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Civic society organisations hail coalition plans

Politics
CIVIC society organisations under the banner of Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition (CiZC) have hailed opposition parties’ move to forge an alliance that will see them fielding one candidate to challenge President Robert Mugabe in next year’s elections.

CIVIC society organisations under the banner of Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition (CiZC) have hailed opposition parties’ move to forge an alliance that will see them fielding one candidate to challenge President Robert Mugabe in next year’s elections.

BY SINDISO DUBE

MDC-T leader, Morgan Tsvangirai (left) shakes hands with his MDC counterpart, Welshman Ncube at a memorandum of understanding ceremony in Harare last month
MDC-T leader, Morgan Tsvangirai (left) shakes hands with his MDC counterpart, Welshman Ncube at a memorandum of understanding ceremony in Harare last month

Addressing journalists in Bulawayo at the weekend, CiZC spokesperson, Dumisani Nkomo said: “Opposition parties have realised that their votes were fragmented by having many parties fighting Mugabe, yet they could be stronger, as one unit, the ruling party was using that against the opposition. It is in every opposition party’s best interest to form an alliance with others and field a single candidate next year.”

To date, three major political parties – namely Morgan Tsvangirai’s MDC-T, Welshman Ncube’s MDC and former Vice-President Joice Mujuru’s National People’s Party – have signed memoranda of understanding for the proposed grand coalition.

“It doesn’t make sense for a small country like Zimbabwe to have more than 50 political parties fighting for the same cause, while a country like the United States of America has less than five parties, yet they have a much greater population than Zimbabwe,” he said.

Nkomo also said a coalition against Zanu PF would also give the electorate optimism.

“An orderly alliance will also give the electorate confidence in the opposition parties’ desire to dislodge Mugabe’s 37-year rule. For a long time, the electorate has been thinking that opposition parties are not serious about change due to the way they were disintegrating and forming parallel parties and structures,” he said.

Nkomo expressed concerned at the slow pace at which the government was aligning laws to the new Constitution and delays in implementing electoral reforms.

“Our fear is unless key reforms are delivered, the 2018 elections will become a mere farce with the script being the same, as that of the 2013 elections, with the apparent possibility of the actor being the same, the plot being distinctly familiar and the outcome being a dejavous moment,” Nkomo said.