Kambuzuma legislator Willias Madzimure says patriotism cannot be forced on people, but instead, the government must create an environment that will make people patriotic.
He said forcing people to forget such issues as Gukurahundi without putting closures to the wounds will not create patriotic citizens.
According to Madzimure, there is currently no foundation for patriotism in Zimbabwe and the government has a lot of work.
Speaking in the National Assembly during debate on a motion which is calling on the government to enact the Patriotic Bill, Honourable Madzimure said the government has some explaining to do if people are to become patriotic.
“You do not force people to be patriotic. People become patriotic because of what they benefit from their own country. I am one of those people who are not fond of talking anything negative when I get outside. I do not have that time. The issue is, whenever I am asked I must be able to explain.
“There are about seven foundations of democracy and it is important that those pillars of democracy are observed. It is those pillars that make a person complete,” he said
Honourable Madzimure added, “You go to ZINARA today, why do we have bad roads? The CEO is said to now have properties worthy of almost $20 million, imagine Madam Speaker. How then do you have patriotic people when we the governing people do not make those people account. That is corruption.
“Actually should we not have a lot of people with passports trying to fly out of Zimbabwe? Why would I want to? You go to South Africa, Malawi or Zambia today and go to their passport office, do you see any queue, no. Why do we have so many long queues with our people seeking passports to go out of the country?
“We must deal with that issue. When they go out there to work doing these menial stupid jobs but they make their families back home survive. What is their explanation? Why am I there – a degreed person looking after an old lady? Why? So we have to deal with those issues of corruption. Accountability and ethical conduct Madam Speaker are also important for our government to be ethical. We have got traditions that we must follow. We have the respect that we must give each other.
“Lastly, the issue of transparency and accountability. We must be transparent and we must be accountable. Right now we already have a problem. In our auction system, the Governor is on record saying he now wants to investigate other companies. Those that are getting money from the system are simply taking it at $82 and go and sell it at $120. You do not even need to think of going to China to look for raw materials. You just take the money and sell it. Some of the people are Members of Parliament. They clamour for patriotism but they are the worst offenders. This is what I have realised.
“Those people who cry loudly that there must be patriotism and we must have an Act are the biggest offenders. Very few can raise their hands if I were to ask if they do not have a skeleton in their cupboards, very few can raise their hands. They have several. We will arrest them. Chombo cannot be arrested because the arresting officer benefitted from a stand.
“You have got the Commissioners, where is Chihuri today? We used to debate in this House. The fines were being shared. How many companies does he have? We were debating in this house telling you that Chihuri is corrupt and one would be arrested for saying Chihuri is corrupt but where is he today, in Malawi.
“Why can we not bring Chihuri back, because a lot of people are beneficiaries? They were all sharing. So patriotism is not what we ask people to be. It is in-built because we have got a share in this country. We are all Zimbabweans.
“The Chitepo Ideological College cannot only teach Zanu PF youths, what about the rest of the youths. Actually, most of the youths are not even Zanu PF. So, we must have a national institution, not a party institution. I want to thank you for giving me this opportunity,” he said. #PatrioticBillZW Get more Covid-19 Stats from CovidZW.info
