The urgency of establishing a National Technical Transition Council (NTTCC) - PDP Weekly Policy Brief

Our beloved country, Zimbabwe, is in crisis and we can confirm that we now have a leaderless and rudderless failed state which needs immediate emergency rescue.

There is no doubt in our minds at PDP that it will be only when the ZANU (PF) coterie is dismissed from government by the people that we can begin to build a new democratic state which not only respects the rights of every citizen called Zimbabwean, but creates an inclusive social political and economic system to harness our collective potential.

If we all think deeper about where we have come from, where we are and where we should be, it is clear that throughout the last 36 years we Zimbabweans have accepted that ZANU (PF) chefs and President Mugabe are above the law. In fact our recently humiliated attorney General, someone who took an oath abide by the constitution, even confessed to that fact.

We have therefore all been the architects of a pseudo democracy where we have tacitly approved that it is acceptable for ZANU (PF) to steal, cheat, abduct and even kill in their pursuit of absolute power and unbridled access to the abuse national resources as they please without consequence. We cannot allow that anymore.

In fact, if we look at all liberation struggle governments throughout Africa, they have all failed to deliver to the people that which they claim to have fought for –their freedom from any form of oppression of man by man.

There has evidently been a systemic failure of democracy in Africa because those who allegedly fought against oppression by the colonial powers, do not themselves understand what true democracy is and if they do, they have never been willing to be subject to its conditions and tenets. They also failed to build and nurture the necessary institutions to guarantee the rights enshrined in paper constitutions which they swore to be guided by at independence.

We are seeing this in South Africa today and we have seen it in Zimbabwe, Angola, Uganda and many more African countries. Liberation struggle political parties in assuming political power, have therefore all failed to govern effectively but instead have become predatory states led by predatory leaderships and supported by predatory coalitions whose greed is boundless, uncaring and brutal.

That is why a second revolution is now necessary in most of Africa and in Zimbabwe in particular. This second national democratic revolution which seeks to transform our country into a true democratic state can certainly not be led by those who led the first revolution of political independence. This is simply because the second revolution is different in nature, time and space and requires a new paradigm. It is a revolution which seeks to establish new values and principles of inclusivity which are based on the utmost respect of human dignity and economic emancipation of all without any form of discrimination.

This second national democratic revolution demands an accountable political leadership and the decentralisation of power if it is to be inclusive and sustainable in nature. It demands rapid economic transformation and urgent poverty alleviation measures. It requires new political leadership, management and technical skills.

We therefore have to create a totally new template of how political power is attained and exercised. We need a fundamental rapture from the old to the new.

As PDP we are therefore promoting the idea of a grand coalition which is currently taking shape.  There is no justification of us delaying this given that Zimbabwe's economy is now evidently on its knees due to incompetence and negligence of ZANU (PF).

Second, as articulated in our HOPE policy document, must be the immediate establishment of National Technical Transition Council (NTTC) to take over the running of the country to restore confidence and stability as a transitional mechanism to re-position Zimbabwe back onto a socio-economic recovery trajectory.

The NTTC will work for limited period to stop the ongoing haemorrhage and to reposition Zimbabwe towards a democratic dispensation and sustainable economic recovery path. It is our view that ZANU (PF) cannot achieve this and only an NTTC can achieve these goals given the level of hegemonic, authority and state crises currently consuming the country.

It is to be composed of capable Zimbabweans with the technical ability to restore Zimbabwe's economy and ensure the alignment of laws to the constitution including electoral reforms and prepare Zimbabwe for new free and fair elections which are transparent and managed by an independent ZEC.

The NTTC will be composed of a team of ten commissioners each in charge of the key deliverables of the NTTC, including a chairperson of the commission. The NTTC will be composed of sub committees each chaired by a member of the commission.

The NTTC will be the Executive Authority of the country during the curatorship period. It will be responsible for the day to day running of the country. It will have ten major responsibilities which are:  emergency social rescue, economic revival and reforms, investment and employment creation, agriculture, and industrial revival, electoral reforms, constitutional realignment, social service delivery, protection of the vulnerable which includes women and children, youth and new international reengagement efforts which put the national interests at the forefront.

In other words the NTTC will implement both political and economic reforms as intended since 2008 and will not be limited in implementing its mandate nor will it be subject to the whims of any political party especially ZANU(PF).

We as PDP believe that only these measures can suffice to rescue Zimbabwe from the edge and except we attend to this as a matter of national security, Zimbabwe is likely to deteriorate into serious social and political upheaval.

Another Zimbabwe is possible!