Vice president’s 287-day hotel stay

New Zimbabwe Opposition blasts vice president’s 287-day hotel stay at taxpayers’ expense by UK Bureau THE Welshman Ncube-led MDC party has demanded that Vice President Phelekezela Mphoko and his family immediately check out of their luxurious suite at the Rainbow Towers hotel in Harare and apologies to the nation. Mphoko has been living at the plush hotel with his wife and grandchildren at tax-payers’ expense since his appointment to vice president in December last year. He has reportedly run up a bill of $120,000 over the 287 days. The revelations come at a time the financially crippled government is battling to cut costs through retrenching some of its 500,000-strong workforce. Mphoko is said to have rejected three homes offered by the government, including one used by the late vice president Joseph Msika, allegedly arguing that the properties were not luxurious enough for him. In a statement Monday, the Ncube-led MDC said the vice president’s stay at the hotel showed that the government was insensitive “to the plight of the suffering millions”. “You cannot end poverty by running up a $120,000 hotel bill when more affordable and stable accommodation can be secured,” said party spokesman Kurauone Chihwayi. “What VP Mphoko is doing is shameful and he must be told so in clear terms. “If he has any shred of decency VP Mphoko will do the honorable thing and apologise to the nation, check out of the hotel and find cheaper and more stable accommodation. “He and his wife cannot continue to act like divas using funds meant to benefit the entire nation. “Mphoko needs to be reminded that he is public servant and he should put the needs of the nation ahead of obscene luxury at the tax payer’s expense.” The government has failed to stem the country’s economic slide since being re-elected in 2013 on elaborate promises of a boom and more than 2 million new jobs. Companies continue to shut down, adding to the countries estimated 80+ percent unemployment. Despite its coffers running on near-empty, the government continues to spend with President Robert Mugabe accused of wasting millions of dollars on foreign travel. The Zanu PF leader also recently expanded his cabinet, making appointments which, according to critics, were aimed at addressing the ruling party’s internal fights rather than dealing with the economic crisis. “The MDC finds it incredible that President Mugabe and his cronies in government continue to run up huge expenditures on luxuries when the country is headed for economic ruin,” said Chihwayi. “It would appear that the government is very committed to its mission of destroying instead of fixing the Zimbabwean economy. “The pillage system whereby a few Zanu PF cronies benefit and live like kings and queens while millions are living in abject poverty is exactly what has brought this nation where it is today.” He added: “Every crushing problem the nation is facing today was delivered by the hand of the ZANU PF government. “Instead of coming up with solid solutions we have a self -serving government which spends more time identifying goodies that it can dish out to its officials using public funds, with very little in terms of output coming out of the officials.”