MDCs must walk in step with nation or risk extinction

If there is anything to be learnt from the report released by the US-based think-tank, Freedom House, that noted Zanu-PF's increasing popularity among Zimbabweans at a time support for the MDC-T was plummeting, it is that the generality of Zimbabweans have endorsed Zanu-PF's pro-people policies. They can see the wood for the trees. The land reform programme, as has been noted by media as diverse as establishment newspapers like the New York Times and The Guardian of Britain, is bearing fruit.

The indigenisation and economic empowerment programmes are at full throttle spawning Community Share Ownership Schemes in various provinces and employee ownership schemes in several companies.

This at a time the MDC-T leadership is opposing land reform preferring farm employment, indigenisation and empowerment preferring what they call jobs and food oblivious to the fact that these programmes are geared at not only creating jobs and boosting national food security but also creating a genuine, wealth-creating indigenous middle class that has been the missing link to development in most post-colonial societies.

The executive summary of the survey report titled "Change and 'New' Politics in Zimbabwe" notes that support for the MDC-T fell from 38 percent to 20 percent between 2010 and this year while Zanu-PF has risen from 17 to 31 percent over the same period.

The survey also found that Zanu-PF's popularity increased across all the country's 10 provinces since 2010 while that for MDC was waning in all 10 provinces.

The survey was commissioned by Freedom House and carried out by a local research institute, Mass Public Opinion Institute; all of which are not aligned to Zanu-PF. The bottom line is, the Freedom House survey has shown that the MDC formations are walking out of step with national sentiment. The onus is on their leadership to walk their change mantra by dropping the politics of Western appeasement or face the people's wrath at the looming polls.

The report should be a wake up call for the MDC formations even in the ongoing constitution-making process.

Zimbabweans spoke overwhelmingly during the outreach about what they wanted included in their national law. The people's views are captured in the national report that the Parliamentary Select Committee - in its wisdom or lack of it - chose to largely ignore in drafting the envisaged new constitution that is now with the principals to the Global Political Agreement.

Zanu-PF met over four consecutive weeks to audit the draft against the national report and made the requisite amendments to ensure that the draft constitution conforms to the views of the people.

The MDC formations on the other hand met for a combined 90 minutes and endorsed the draft even as it was apparent it was divorced from the views of the people. The people are watching. They can see who does and who does not respect their voices. The voters are watching, they know who does and who doesn't have them at heart.

It is not too late for the MDCs to align their politics with the national interest. At the same time Zanu-PF should not go to sleep. The people have endorsed the party's policies, which is what has been sustaining the inclusive Government anyway, yes but that public confidence can be eroded if the party does not give voters the candidates they want.

We hope the debacle that characterised district co-ordinating committee polls countrywide went with the dissolution of those divisive structures. Internal party democracy should reign supreme when primary elections are called.

The MDC-T can choose to ignore or dismiss the Freedom House report at its own peril but if the party leadership casts its mind over the past few months, there have been increasing acknowledgement from places as diverse as New York to London, that the Zanu-PF juggernaut has risen; that the MDC-T star is waning.

MDC-T leaders need to walk in step with the nation or go the way of the dodo and dinosaur.