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Gift Banda

The Chronicle’s Political Editor Nduduzo Tshuma this week sat down with Bulawayo Deputy mayor Gift Banda, who was recently confirmed by MDC-T leader Morgan Tsvangirai as the party’s provincial chairperson, to discuss a number of issues ranging from his entry into politics and rise within the opposition party. The discussion also touched on recent allegations raised by the Affirmative Action Group (AAG) accusing the Bulawayo City Council of irregularly selling Banda a commercial stand in Ascot measuring 3,5 hectares for $130,000 for construction of town houses.

Banda also spoke on allegations of irregular tender procedures levelled against him in supplying and installing equipment at Mnene Hospital and Beitbridge Hospitals.

Below is the full transcript of the interview.

Q: There has been a lot of talk surrounding your entry into politics and your rise to the positions of deputy mayor and MDC-T Bulawayo provincial chairperson with some saying you have taken little time to clinch the positions, a development that some of your colleagues in the party say raises eyebrows.
BANDA: I say this is being said by people who are bent on tarnishing my image because the proof is there that I joined the party early 2000 and there’re people to buttress that fact. It’s unfortunate that you are hearing this from people who would have lost an election. It’s within their right to question things that they don’t know but in the process they need to ask so that they can be told and so that they understand issues that they don’t understand about my membership of the MDC-T. I’ve proven beyond reasonable doubt that I’ve been a member since early 2000 and the people who recruited me are there. Anyone who has a query can go to those people who recruited me. If you look at it, it’s the same people who are always saying the things they’re generally saying and these are people who would have lost the election and they’re trying to cover their failure to mobilise and to be popular by tarnishing my image.

Q: There are sections within your party that say your rise was mainly because of your allegiance to MDC-T deputy president Thokozani Khupe and there are some who claim that there are quite a number of senior members within the party who owe you substantial amounts of money and that’s why you have found it easy to navigate to the top leadership of the party in the province. What would be your comment on that?
BANDA: It’s so sad for people to come up with such serious allegations which even if you were to put them before a court of law, they can’t prove. A person who comes in and says that there are people who owe me large sums of money, that members of the leadership are failing to pay me, I don’t know where they are getting that from because at no point in time did any of my leaders come and ask for money from me because I won. I’m not a person who has the large sums of money that people are talking about and it’s only that when people have sour grapes, they’ll try and find things to hide behind. I don’t think Madam VP was the one casting the votes during our congress because I was voted by the general members of the MDC party structures in which the Madam VP did not vote. I fail to understand how they link that to the people who voted at Stanley Square because at no point did I give anyone money but the people on the ground are the ones who voted and if those people were popular enough, those people would have voted for them.

Q: Going back to the provincial conference at Stanley Square, there were reports that at some point the president of the party, Tsvangirai, got involved in the verification of people who were meant to vote, an incident used by your opponents to perpetuate the conspiracy theory that there was something about you that even the president of the party himself was prepared to go the extra mile in protecting you?
BANDA: The good part is that our election was done in the presence of our president to show the transparency that transpired on that particular day. The first question that needs to be asked to the people raising these allegations is if they saw the election they’re entering wasn’t free and fair, why participate in the first place? You participate because you think that you’re going to win. If you enter an election, you offer yourself as candidate and you allow the process to go on and you’re there at the counting and verification of the election, you lose an election and then you wake up in the morning and say the election wasn’t free and fair. It doesn’t work like that because if you think the elections aren’t going to be free and fair, you don’t participate like what we did in the last by-elections because we thought that the playing field wasn’t level. It’s wrong for us to participate and wake up in the morning after we’ve lost and say the elections weren’t free and fair when you would have campaigned and didn’t raise issues when you were campaigning. There was a point when members of the Hlalo group were saying “uBanda needed to be given iground yeBhora because he’s a novice in politics and they were sure of beating me in the election. We’re talking about people who were in big positions within the party who were preparing for that congress but they wake up in the morning after losing an election and blame it on individuals which becomes unfair.

Q: There is a feeling among some that you joined the City Council for personal benefit rather than serving the people and your acquisition of property after joining the local authority solidifies their suspicion that you joined to amass wealth. What would be your comment?
BANDA: I would ask what properties have I acquired? That’s the first question. If you’re saying that I’ve acquired properties, tell me the properties that I’ve acquired? Because that’s the only property (Ascot) that I’ve acquired. Like any Bulawayo resident I’m allowed to make an application when I feel like, unless there’s is a law within the city that forbids a councillor from applying for a piece of land. Because if people are saying properties that I’ve acquired, it’s as if now I’ve acquired many properties. People need to put it into proper perspective to say what is it that I’ve acquired? I’ve only acquired one property which is within my rights.

Q: Then there are suggestions by the AAG that they could have been some irregularities in the process of acquiring the property in Ascot. They have gone on to take the City Council and the government to court over the matter. What is your comment?
BANDA: I think they’re exposing themselves for who they are because if they’ve any evidence of irregularities, the first stop is the police and let the process take its course. You don’t start at the courts but at the police. Why would you rush to the end of the matter before you start where the issues really start. Go and report the case and the case will be interrogated and at the end of the day, the person is going to be brought to book. What they’re doing is personalising the issue because they’re coming in talking about Banda the person and not looking at the issues they’re talking about. Am I involved? Even on the issue of that land, I was never part of that because I recused myself.

Q: Your name has been dragged into some controversies particularly the Mneme and Betbridge Hospitals tender scams, can you give some clarity around that?
BANDA: The first thing is, rightfully, you say my name has been dragged into it. You’re putting it correctly because I wasn’t involved, that’s why they dragged my name into it. That’s why you see, finally, I was never found guilty of any wrongdoing. The Mnene issue came and went but was I ever charged? The police came in and investigated but I was never found on the wrong side. People aren’t even reporting on the Beitbridge issue because the person who eventually installed the machinery that Beitbridge is now using is me. There was nothing wrong I had done. The same applies to the issue of the council, my name is being dragged into it but there’s nothing wrong that I did. There are certain people using their influence to try and tarnish my image. I will ask you one question: of all the issues that Banda’s name has been dragged into, have I ever been found guilty?