Interview: Gwisai's views on the new constitution

Zimbabweans recently overwhelmingly endorsed the new draft Constitution, which is now a constitutional Bill set to be tabled in Parliament.

Zimbabwe is gearing for harmonised elections to elect its President, Eighth Parliament and local government. Senior Reporter for The Herald Fortious Nhambura (FN) caught up with University of Zimbabwe Law lecturer and International Socialist Organisation leader Munyaradzi Gwisai (MG) to get his views on these and other issues.

FN: For the benefit of our readers could you start by telling us who is Munyaradzi Gwisai?

MG: I am teacher of the working class and I also teach at the University of Zimbabwe. I am communist. I have been a communist since the early 1980s, radicalised by the liberation war, radicalised by the music of Bob Marley and Thomas Mapfumo. I became an organised communist here at the University of Zimbabwe, mentored by the likes of Kempton Makamure, Shadreck Gutu and so forth.

FN: You were pushing for a "No" vote. What is your position now that the electorate has voted "Yes"?

MG: This referendum was not free and fair and the ISO document has put it very clearly. There was no time for the 'No' group to campaign given three weeks. It is funny now that we hear that the MDCs are complaining that the three months they are getting are not enough for the election campaign. We actually got three weeks and that is what they must appreciate.

Fundamentally we opposed it because it is draft for the rich. It is a constitution for the capitalist, a constitution of the employers, and it is a constitution of the imperialists. The imperialists are happy that the land reform is being partially reversed. Foreign western farmers from the very same countries that have imposed draconian sanctions on this country and who have exploited millions of ordinary people in the world, are now going to get millions as compensation under Chapter 16 of the draft Constitution. This is a serious reversal of Amendment 16 of the Constitution of Zimbabwe which stipulated that no compensation would be paid to the white former farmers by Zimbabweans and if there was going to be compensation it will be paid by the British.

It is an attack on workers. You see there is no compensation for former farm workers in the draft; civil servants have not been the right to collective bargaining. In the past four years this country has discovered massive wealth in the form of diamonds, platinum but this Constitution does not allow these resources to be used and owned by the people of Zimbabwe. I can assure you as a lawyer that under section 71 of the Copac constitution the Indigenisation and Empowerment Act will be declared unconstitutional. There are no bread and butter empowering provisions in this constitution. But we view this as one battle in a continuing war.

FN: Copac says the final draft was posted long enough for those people who wanted to look at it and raise their objections. Did you raise your concerns back then and were any of the issues addressed in the final draft?

MG: The NCA did their application to the Supreme Court. Ourselves as the International Socialist Organisation and concerned ZCTU affiliates launched a protest with ZEC that we were not getting coverage in particular through the State media. We also launched a Supreme Court application but these appeals were thrown aside. In the spirit of constitutionalism and the fact that they had taken four years to come up with the draft constitution, we expected them to ask for more than three months before the voting. We feel this was an ambushed referendum.

FN: When you called for a "No" vote, were you implying that the Lancaster House Constitution - as amended - was better than the new draft constitution?

MG: Changing constitutions is not like changing dresses or changing suits. It is a process that goes over time. When President Mugabe and Vice President Joshua Nkomo signed the Lancaster House Constitution in 1979 under pressure they said they were going to change it soon after they were in power yet they have taken 33 years. Sure this is a battle lost but I say it is not constitutions that ultimately determine the people's struggle. Laws and constitutions are only the product of the real struggles between workers and exploiter classes.

I can assure that this will not stop cotton farmers of Gokwe fighting for better producer prices, youths fighting for the right to trade that they have been denied in this constitution and the civil servants for clamouring for a living wage.

FN: You have vowed to continue fighting for a new constitution. How are you going to do this now that the majority has spoken? Isn't this fighting the people?

MG: People don't remain where they are forever, ideas change with time. As the struggle continues one day the people will be able to see through the ideas of the ruling elite and demand change.

If it were not so Nehanda could not have stood against the British imperialists and told them to back off. When Zapu and Zanu were formed they were a minority but because they stood on the right side of history they were vindicated. You must not be afraid to be in the minority if you are on the correct side of history.

FN: Now that the referendum is complete and the country is headed for harmonised elections, how do you evaluate the GNU and what are chances of each political party?

MG: The GNU has shown that they have denied the civil servants a living wage. They have denied our youths and students grants and loans while they are fattening themselves.

They stole the CDF money and now we hear the ministers want to give each other golden handshakes. There has been no support for the rural farmers, there are no fair producer prices, have taken a year to pay for deliveries to the GMB. These elections will not bring emancipation for the workers. It is a fight among the elites. I think the MDC-T and Tsvangirai have been naïve and seriously blundered. They have been on a gravy train for four years and instead of fighting for people's emancipation. Tsvangirai and Welshman Ncube have made their bed and they should lie in it. But what the referendum has shown is that the two main political parties are evenly balanced out and the likely result of this election is another GNU.

FN: So you are saying no party leader will garner the 50 percent plus one votes needed to lead this country?

MG: Obviously the advantage of the protest vote of 2008 for the MDC is gone. The corrupt behavior of its councillors and ministers has eroded that. How do you expect workers to be encouraged when we have Elton Mangoma, a senior MDC minister supervising a ministry that dismisses a workers' leader, Angeline Chitauro, for demanding a living wage? When we have Minister Paurina Mpariwa for four years failing to issue minimum wages for domestic workers and other employees? When we have Matibenga refusing to meet public servants and the neoliberal policies of Tendai Biti have not endeared the MDC with the people? They represent a betrayal of the hopes and aspirations and sacrifices of the people of Zimbabwe who built the original MDC.

So a combination of those factors clearly shows that we are likely to have a repeat of March 2008 where the MDC will retain mostly urban areas and Manicaland provinces with Zanu-PF retaining control of the key Mashonaland provinces and the Midlands.

FN: Some allies of the MDC-T have castigated Mr Morgan Tsvangirai's leadership style and have hinted at forming a coalition with you. You poured cold water on that, what should be the way forward?

MG: We are in support of a mass revolutionary party, a party that is controlled by the working class, a party that ensures that the wealth of our society is owned and controlled by the people and not a few capitalists. It must not be a party that sucks from the breast of western imperialists. You don't build that party overnight; neither do you build it in an NGO boardroom. This is our query with our colleagues that may think that you can just wake up one day and dream up a party. It will be just another elitist party and will go nowhere like FORUM or ZUD.

We leave it to our colleagues in the NCA, it is their right. In fact it develops a forward movement for Lovemore Madhuku and others because they no longer have the illusions they had in Tsvangirai and the MDC. Professor Madhuku and the NCA have been naïve on their illusions in the MDC and the West. We were the pioneers in saying that the MDC had been infiltrated by the rich way back in 2002 and for that we were expelled. We defended the right of the people to seize land without compensation from whites and westerners. We have no illusions in Tsvangirai, in Biti or Ncube, whether as individuals or as parties that they will result in the emancipation of workers lives. So Tsvangirai is no hero of ours.

FN: You were expelled from the MDC. Some people allege that since then you have been more critical of the MDC-T. Is this not a case of sour grapes?

MG: It is not sour grapes because the same values we stood for are still the same today. We are glad that some people like Madhuku, Lovemore Majongwe and others are beginning to see that. The true taste of sincerity lies in that we have remained in the trenches fighting for democracy for the past decade despite our expulsion and for that we have paid a dear price.