"We Should Be Greedy And Corrupt Because ZANU PF Is Also Greedy And Corrupt" - MDC

Lavish lifestyles: The MDC now says it is OK for them to use taxpayer funds to splash out on the lavish living of the Speaker of Parliament who spent a year at taxpayers' expense at the 5-star Miekles Hotel (pictured above) because ZANU PF also use taxpayer money to fund their lavish lifestyles. Greed in the MDC is now encouraged because ZANU PF is also greedy. It is a twisted logic that will ensure that this country is doomed for the generations to come unless the people of Zimbabwe come to their senses.

Harare, Zimbabwe, 05 September 2009

One of the most senior confidants of Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai in the MDC, Eddie Cross, who even managed to get a ministerial post before Mugabe put a stop to his nomination on the grounds of his previous criminal convictions says the Speaker of Parliament's scandalous expenses and greed is justifiable because ZANU PF and Mugabe also behave in the same manner.

In a letter that he distributed widely to the media, Cross says the speaker's position "calls for a certain standard of living and perks. When the President travels, he draws US$10 000 a day for his expenses and a four-day trip to the AU (African Union Summit) costs about a million dollars. In this context, the (Speaker's) costs are not excessive."

This represents everything that is wrong with the MDC.

Their attitude is one of emulating ZANU PF at every level.

ZANU PF is violent, beats up opponents and is intolerant? Well then, it is alright for the MDC to also be violent and intolerant. "Don't criticise us, but criticise ZANU PF because they started the violence."

"ZANU PF steals money from the people, engages in patronage and neglects policy-formulation in order to line its own pockets, so it is okay for us as the MDC to also be corrupt and line our own pockets."

As I have said before, the only reason the MDC wants to run this country is so that they can get their turn at stealing the people blind and engaging in wanton corruption.

This latest statement from the MDC shows yet again that the party has no principles for which it stands and is guided in the scale of its greed, incompetence and robbery by the scale of ZANU PF's own greed, incompetence and robbery.

They have no principles for which they stand in the MDC which is why corruption is fine for them as long as they can say ZANU PF is also corrupt.

Tsvangirai, Cross and the MDC have no interest in claiming the moral high ground or changing the governance culture in this country.

They have no interest in bringing real change to the people because to them, they would have done very well is they only manage to match ZANU PF incompetence, greed and corruption.

They judge themselves not by the yardstick of global best practice, but the standards set by ZANU PF.

The people of Zimbabwe are being shortchanged.

They were promised :Change You Can Trust" by the MDC and all they get now is more of the same ZANU PF greed and corruption, but this time practised by the MDC itself.

They get told that it is okay for opposition MPs and ministers to behave like ZANU PF ministers and MPs.

And this is change we can trust?

Where are the jobs? Or at least the policies that can create jobs?

Where is the fiscal discipline that is needed to make Zimbabwe a rich country again?

Where is the good governance that we need in order to show the world that there is difference between Mugabe and Tsvangirai?

Not excessive? Really, Eddie Cross?

Tell that to people who can not get water at their homes, or electricity. Tell that to people who are still going to bed hungry because they can not find a job and therefore, can not buy even a loaf of bread that costs a single US dollar.

True men of the people, even if they be demagogues, show that they have the interest of the people at heart by the way they live.

Fidel Castro spends time at a shack on the pacific coast, cooking for himself and washing his own dishes.

Julius Nyerere lived in a basic hut throughout his terms as president of his country.

First world politicians travel Economy class while Zimbabwe ministers go Business of First Class while crying that the government is broke.

This lavish lifestyle that you say the speaker is entitled to is based on what? We do not have the wealth. Your party says the government is "broke". A broke government does not spend thousands upon thousands of dollars a month putting the speaker up in the most lavish five-star hotel in Harare.

With leaders like these, Zimbabweans are well and truly doomed.

These people, both ZANU PF and MDC do not care about your plight or mine. They seek not to improve your lives but theirs. They seek not to lift this country up, but instead want only to line their pockets and live like Big Men Around Town.

This is the same attitude that led Nelson Chamisa, the MDC Spokesman and a cabinet minister, to say that his supporters need to see him in the most expensive Mercedes Benz 4X4 in order to believe that he is now in power.

This greed from a party that has been lying that it stands with the people is sickening, idiotic and cruel.

But at least now we know that ZANU PF and the MDC are two sides of the same coin.