LITTLE-KNOWN opposition leader, Misheck Nyazenga of the opposition Christian Alliance for Democracy and Peace in Zimbabwe (CADPZ), has scoffed at the proposed grand coalition of opposition parties, saying the project was likely to falter a few weeks before next year’s general elections because of power struggles.
BY KENNETH NYANGANI
Nyazenga, whose party has been lying dormant since its formation in 1995, told NewsDay at the weekend that they were now geared to challenge President Robert Mugabe and Zanu PF as a single entity in the forthcoming elections.
“Coalition is a non-starter, coalitions will never work in Zimbabwe because Zanu PF intelligence system is ahead, you will see, just a few weeks before elections you will see fights and divisions in the coalition of opposition parties,’’ he said.
Nyazenga’s remarks came as several opposition parties, among them MDC-T, NPP, ZimPF, MDC, Zapu and PDP, are reportedly working round-the-clock to forge a formidable alliance against Mugabe, although they have not yet agreed on a candidate to challenge the Zanu PF leader.
The CADPZ claimed that the Morgan Tsvangirai-led MDC-T “stole” most of his party programmes at its formation in 1999, adding Zanu PF also swallowed the majority of his supporters, leaving him grounded.
“We didn’t gain popularity at that time because we couldn’t conquer challenges we faced as a party. This was the time when more powerful political parties came to the fore, the MDC, in particular, came in and swallowed our programme. We gave them the chance, but failed to accomplish our objective, that is why we have rekindled our objective to unseat the government,’’ he said.
“We now have representatives in most of the country’s provinces and are in the process of mobilising resources and stakeholders as we want to participate in the 2018 elections,’’ Nyazenga said, adding his party’s campaign strategies would be hinged on fighting corruption, economic meltdown, high unemployment rate, poor healthy delivery system, among other things.
