Professor Welshman Ncube takes aspiring MDC candidates back to school

The Professor Welshman Ncube-led MDC has resolved that aspiring party candidates for House of Assembly, Senatorial and council seats will have to undergo oral and written examinations, instead of contesting in primary elections, as the party gears for elections due on or before July 31.

In breaking with the tradition that sees political parties using the ballot to select candidates, the MDC says the move is calculated to weed out uneducated chancers and fly-by-night opportunists.

MDC national spokesperson Mr Nhlanhla Dube confirmed the unorthodox move in an interview on Wednesday last week.

"We are in the process of receiving CVs from aspiring candidates for both council and Parliament.

"After that, the party will conduct oral interviews of those who have interests of representing it.
 
Thereafter candidates will answer a questionnaire on their personal profile, current affairs and general knowledge.

"We want to avoid having useless people in Parliament who will spend most of their time singing and heckling other legislators instead of discussing issues and contribute to the making of sound policies for our nation.

"We have, as a party, demonstrated that we stand for quality and delivering. This can only be done by having candidates who are qualified. We will not have a situation where people end up being represented by cellphone thieves or mbanje smokers and peddlers," he said.

Mr Dube's statement can be seen as a veiled attack on MDC-T office bearers who have faced criminal charges ranging from corruption to the theft of cell- phones, during their tenure in office.

Mr Dube added that the MDC's supreme decision-making body, the standing committee, discussed the selection process of candidates and it was agreed that those representing the MDC must be "candidates of quality" and not empty populists.

However, the decision has not gone down well with some ambitious party members, who feel it is meant to impose new faces in the party on the grounds of education.

"We have been in the party since it was started in 1999. Some people want to impose their educated friends who were not with us in the trenches.

"Many politicians are not educated but they are running the Government," complained an aspiring legislator who refused to be named.

"What is unique about our party?

"We are not running a university. This is politics, you cannot run a party like that . . . What if I fail their test?" he asked.

A civil society activist, Mr Dumisani Nkomo, said the MDC's idea was both noble and dangerous.

"It's a good idea. The country needs educated representatives. We need to have quality leaders.

Zimbabwe surely deserves better than what we have seen.

"However, the problem is how the MDC will do their examinations. If badly handled, it can be dangerous and fault the good intention of whoever came up with the idea," said Mr Nkomo.