NATIONAL Constitutional Assembly (NCA) has transformed itself into a political party to fight Zanu PF and the MDC-T in the 2018 elections. NewsDay Reporter Moses Matenga (ND) speaks to the party’s interim leader Lovemore Madhuku on why he chose to form the party.
Listen to the audio interview below:
Below are excerpts of the interview: ND: How do you view your chances against Zanu PF and MDC-T? LM: Zanu PF will be defeated, there is a generational process taking place in the country. Zanu PF is led by people who were in the liberation struggle and played a key role in the early years of independence, they have now outlived their usefulness and for that reason Zanu PF will be out, there will be no Zanu PF that will defeat our party because it’s led by old people. They can’t match us.
The MDC-T will survive, but won’t win the elections. They will survive as a weak party. There is no chance for the MDC-T in 2018. We are looking at ordinary young people in particular, we will be open to 14-year-olds, who will be 19 in 2018 and so we expect young people to move away from the politics of Zanu PF versus MDC-T.
We would love a situation where we are in government and giving Mugabe his pension. The President will not be having enough energy five years from now. He will have to retire; you can’t have energy beyond 94. I wouldn’t expect to stand in an election with Mugabe, it won’t make sense, and we promise him better care than Zanu PF can. He is safer in our hands. My message to him is he will be safer after 2018 in our hands.
ND: Why have you decided to form a political party? LM: We felt very strongly that the existing parties, namely Zanu PF and the MDCs were not able to pursue our interests and our own vision for the country and this came mainly from the fact that in the era of the inclusive government, they engaged in self-fulfilling processes, for example, imposing the constitution on the people and not addressing bread and butter issues like water shortages in urban areas and the issue of unemployment. So the NCA thought it is an appropriate time to form a political party and prepare ourselves possibly for 2018.
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ND: What else do you feel the inclusive government failed to do during its tenure? LM: The most important thing was the failure to make the economy function to satisfy the interests of the people.
Every person should have access to a decent life, but the majority live in extreme levels of poverty. There was no government programme to fight poverty. Most of the time they fought over luxuries, how many cars each minister was supposed to get. There were reports that they gave each other $15 000.
Zanu PF, for example, is a corrupt party. Each of the leaders think they are in government to amass wealth and money, but what we hear from the President on corruption is “give us the evidence”.
What more evidence does he want if a person who is fully employed as minister gets rich, where are they getting the money from? Why give the President evidence yet he has CIO that should be doing that? Instead of employing them to give him information on such things as corruption, he employs them to suppress people’s rights, to undermine, to intimidate citizens which is a complete dereliction of duty on his part.
ND: How do you expect to change all that as a political party? LM: Our first priority is to convince Zimbabweans to see us as an alternative to the political parties which exist. We will start with a mobilisation process, a persuasion agenda meaning going out to the people and telling them we are an alternative and calling upon them to take us seriously. Once we achieve that then if we get the mandate of the people all we have to put in place in this country is an honest leadership, a committed leadership and a capable leadership.
We are not going to reinvent the wheel. This country has lots of economic programmes on paper, lots of policies that have been debated, it will work if they are implemented. What we lack is people who are committed.
ND: Do you have the resources for your project? LM: We are not looking for any donor funding. We have persuaded our membership to pay a small fee ranging from $1 to $5. We will not use expensive advertising methods like newspaper advertising or television. It will be a person-to-person campaign, a door-to-door campaign. Actually, with the size of the country, if we have 500 capable activists day in and day out to do that kind of work, just give us one year to say we have the number that can make us go into office or at least contribute. We must remember this is not a one year-or two-year programme.
We have a long-term programme, if we don’t succeed in 2018, we will try again and we can’t fail to make it in 10 years.
ND: You were once a strong ally of the MDC-T leader and former Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai before you became his strong critic, what went wrong? LM: Nothing went wrong; it’s just differences that emerged in the way we do things. He still remains a close colleague, we founded the NCA together, founded the MDC together, but differences are normal and we have different strategies on how to do things. My main difference with him started with the joining of the inclusive government.
It must not be forgotten that in 2008 we campaigned together and we campaigned for Tsvangirai, but immediately after they managed to get more votes than Zanu PF in the Presidential race they agreed to be absorbed in an inclusive government where their role was ceremonial. I know they got a lot out of it, lots of properties; he himself stays in a government property he is negotiating to purchase. That’s not the kind of framework of leadership we would have preferred.
We don’t believe he has the same level of stamina to push the agenda that we started, that’s our major difference.
ND: From what you are saying, do you think Tsvangirai betrayed the struggle? LM: There was again the question of constitution. We were against Copac; he was in charge of Copac. I think every Zimbabwean now knows the constitution changed nothing. I will not use the word betray because he is entitled to change tactics and take things different, but when you start doing that, you must not think those people whom you used to share the platform with will also change.
The constitution reform agenda was a very big mistake on the part of the MDC.
It showed that they stood for nothing. Imagine you have been campaigning for a new constitution and you get an opportunity and you undermine every principle that you purportedly stood for.
ND: Now as you meet the people, who now seem tired of opposition politics’ capacity to unseat Zanu PF, what’s your message to inspire them to join you in your fight? LM: Our message is we will identify with people and put government on clear terms and highlight their failures. Our role is to stay close to the people. Take the stupid notion from Harare to put prepaid meters. Water must not be purchased, water is a fundamental right, and the poorest person must be able to access water without being burdened with the fact that you have no money to pay.
Our party will be opposed to that. We will campaign vigorously against that, water, just like fresh air, is for anybody without paying. People can pay at their own pace and when they can’t, the State can come in. That’s the kind of work we will be doing.
ND: You have been accused of being pro-Zanu PF particularly given your stance towards the July 31 election, are you indeed Zanu PF? LM: I have never been pro-Zanu PF, but towards elections I was standing for the principle that the time was necessary for us to go for elections to determine the post-election process. It was a clear mandate from NCA membership that the inclusive government was wasting our time and we should go for elections.
The other area was in insisting the Concourt had made a decision on elections. That court was created by the MDC and Zanu PF and they gave it power to make final decisions. I didn’t want to be part of the MDC-T double standards approach where things are right when they are in their favour. If anyone thought I was Zanu PF, then let them see what is happening now. All my positions were my own and NCA efforts to get over with elections and start serious business.
