News / National
Zanu PF rots in grime
06 Jun 2011 at 09:04hrs | Views
As the dust settles down after the high pitched activity, literally involving the entire country, the MDC family is back at the frontline, with a new leadership directing operations to meet the fundamental concerns and to execute the party's core national business.
From next week, the fired-up, fully inspired team -- led by President Tsvangirai -- reconnects with the people in a series of intense consultations and meetings to assess existing trends atthe grassroots; exchange ideas; and to take direct advice and instructions on how to tackle stubborn Zanu PF stains and residual dark spots still lurking in isolated rural areas.
The meetings will wind-up with a carnival, celebratory atmosphere in the form of the people's real change peace rally at every centre. The programme kicks of in Harare.
The MDC's holistic national plan for Zimbabwe is, and has always been, to lead in the realisation of the nation's total transformation into a fully fledged democracy after decades of a debilitating Zanu PF tyranny and dictatorship.
A new national executive committee came into office after last week's ratification by the national council, the third most senior organ of the party asked with policy implementation, leadership and execution of the MDC's principal aims and objectives.
Congress is the supreme organ of the party, followed by the national conference.
The composition of the new executive committee attracted a lot of media attention and interest throughout last week. Expectedly given that many in the media see the MDC through tiny pigeon holes and read what was going on inside this huge homestead with mixed views, sometimes unsure of the internal political dynamics, norms and culture of the organisation.
As Hon. Nelson Chamisa, the new national organising secretary, put it in response to some of the seemingly exaggerated public and media anxieties, the MDC is such a giant organisation, now in the ranks of Africa's biggest political parties.
For the record, the national council bestows specific duties and responsibilities to the most experienced, popular and capable officials to guide the party in between Congresses and the new national executive clearly reflect that wish. Stated simply, if an official is nominated by an entire province or several provinces for a particular post at Congress, the MDC acknowledges the wisdom and judgement of that constituency in making a recommendation for a national executive or another post to the national council even if that officer loses a congressional position.
The recommendation stems from a rich culture of respect for the wishes of the nominating provinces, party organs and the people generally.
"When people get re-deployed in positions of leadership, it's not out of lack of confidence, (it's actually the opposite) just out of the people's wish for re-arrangement of the deck in order to make sure that we strengthen our forces, we also put our ducks in a row and we are on all fours in terms of the thrust and momentum we would want to build for our struggle," Hon Chamisa told an anxious radio listener.
"The party has grown ever since the split of the party, the party has even grown stronger, bigger and the membership is so huge that we have to make sure that the leadership capacity is commensurate with the demands and dictates of the base that is growing, literally every minute.
"We have gained so much ground as a party yet there is still yet some more ground to cover. We are on the journey to the promised land, we can see, we can point to it but we are not all yet there and the only reason we are going to give Zimbabweans a country they deserve, a better Zimbabwe and a new Zimbabwe where governance, where vision, where leadership is not in short supply is when we build a strong movement."
The combined experience, political astuteness and professional acumen of the 2006 Congress' liberation team could never be wished away, for that leadership steered Zimbabwe into an advancing and fast mutating political milieu that laid the basis of what Zimbabwe is today.
History has it on a record that the 2006leadership took Zanu PF to the cleaners on 29 March 2008 and reduced that previous political monolith and fiefdom to a heap of debris, grime and grit in a short space of two years in office.
That was a collective effort, carefully synchronized with the blessing of the entire nation and buttressed by determination, an unquestionable resolve to end the crisis, and to bring back Zimbabwe onto rails.
"This movement is not going to be strengthened by an individual character," said Hon. Chamisa. "It's going to be out of our collective strength, out of our collective wisdom and our collective experience that we will be able to move this party forward."
With a wobbly opposition like Zanu PF, now plagued by health and leadership squabbles; factional fights; policy confusion over Zimbabwe's future; and incoherent messages to a nation keen to heal itself and start afresh, the new MDC leadership vowed to exert the people's final weight and finish-off the transition in triumph.
By the time we have the next election, and certainly not in 2011, Zanu PF would be so torn, fractured and weak that Zimbabwe would see it as a mere memoir the people would wish to forget.
The picture could be worse if Robert Mugabe remains the party leader given his rising inability to contain internal dissent for obvious reasons. The party's fortunes would be doubly disastrous if a new factional leader replaces Mugabe before then as the party faithfuls would scatter like inmates in a lunatic asylum.
In the run-up to the national council's confirmation of the new national executive committee, MDC detractors -- trying to divert attention from a collapsing Zanu PF -- vilified and derisively speculated on the political future of several senior leaders.
Some even falsely accused President Tsvangirai of imposing some MDC leaders onto various portfolios. This was classic display of their ignorance of the party's democratic culture and standard operational systems.
To this, Hon Chamisa explained: "It's quite clear that we believe in horses for courses in the MDC. We believe that there's no human being worth throwing away. All human beings are born for a reason, this is why we are created in our millions if not billions because we have unique and distinct competencies.
"We hope that we are going to create a feeling and a chemistry of those competencies for the common good of the party. Engineer Mudzuri, for example, has so many distinct advantages that some of us may not possess or that some of us may not even carry. We want to make sure that we leverage on those advantages, we leverage on those points of strength and merit so that we move forward.
"In MDC we believe in servant leadership, we believe in meritocratic leadership. Leadership is supposed to be on the basis of merit, leadership is on the basis of capacity and also on the basis of serving the people so this is nothing personal. It's just like what I said in the Labour Party where you had Ed and Dave competing for the leadership of the Labour party."
That is the kind of culture the MDC wishes to nourish, to cultivate and to encourage – a culture of inclusion, totally different from that of Zanu PF and other political parties. "It is all about team spirit, it is all about camaraderie, it's all about comradeship and cadre-ship."
In that culture, no member of the MDC – except in untoward and exceptional circumstances such as gross indiscipline – is ever tossed off a moving train, vicariously donated to Zanu PF, deliberately demobilised or driven into political apathy after an inhouse contest.
"As we move forward we are going to be complimenting one another in terms of the path we are taking. So nobody has been thrown out of the boat. We are not so stupid as to give away any single body to the sharks of Zanu PF," said Hon Chamisa. "We are not so stupid as to just donate any single body to the crocodiles in Zanu PF. We are quite clear as to why we should remain united because unity is going to be the winning formula for the party."
----------------------------------
This article was first published in the MDC-T Newsletter: The Real Change Times, Issue 069 2011, click here to see the whole Newsletter.
From next week, the fired-up, fully inspired team -- led by President Tsvangirai -- reconnects with the people in a series of intense consultations and meetings to assess existing trends atthe grassroots; exchange ideas; and to take direct advice and instructions on how to tackle stubborn Zanu PF stains and residual dark spots still lurking in isolated rural areas.
The meetings will wind-up with a carnival, celebratory atmosphere in the form of the people's real change peace rally at every centre. The programme kicks of in Harare.
The MDC's holistic national plan for Zimbabwe is, and has always been, to lead in the realisation of the nation's total transformation into a fully fledged democracy after decades of a debilitating Zanu PF tyranny and dictatorship.
A new national executive committee came into office after last week's ratification by the national council, the third most senior organ of the party asked with policy implementation, leadership and execution of the MDC's principal aims and objectives.
Congress is the supreme organ of the party, followed by the national conference.
The composition of the new executive committee attracted a lot of media attention and interest throughout last week. Expectedly given that many in the media see the MDC through tiny pigeon holes and read what was going on inside this huge homestead with mixed views, sometimes unsure of the internal political dynamics, norms and culture of the organisation.
As Hon. Nelson Chamisa, the new national organising secretary, put it in response to some of the seemingly exaggerated public and media anxieties, the MDC is such a giant organisation, now in the ranks of Africa's biggest political parties.
For the record, the national council bestows specific duties and responsibilities to the most experienced, popular and capable officials to guide the party in between Congresses and the new national executive clearly reflect that wish. Stated simply, if an official is nominated by an entire province or several provinces for a particular post at Congress, the MDC acknowledges the wisdom and judgement of that constituency in making a recommendation for a national executive or another post to the national council even if that officer loses a congressional position.
The recommendation stems from a rich culture of respect for the wishes of the nominating provinces, party organs and the people generally.
"When people get re-deployed in positions of leadership, it's not out of lack of confidence, (it's actually the opposite) just out of the people's wish for re-arrangement of the deck in order to make sure that we strengthen our forces, we also put our ducks in a row and we are on all fours in terms of the thrust and momentum we would want to build for our struggle," Hon Chamisa told an anxious radio listener.
"The party has grown ever since the split of the party, the party has even grown stronger, bigger and the membership is so huge that we have to make sure that the leadership capacity is commensurate with the demands and dictates of the base that is growing, literally every minute.
"We have gained so much ground as a party yet there is still yet some more ground to cover. We are on the journey to the promised land, we can see, we can point to it but we are not all yet there and the only reason we are going to give Zimbabweans a country they deserve, a better Zimbabwe and a new Zimbabwe where governance, where vision, where leadership is not in short supply is when we build a strong movement."
The combined experience, political astuteness and professional acumen of the 2006 Congress' liberation team could never be wished away, for that leadership steered Zimbabwe into an advancing and fast mutating political milieu that laid the basis of what Zimbabwe is today.
History has it on a record that the 2006leadership took Zanu PF to the cleaners on 29 March 2008 and reduced that previous political monolith and fiefdom to a heap of debris, grime and grit in a short space of two years in office.
That was a collective effort, carefully synchronized with the blessing of the entire nation and buttressed by determination, an unquestionable resolve to end the crisis, and to bring back Zimbabwe onto rails.
"This movement is not going to be strengthened by an individual character," said Hon. Chamisa. "It's going to be out of our collective strength, out of our collective wisdom and our collective experience that we will be able to move this party forward."
With a wobbly opposition like Zanu PF, now plagued by health and leadership squabbles; factional fights; policy confusion over Zimbabwe's future; and incoherent messages to a nation keen to heal itself and start afresh, the new MDC leadership vowed to exert the people's final weight and finish-off the transition in triumph.
By the time we have the next election, and certainly not in 2011, Zanu PF would be so torn, fractured and weak that Zimbabwe would see it as a mere memoir the people would wish to forget.
The picture could be worse if Robert Mugabe remains the party leader given his rising inability to contain internal dissent for obvious reasons. The party's fortunes would be doubly disastrous if a new factional leader replaces Mugabe before then as the party faithfuls would scatter like inmates in a lunatic asylum.
In the run-up to the national council's confirmation of the new national executive committee, MDC detractors -- trying to divert attention from a collapsing Zanu PF -- vilified and derisively speculated on the political future of several senior leaders.
Some even falsely accused President Tsvangirai of imposing some MDC leaders onto various portfolios. This was classic display of their ignorance of the party's democratic culture and standard operational systems.
To this, Hon Chamisa explained: "It's quite clear that we believe in horses for courses in the MDC. We believe that there's no human being worth throwing away. All human beings are born for a reason, this is why we are created in our millions if not billions because we have unique and distinct competencies.
"We hope that we are going to create a feeling and a chemistry of those competencies for the common good of the party. Engineer Mudzuri, for example, has so many distinct advantages that some of us may not possess or that some of us may not even carry. We want to make sure that we leverage on those advantages, we leverage on those points of strength and merit so that we move forward.
"In MDC we believe in servant leadership, we believe in meritocratic leadership. Leadership is supposed to be on the basis of merit, leadership is on the basis of capacity and also on the basis of serving the people so this is nothing personal. It's just like what I said in the Labour Party where you had Ed and Dave competing for the leadership of the Labour party."
That is the kind of culture the MDC wishes to nourish, to cultivate and to encourage – a culture of inclusion, totally different from that of Zanu PF and other political parties. "It is all about team spirit, it is all about camaraderie, it's all about comradeship and cadre-ship."
In that culture, no member of the MDC – except in untoward and exceptional circumstances such as gross indiscipline – is ever tossed off a moving train, vicariously donated to Zanu PF, deliberately demobilised or driven into political apathy after an inhouse contest.
"As we move forward we are going to be complimenting one another in terms of the path we are taking. So nobody has been thrown out of the boat. We are not so stupid as to give away any single body to the sharks of Zanu PF," said Hon Chamisa. "We are not so stupid as to just donate any single body to the crocodiles in Zanu PF. We are quite clear as to why we should remain united because unity is going to be the winning formula for the party."
----------------------------------
This article was first published in the MDC-T Newsletter: The Real Change Times, Issue 069 2011, click here to see the whole Newsletter.
Source - MDC Newsletter
