'Tsvangirai clueless, Mugabe too old,' says Ncube

MDC leader Welshman Ncube and his team, which he prefers to call the Green Team, invaded Chikomba in Mashonaland East on Friday.

Part of the team included his coalition partners Dumiso Dabengwa and members of the United Movement for Democracy (UMD) formerly linked to businessman Mutumwa Mawere.

They invaded the district with one point to prove - that the party, contrary to popular belief, was not a tribal movement known only in Matabeleland.

Part of his message was an attack on President Robert Mugabe (Zanu-PF) and Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai (MDC –T) who he described as "too old" and "clueless" respectively.

Ncube promised the people - many off whom had come in eight 75-seater buses, nine kombis, eight Jomic vehicles and ministerial Range Rovers - a new Zimbabwe free of the corruption and hunger which he said had characterised the 33 - year Mugabe reign.

"Is it possible - at 90 years, at 91, 92, 93, 94 and 95 - to rebuild this country? Is it possible? It's surprising there are people who are still saying forward with Zanu-PF. Why do you hate yourself so much, why do you hate your children so much, why are you selfish?" said Ncube.

Ncube described voting for Zanu-PF as "a vote for continuation of hunger, a vote for poverty, a vote for suffering" and stressed that this was a do–or–die election.

"It's an election to decide whether to go forward or backward. It's an election to provide a turning point for the people, don't betray the people," he said.

The professor of law said Zimbabwe was crying out for a leadership that had no tolerance for the cancer of corruption and an unquestionable commitment to democracy.

Ncube said the task at hand was to replace Mugabe with a leader who had people at heart and warned that if the people don't choose carefully, another "Egypt" - where thousands of people demonstrated and forced the country's President out of power - would also happen in Zimbabwe.

Ncube promised a new political order, adding that there was no need for "new wine in old skin".

"There is no point in having a new constitution and continuing with an old leadership. You are a proverbial hunter with one bullet, if you miss, imagine the five years until 2018 of another Mugabe rule.

Think of what you will give your children. Even make a greater mistake and you experiment with people who are clueless," said Ncube.

"You know what happened in Egypt. People went into the streets and demonstrated for months until (Hosni) Mubarak was forced out. They celebrated and experimented, but where are they now? They are saying Mubarak was better. Do you want that? Do you want another false revolution? Let's not experiment with our future and vote for the Green Team."

He said Mugabe and Tsvangirai did not have competent teams to take Zimbabwe to a new level.

"Mugabe and Tsvangirai do not have Team Zimbabwe. I challenge them any day, anywhere and say produce Team Zimbabwe. For Tsvangirai, it's not a plan to say Mugabe must go, that's not a plan.

"This election is not about grandstanding or about pretending that you have support when you don't have."

Ncube accused Zanu-PF of forcing people to its meetings, giving an example of his team from the Mashonaland province that was "kidnapped" and forced to attend Mugabe's meetings.

"That's not the Zimbabwe we want. In 1980 we got independence, but we didn't get freedom. There is no food, no jobs, no medicines, no doctors, no nurses, most schools are like ruins. All this was brought by Mugabe and Zanu-PF," said Ncube.

The MDC has fielded 203 out of 210 House of Assembly candidates.

"We want to build a new Zimbabwe different from this Zimbabwe. Our values and principles are not negotiable. We are not chefs.

"We are servants of the people. We believe in servant leadership and I want you to understand this, what went wrong in Zimbabwe is that instead of creating servant leadership, we created chefs."