By Busani Ncube
THE secretary-general of the Movement for Democratic Change, Ms Priscilla Misihairabwi-Mushonga, has said some

Cabinet ministers from Matabeleland are just useless “condoms’’ who have sold out the region.

The debate was under the broad theme: 2011 in Retrospect; Achievements and Challenges in the Implementation of the Global Political Agreement (GPA).

Other panellists were Water Resources Minister Samuel Sipepa Nkomo and the discussant was Matabeleland Constitutional Reform Agenda (Macra) leader, Effie Ncube.
Said Ms Misihairabwi-Mushonga: “There is the condom X-factor. Some of the region’s ministers have been condomised. Sorry baba Sipepa, we have seen an increasing number of politicians from this region, even Cabinet ministers that have sold out.

“Whether it is money, power or what, I do not know, the region’s ministers are just doing the condom role,’’ she said.
She added that it was ministers from Matabeleland who were quick to dismiss the region’s projects in Cabinet as tribalism.
“When you talk about locals in Marange benefiting from their resources, it is ok, no one makes noise because that it called devolution.

“The moment you start talking about bringing the Parliament to Bulawayo, Matabeleland Zambezi Water Project and the de-industralisation in Bulawayo you are accused of fanning tribalism and sadly mostly by people of Matabeleland,’’ she said.

Ms Misihairabwi-Mushonga also told the gathering that she has had the benefit of being Shona, married to a Shona person and the “disadvantage’’ of having Ndebele blood from her mother’s side.
“I have experienced the disadvantages of having Ndebele blood. I have had the benefits of being identified as a Shona person. I was married to a Shona, not only a Shona but the pedigree type of Shona — a Zezuru.’’

Turning on the Professor Arthur Mutambara power wrangle for MDC leadership, she dismissed the whole matter as a tribal sting.
“Let’s be factual here. Even the Prof Mutambara- Ncube case. It is not about the congress no, it is not about what the law says.

“It is about the fact that there is a tribe of people that do not want to have a Ndebele person sitting as a principal and power-sharing. It is about the fact that Prof Ncube is a Ndebele.
“That is why people like Professor Lovemore Madhuku are now singing from the same hymnbook with Zanu-PF,’’ she said.

Addressing the same meeting, Mr Sipepa Nkomo said he wished that Matabeleland was like Zululand in South Africa where there is a king.
“I want Matabeleland to be like Zululand. I am pushing hard to be ruled by a Khumalo King,’’ he said pointing at Peter Zwidekalanga Khumalo, a decendant of King Mzilikazi.
Mr Sipepa Nkomo’s sentiments come barely a month after he compared PM Tsvangirai to King Lobengula.

In a veiled attack at Finance Minister Mr Tendai Biti, Mr Sipepa Nkomo said:
“I could have done better and more to bring water to Bulawayo but the problem is that we get budget allocations and do not get the money,’’ he said.

Mr Sipepa Nkomo and Mr Biti belong to the MDC formation led by PM Tsvangirai.