I have always been a political animal: Maridadi

By The NewsDay | May. 1, 2014 | 7 Min read

When former radio deejay James Maridadi chatted to children on radio during the late 1990s and early 2000s in a ZBC Radio Three programme Junior Threes, no one ever thought he would one day trade the media for politics.

At 47, Maridadi is now MP for Mabvuku-Tafara constituency (MDC-T), a seat he won resoundingly in the July 2013 parliamentary elections.

NewsDay senior parliamentary reporter Veneranda Langa (ND) recently had a long chat with Maridadi (JM) about his role in Parliament and other issues. He said his interest in legislative issues started way back in 2000 when he staged a one-man demonstration at the Parliament of Zimbabwe. The following are excerpts from the interview.

ND: Who is James Maridadi? JM: I was born 47 years ago in Zimbabwe, but I have Swahili origins because my father was from Pemba in Tanzania. I grew up in Mabvuku and in my very early 20s I joined the Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation (ZBC) as a producer/presenter in the News and Current Affairs Department. I was stationed at Radio Three, and this was after completing studies in Mass Communication at the Harare Polytechnic College. My journalism qualifications were acquired from different institutions like BBC Radio One and the Commonwealth Broadcasting Association, and I was also trained in New York and Germany at Deutsche Welle.

I was later advised by Victor Mawunde, a war veteran, to undertake studies in other fields other than journalism and as years progressed I acquired a Higher National Diploma in Business Administration degree. I have gone further to acquire a Master of Business Administration degree with Nottingham University and have also done a post-graduate certificate in management and finance and another post-graduate qualification in executive development. I also did a Master of Science in Leadership and Change Management with Leeds University.

After I left ZBC in 1999, I joined Trust Bank as corporate communications manager and in 2000 I joined power utility, Zesa Holdings. I then left in 2007 and joined Pioneer Motor Corporation. In 2009 joined the Prime Minister (Morgan Tsvangirai)’s office where I became Tsvangirai’s spokesperson and later director of protocol.

ND: Did you start having an interest in the legislature when you joined the PM’s office? JM: I have always been a political animal ever since I was a young boy. In 2000 I staged a one-man demonstration at the Parliament of Zimbabwe when Emmerson Mnangagwa was Speaker of Parliament and Patrick Chinamasa was the Leader of the House. I was basically demonstrating against MPs who attended Parliament while drunk when they were supposed to debate on crucial issues like the National Budget which had been presented by the then Finance minister Simba Makoni. I thought it was unfair for MPs to do that and I decided to engage Mnangagwa and Chinamasa on the issue.

ND: Do you think such behaviour has changed with the current crop of MPs? JM: Well, in the current first session of the eighth Parliament I have not seen an MP who has come to debate in a state of drunkenness. Current MPs have done well during debate of motions and an example would be the way the corruption motion was dealt with, where MPs across the political divide spoke with one voice against corruption. The biggest challenge in Parliament is the whipping system, but MPs cannot do much about it because that is what transpires the world over. MPs cannot stray too much from the dictates of political parties and the whipping system plays a big role in determining the scope of debate.

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ND: So how did your experience at the PM’s office prepare you for Parliament? JM: When I got into the PM’s office my mind was already set and I had already started on my next life, which is politics. In 2013, I decided to contest for the Mabvuku-Tafara parliamentary seat and I won. It was easy because people there know me — I was born and bred there and I spent a long time working on radio and television and already people knew who I was.

ND: Did you consider it a big challenge to contest against Zanu PF candidate Godwills Masimirembwa who had already embarked on different projects for the people of Mabvuku? JM: Well, I do not know whether to call Masimirembwa’s projects vote-buying or real projects to help the people of Mabvuku because one would not stop doing projects because they lost elections. I was going to win anyway because the people of Mabvuku have always known me as the boy next door.

ND: The people of Mabvuku never really benefited from Constituency Development Fund allocations. How do you feel as their MP that there has not been more CDF allocations since 2011? JM: Yes, Mabvuku-Tafara did not get any CDF allocation because their MP who was elected in 2008 Shepherd Madamombe (MDC-T) unfortunately passed away. The CDF allocation was then given to the then senator for the constituency Sekai Holland and the information I have is that a committee was set up to plan some projects, but I do not know what later happened. When I became MP for the constituency, I inquired about the CDF money with the ministry and they said it was there.

ND: As their current MP, how are you going to finance different projects without any CDF allocations? JM: I have always made it clear to the people in my constituency that the role of an MP is different from that of central government. The MP’s role is to look at people’s needs and take them to central government and other utility companies like Zesa and local authorities to ensure there is service provision. However, at the moment there are projects that I will be undertaking like encouraging people to engage in maize growing based on peri-urban farming during agricultural seasons because most people in Mabvuku are poor and surrounding industries where they got their livelihood from were closed. This project will be helpful in terms of food provision. We will be setting up different soccer academies at different schools and we currently have a club Mafero-Mafero in Division Two. We are also embarking on a chicken-rearing project where we want to become contract farmers for companies involved in chickens.

This will create about 100 jobs. We have also been talking to a lot of well-wishers to resuscitate some of our dilapidated recreational facilities so that youngsters can go and practise soccer, cricket and basketball.

Mabvuku-Tafara is a huge constituency with about 200 000 people and can produce sporting talent like what is happening at Takashinga Sports Club in Highfield which produced Tatenda Taibu and Elton Chigumbura. We want to get the youths out of the streets.

ND: In Parliament how have you contributed to motions and committees? JM: I have an interest in contributing to motions that have a direct impact on the economy and that is why I moved a motion on Zesa in the National Assembly. Lack of electricity impacts negatively on the economy and without electricity you cannot improve the mining sector which relies on electricity. I also think Zimbabwe’s number one, two and three enemy is corruption, and issues of unfriendly policies would be number four.

I have been very outspoken on such issues and also sit in the Media, Telecommunications and Broadcasting Services committee as well as in the Mines and Energy committee. I am interested in these committees because I am doing a PhD where my thesis will look at State enterprises and local authorities pertaining to their transformation into sectors of service excellence and pillars of economic transformation.

ND: Would you say your experience as a journalist helped you gain confidence as a politician? JM: There is nothing unique about being a journalist, but what makes journalists end up getting into politics is that they cover political stories. However, being a journalist will not get you a free ride into politics. One must fight it out with doctors, lawyers, engineers — those are the kind of people we have in Parliament. Broadcasting can, however, give you unfettered interface with the public and helps for purposes of introduction into politics.

ND: As a former journalist, what are your comments on the state of the media in Zimbabwe? JM: Why have more than 10 pieces of legislation that regulate the media? Why is it as a country we are so scared of what our people would read and hear? We must do away with pieces of legislation that are not in tandem with the dictates of the present world and Constitution. Archaic laws like the Criminal Law (Codification and Reform) Act should embarrass everybody. Why have our journalists registering with the Zimbabwe Media Commission? It is absolutely unnecessary. Why should processes to start radio or TV stations be torturous? It should be the easiest thing to do. Progressive democracies the world over do not have ministries of information.

ND: Finally, what are your comments about problems in your party, the MDC-T? JM: There are people who are competent enough to comment on issues at MDC-T and let those people give those comments. I will reserve my strengths to comment on what is happening in Parliament and in my constituency. Anyone whom you ask today about their political ambitions and they say they do not want to be President is foolish. If a teacher says they don’t want to be a headmaster, then they are foolish. The objective is to be captain. I want to progress so much in politics and take it as far as I can. I would never say my ambition is to be Vice-President as it is hypocritical and that is what is killing Zimbabwe.