Patriotic Bill will not solve anything says Tekeshe
Makoni Central legislator David Tekeshe has told Parliament that enacting the Patriotic Bill will not solve anything as long as people are not united in Zimbabwe.
He said more efforts should be put into uniting people and not entrenching the big brother syndrome.
Zimbabwe is trying to enact the Patriotic Bill which is seeking among other things to cow people into being patriotic.
The Bill is targeting organisations and individuals that speak or publish negative things concerning the country.
According to the second republic under the leadership of President Emmerson Mnangagwa, bad publicity has affected the country’s chances of accessing lines of credit and attracting the badly needed investors.
Zanu PF accuses MDC and Citizens Coalition for Change of inviting sanctions on the country.
It also accuses civic society organisations of publishing falsehoods which have seen the country being ranked badly across the world.
Speaking in the National Assembly, Honourable Tekeshe, said even if the law was to the enacted it will be applied selectively.
‘’I also want to add my voice on this motion raised by Honourable (Pupurai) Togarepi, supported by Honourable Nguluvhe.
‘’My view is, the law may be in place but I do not think it can solve everything because it can be selective. If you look at what happened in 2008, there is a law that says no one must be murdered, yet people died and no one was persecuted.
‘’What I am trying to say is, on our own, we must find each other, be it as political parties; yes we may put laws in place against people who called for sanctions and the like but we must unite as Zimbabweans.
‘’This ‘big brother’ syndrome whereby whatever is done by ZANU PF is acceptable and condemnation of what is done by opposition parties. If you hear what I say as my concern, it is that I am a Zimbabwean.
‘’From what I said, I cannot be denied a seat because I am a Zimbabwean, so who will protect me? I saw some people accepting that it was okay that I was denied a reserved seat at the National Heroes Acre. Going there is because I support the idea of celebrating that hero, that is what I was talking about here. If that was not the case, maybe I would have been executed.
‘’The whole idea is, let us be patriotic. Let us support what is good and let us all condemn what is bad regardless of which party,’’ he said.
