Biti's consistent call for an NTA vindicated

The People's Democratic Party is glad to witness a developing convergence around the idea of establishing a National Transitional Authority whose proponent is President Tendai Biti.

Dating back to Mandel on the 26th of April 2014, President Biti proposed to the party that Zimbabweans ought to lobby for a transitional arrangement to avoid the continuous deterioration of the Zimbabwean situation.

In a 16 point plan presented by President Biti to the press a month later the case for a transitional authority was made.

"We thus strongly believe that a National Technical Transitional Council (NTTC) can only implement the successful implementation of the THIRD WAY and consensus discourse on the economy.
 
The NTTC must be made of competent Zimbabweans whose mandate will be to put in place measures to turn around the economy and create conditions that enable Zimbabweans to use their creative energies to build a better society for all."
 
The situation in Zimbabwe continued on downward spiral, President Biti engaged SADC by writing a dossier on the 6th of August 2014; it was delivered to more than seven heads of state who were attending a Summit in Victoria Falls.

"Your Excellency, we make the point that failure to act now will result in the unpalatable suffering of the Zimbabwean people and the temptation by others to resort to unlawful and unconstitutional means of redress."

In this letter President Biti made a suggestion to SADC to facilitate dialogue in the country leading to a consensus that would result in the establishment of a transitional authority.

With all these suggestions falling on deaf ears, the party was relentless and continued to advocate for a seemingly unpopular idea of creating a National Transitional Authority.

At the inaugural convention held on the 11th of September 2015, the party launched an economic blueprint titled Holistic Program for Economic Transformation (HOPE) which put on the table the idea of an NTA as a mechanism of attending to urgent economic reforms including attending to macroeconomic stability, implementation of an emergency recovery plan and soliciting for an emergency recovery fund.

To compliment this blueprint a political roadmap was also launched on the same day, the Agenda for Restoration and Rehabilitation of Electoral Sustainability (ARREST) , the NTA would work as a mechanism to implement political reforms before a credible election is held.

We also made the several political arguments for an NTA including the idea of national healing, peace and reconciliation.

These two documents put firmly the debate of the NTA idea in the national discourse promoting the PDP in 2016 to launch at its inaugural policy conference a detailed handbook on the NTA titled "DEFINING OUR TRANSITION: A CASE FOR THE NATIONAL TRANSITIONAL AUTHORITY IN ZIMBABWE" see link below for full document

This document highlights underlying factors which were pointing out to developments which the nation witnessed in the past few days.

"Mugabe has lost his grip on power anyway and the security sector has taken control.
 
Intensifying succession factional fights in ZANUPF have led to government dysfunction, in particular policy formulation and implementation inconsistencies. The ruling party will thus be unable to secure consensus on the ideal solutions to the increasing social, political and economic crises in the country.
 
Factional fights and succession politics have sucked in state security agents and personnel, such that any excess behaviour by any of the protagonists will lead to blood on the wall and floor, as the gun will become the arbiter."
 
We made the point that an implosion was inevitable and therefore the NTA would salvage the situation and buy peace for Zimbabweans.
 
"It must be understood that the NTA, is a Transitional Mechanism that will create a soft- landing to the Zimbabwean crisis in the face of an inevitable implosion and melt-down should the current status quo persist."

We still make the point that the NTA is the best way forward. It must address the underlying problems that have resulted in current developments to avoid cyclical self-replication of the situation in the future.
 
The headlines in Zimbabwe today have vindicated our calls, under the leadership of President Biti the PDP is committed to thought leadership, together with our partners in the MDC Alliance; we will endeavour to end the suffering of our people.  
 
In recent times the Platform for Concerned Citizens and the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Union had echoed our calls for an NTA.
 
What we look forward to even more is the production by compatriots of a better plan than ours.
 
Together Another Zimbabwe is Possible
PDP Communications