Communist party want to restore Zimbabwe's wealth into the hands of ordinary masses'

The Zimbabwe Communist Party (ZCP) says it is working towards the "equal sharing of the country's wealth", after it "successfully" held a meeting of its steering committee members in Midrand over the weekend.

In an interview with News24, the ZCP's newly appointed national political commissar, Ian Beddowes, described his organisation as the "vanguard party" that would "restore the country's wealth into the hands of ordinary masses".

"We've set up the first communist party in Zimbabwe and we are in the process of forming a vanguard party that will see the working people of Zimbabwe, especially the poor, having their share in the country's wealth," said Beddowes.

This came as the southern African country was gearing up for presidential elections in 2018.

Beddowes said his organisation had no intention to contest in the much anticipated crunch vote, describing them as "a contestation of individuals with no ideology and no vision".

An alternative to President Robert Mugabe's rule

He, however, said that the ZCP would play a much broader role during the election, as some of its members were also members of other political formations.

"We are a group of committed people who are politically active in other organisation that also include the so called opposition parties. We even have people who are interested in joining us within the ranks of the ruling party. Therefore, we're going to play a significant role in influencing policy decision that would be beneficial to the working poor," said Beddowes.

Opposition parties in Zimbabwe were currently working towards efforts to forge a unified alliance in next year's polls, with two deals having been signed in April between the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) leader Morgan Tsvangirai and Joice Mujuru of the National People's Party (NPP).

This was seen as an embryonic attempt to forge an alternative to President Robert Mugabe's rule, which began with independence from Britain in 1980.

Soon after,  Tsvangirai signed another pact to re-unite with the MDC-N, which split away in 2005, and was led by the Welshman Ncube.

'Productive capitalism'

The MDC has in recent years been weakened by repeated splits, and was badly fractured by Tsvangirai's troubled term as Mugabe's prime minister in a coalition government from 2009 until 2013.

Taking a swipe at the fragmented opposition parties, Beddowes said that they did not have a coherent ideology and, as a result, they were not going to be able to represent the aspirations of the working poor.

He said that his party aimed at advocating for "productive capitalism" which would see the country's wealth being returned to the masses.

Beddowes said the ZPC wanted to build a national democratic economy based on "the self-activity of the working-people and the restoration of production".

"The other political parties in the country do not have a coherent ideology. For now we are going to encourage productive capitalism and take the economy to the people. We want every district, city to have a plan on how to redistribute wealth to our people," he said.

The ZPC was currently being led by its general secretary Nicholas Mabhena.