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Mthwakazi accused of plagiarising Malema's manifesto
25 Oct 2017 at 13:35hrs | Views
SECESSIONIST outfit Mthwakazi Republic Party (MRP) was yesterday caught in a plagiarism storm after they allegedly took Julius Malema's Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) party's manifesto word for word in creating their own.
The Mqondisi Moyo-led party last week launched its 67-page manifesto for next year's elections where it expects to field candidates in Matabeleland in both council and parliamentary polls.
South Africa-based journalist Mxolisi Ncube sparked the storm when he posted on Facebook hinting that the party's manifesto lacked originality.
"I have just finished reading the MRP manifesto.
"Besides it being laden with a plethora of illogical, childish and unattainable goals, I also found it to be lacking in originality, as it is a concoction of several lines stolen from the EFF, African Union, Biafra, Catalonia, Southern Cameroon and Scotland - either taken as raw as they are or tweaked here and there to replace certain words with Mthwakazi.
Such kind of intellectual theft and plagiarism would get certain people sued and embarrassed. The 67-page memo can certainly not pass for serious political pursuit," Ncube said in a post that attracted mixed feelings.
MRP party spokesperson Mbonisi Gumbo dismissed the plagiarism claims.
"Let's agree that Martin Luther is American and none between EFF and MRP is American. Let's also agree that Martin's statements have been taught even in schools across the globe.
"So I didn't know that Mthwakazi problems only affect us and not other countries, because if our problems were not isolated you wouldn't ask why EFF is fighting the same issues like us,' said Gumbo.
"My understanding is that the Zimbabwean opposition parties as well as the ruling party are busy studying our manifesto because they know that it carries the aspirations of the people of Matabeleland and will try to copy and that is normal.
"We did not even see the EFF manifesto. What we know is that our problems as people of Matabeleland are similar to many other countries so it's normal that you see us raising similar issues with other progressive political parties in the world," added Gumbo
The Mqondisi Moyo-led party last week launched its 67-page manifesto for next year's elections where it expects to field candidates in Matabeleland in both council and parliamentary polls.
South Africa-based journalist Mxolisi Ncube sparked the storm when he posted on Facebook hinting that the party's manifesto lacked originality.
"I have just finished reading the MRP manifesto.
"Besides it being laden with a plethora of illogical, childish and unattainable goals, I also found it to be lacking in originality, as it is a concoction of several lines stolen from the EFF, African Union, Biafra, Catalonia, Southern Cameroon and Scotland - either taken as raw as they are or tweaked here and there to replace certain words with Mthwakazi.
MRP party spokesperson Mbonisi Gumbo dismissed the plagiarism claims.
"Let's agree that Martin Luther is American and none between EFF and MRP is American. Let's also agree that Martin's statements have been taught even in schools across the globe.
"So I didn't know that Mthwakazi problems only affect us and not other countries, because if our problems were not isolated you wouldn't ask why EFF is fighting the same issues like us,' said Gumbo.
"My understanding is that the Zimbabwean opposition parties as well as the ruling party are busy studying our manifesto because they know that it carries the aspirations of the people of Matabeleland and will try to copy and that is normal.
"We did not even see the EFF manifesto. What we know is that our problems as people of Matabeleland are similar to many other countries so it's normal that you see us raising similar issues with other progressive political parties in the world," added Gumbo
Source - dailynews
