State Live Updates of Grace Mugabe’s Mat South rally.
1322: Dr Grace has donated sugar, 2000 kgs of soap, 1800 litres of cooking oil, 10 soccer kits for secondary school, 30 footballs, 30 netballs, 6 tractors, 40 knapsacks, Compund D fertiliser, 27 tonnes of cotton seed, 6 food hampers for the Chiefs, 100 litres worth of fuel coupons for each chief
1312: “The fourth one is Value Addition and Beneficiation…I think the clusters are not enough though because some of the agreements signed with the Chinese don’t quite fit in the four clusters. There must be clarity. Government doesn’t want us to mine our minerals and not add value to those minerals. It is now law that minerals should be beneficiated.
Here you have wild fruits like the Baobab instead of just plucking that fruit from the tree you can actually make juice from that fruit. There is an Italian company that wants to come help us breed amancimbi so that we rear them throughout the year instead of just waiting for their season to come.”
1300: “The third one is the Utilities and Infrastructure cluster that looks at such areas power generation and for the irrigation infrastructure to work properly we need power and currently we are facing power shortages. Amongst the agreements signed between President Mugabe and President Xi are agreements that will see the rehabilitation of Hwange Thermal Power Station that will add 600MW to the national grid.
“These are important things that are being done buy our Government, this cluster is the one that talks of irrigation cluster. There are tractors coming from China, Brazil and Belarus and these are going to those with irrigation schemes only and others will get later. This cluster includes roads as well and the agreements included the rehabilitation of our roads and airport as well as the building of a new Parliament building. Buses will also soon be assembled locally.”
1252: “This area is good for livestock and Government is buying cattle in order to supplement the national herd. President Mugabe has the Presidential Input programme in which he gives us inputs. President Mugabe wants us to live well.
The other cluster is Social Services, the whole country had one university at independence and the Government cares for human capital development. This cluster also deals with health and the Chinese will build a warehouse to stock medicines. They also helped us with digilisation. I saw it here you have an information centre, an informed society is an empowered society.”
1245: “This area is drought prone that’s why Government set up irrigation schemes like the one being doine here by ARDA. We want to see more schemes like this happening. Yes we were the breadbasket of this Southern Africa region and if we do these schemes properly we shall return to that pinnacle.
“Some of you got farms and your Government saw it fit that it looks for implements that can work on such large tracts of land. This is to mshow you that even though times are hard they had to ensure that they fulfill their promises.”
1241: “ZimAsset is a programme that has been well thought out. Under this programme, the President and his lieutenants came up with four clusters and one of that cluster is Food Security and Nutrition…all of here we are soldiers of this country and must work for this country but for you to execute your role you must be well fed with nutritious food.
Government saw it fit that they approach friendly countries like China, Russia, Brazil and Belarus and you know the President went to China last year on a State visit and i had the privilege of accompanying him. He went with the ZimAsset programme and asked for their help. He spoke to Brazil as well. I’m explaining this because there are others that come here and lie that we can’t implement this programme.”
1235: “You can see with Tsvangirai’s ways. When he was made prime minister he saw it as a chance for him to womanise. Don’t waste your time with such people because there are people who still believe the MDC will save the nation. They only come towards election time and they never say what they are doing for the people.
“They laughed when President Mugabe launched the Look East policy but today those who mocked the President for looking East, they are now the same ones going to the East with their begging bowls. Mugabe knew what he was doing because during our struggle for independence we went to China for assistance and we managed to accomplish our mission.”
1230: “Now you should tell them that we don’t want your food. Tell them to open doors for foreign investment because we want to take care of ourselves. We know we were given this country by God and know that we have leaders and a party, Zanu-PF, that we follow and if you love us make it possible for us to leave a legacy for our future generations.
“Morgan Tsvangirai personally called for sanctions and you wonder what kind of a leader is he that wants to people to suffer. It’s just like when you were courting your wife, you didn’t beat her up first for her to love you. You approached her in a courteous way and convinced her.”
1223: “That’s why the British helped in starting the MDC so that it competes against Zanu-PF which they could not infiltrate through the use of money. You saw many people joining the MDC because they thought the MDC would bring the desired development yet they were lied to. I’m happy that with the passage of time people have realised that the MDC is not a homegrown party but are puppets of the West.
“Yes we may have people who are unemployed and other failing to take care of their families but we should not forget especially here in Matabeleland South where Dr Nkomo hails from. We may struggle, yes, but the country is ours and we should remember that we should take heed of our actions today as well as their impact on the future generations. I say this because there are NGOs who come and donate foodstuffs yet they don’t provide the means for you to sustain yourselves.”
1215: “The war was not fought for independence only but for the land as well so our Government led by Zanu-PF saw that the time had come for people to get land for them to farm and saw it fit to take back the land which the British did not like and led the West in imposing sanctions on Zimbabwe. These sanctions are meant to hurt the people so that they perceive their Government as incapable of running the country.”
1213: “We are saying this so that we remember the sacrifice that brought our nation. We say this so that all the time we have respect for the fighters of the liberation struggle. We are happy today in Zimbabwe because of these people that brought independence. We have them here the like of Moyo and Mohadi…who others claim to be wealthy but they are not but are people who sacrificed a lot for the country’s independence”
1209: She says Zanu-PF got all 13 constituencies in the 20113 elections and would like to thank the people of the province. She says it could not have happened either way because this is an important province from which Father Zimbabwe, Dr Joshua Nkomo hails from. She says the unity brought about by Dr Nkomo should remain so that his soul rests in peace.
“Dr Nkomo is one of the biggest heroes that led Zimbabwe to freedom. He struggled in his life for Zimbabwe to gain independence.”
1200: Dr Grace Mugabe is now making her address.
1157: Kasukuwere has invited the First Lady to address the gathering.
1155: Kasukuwere the reasons behind the First Lady’s countrywide tour saying she never started her philanthropic activities when she became First Lady or chairperson of the Women’s League but before. He also says Dr Mugabe is in Matabeleland South to thank the people for the support they give to President Mugabe.
1134: Zanu-PF national political commissar Saviour Kasukuwere is the Master of Ceremony. He is now introducing members of the Politburo on stage as well as ministers present. Some of the ministers present include Kembo Mohadi, Simon Khaya-Moyo, Abednico Ncube and Thokozile Mathuthu.
1116: The First Lady Dr Grace Mugabe is in Maphisa, Matabeleland South, as part of her countrywide tour in which she has been addressing thousands of Zanu-PF supporters as part of the Women’s League rallies.