, ONLY THOSE WHO KNOW AFRICA(WHITE & BLACK FROM AFRICA) AND THE INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITIES MONEY, that's all!!

Yes, now I will believe that there will be change, just keep the ignorant

Henry Kissinger and Rev. Jackson and the like away.

Keep the Brit gov. away also, they don't keep their promises.

Go Arthur!?

[kemorex]

Thanks for your reply. You would probably need both internal and external influences. The best approach is to have someone like Arthur create an agenda that other countries can interact with. The help can come in the form of finance, medical assistance, media exposure, and if it has to come to it - military support (not a "benevolent takeover"). Our world allows for connections that transcend race, distance, and cultural barriers. Using that resourcefully is the best way to go (eg. these videos)

[flybenji]

We do not have democracy in America anymore. What could we do to help them? 70% of America's wealth is owned by 10% of it's people & they are rigging the elections & putting their puppets in office right now.Ask any Ron Paul supporter.

[formerhilli]

America is not a Democracy, it is a Republic.

A Democracy is one man/woman one vote. When you have two Senators each from North Dakota, South Dakota, Wyoming, Montana, and Idaho, they have 10 votes, with half the population of California, which has only its two Senators' votes. Thus, Republic and not Democracy.

[SirSpleenovich]

Racist Bastard.

Rassist Arschloch.

[rc55]

BoneClutch: You fucking idiot - you have no idea about Zimbabwe - a nation persecuted by a corrupt dictatorship - why dont you read up on it you bigoted wanker.

[Phana24JeffG]

Nice response. Mugabe is just another Hitler wannabe who has destroyed what should be a successful nation. I wish Mutambara all the best.