Madhuku courts MDC-T rebels

THE National Constitutional Assembly (NCA) leadership is targeting former allies of the MDC-T to pose a strong challenge and become the biggest opposition to Zanu-PF, it has emerged.

NCA leader Lovemore Madhuku has also taken a swipe at President Robert Mugabe, saying he was scared of fighting corruption surrounding him.

Among those linked to the new party are former MDC-T MP for Magwegwe Felix Magalela, former Harare deputy mayor Emmanuel Chiroto, and former student leaders Clever Bere, Takura Zhangazha and Kudakwashe Chakabva, among others.

NCA spokesperson Blessing Vava confirmed that some current MDC-T officials had expressed interest to join his party, but he declined to release any names.

"We welcome anyone who wants to join us. There are some current MDC-T officials whohave indicated that they are fed up with the MDC-T and are likely to cross the floor. They have lost trust in their leadership and they wish to join the NCA because of its consistency and visionary leadership," Vava said.

Vava said the NCA had to be transformed and not continue lobbying politicians who "have taken leave of their responsibilities as if they were the only politicians to be created".

However, Magalela said he would not be joining the NCA, but the Independent Candidates Commission (ICC), for which he is spokesperson, would consider forming a merger with Madhuku's party.

"I think it's a misrepresentation. We are not joining the NCA. As the ICC, we respect the NCA initiative and having met with them yesterday (Saturday), we will sit down and compare notes to see if we can form a merger. We might form a merger if need be. There might be need for negotiations for all progressive forces to form one political party. We will make a decision after comparing our notes.

"We represented the ICC at the NCA congress where we gave a solidarity statement, but we are not joining. What we are saying is there might be a merger."

However, MDC-T spokesperson Douglas Mwonzora said his party was not worried about the new party.

"NCA is making the same claims that Simba Makoni made when he formed his party. He claimed that many Zanu-PF people would join him, but we never saw them.

We are also not worried about people like Chiroto. We fired these people from the party after they defied party directives, so it really doesn't pose a threat at all," said Mwonzora.

Zanu-PF spokesperson Rugare Gumbo said: "We have no problem with people forming political parties. It's their democratic right and we can't stop anyone from exercising it. Our only concern is that most of these supposedly homegrown political parties like the MDC and MDC-T are funded by the West for regime change, but as far as the Madhuku party is concerned, we have no idea who is behind them, but if it's a local party, there is no problem"

NCA, which was a non-governmental organisation, over the weekend transformed into a fully-fledged political party with Madhuku as its interim leader.

Madhuku yesterday lashed out at Mugabe and MDC-T leader Morgan Tsvangirai for failing to the deal with the challenges affecting the country.

"It's an issue of capability or capacity," he said. "Losing an election three times speaks for itself. If I was the leader of the movement, I would not have lost three times. One of the things where Tsvangirai failed was to join the inclusive government where he had a very junior position as Prime Minister with nothing to do when he had won the March 2008 election. Participation in that government merely served as a cleansing ceremony for Zanu-PF. The inclusive government was a Zanu-PF government pursuing Zanu-PF policies."

Madhuku said there was a "long list of things that we don't agree with the Zanu-PF way of doing things".

"Zanu-PF does not have the energy to lead this country," he said.

"Look at Finance minister Patrick Chinamasa - he has not said anything since his appointment except to just say we will grow the economy. That is the only thing that he has said. It's an issue of capacity. There is also the big problem of corruption. Mugabe goes to a luncheon and talks about (former Zimbabwe Mining Development Corporation chairperson Godwills) Masimirembwa and the $6 million, but Masimirembwa is still scot-free. Masimirembwa should have been arrested before Mugabe went for the luncheon and then he would be explaining to the nation why. Mugabe cannot fight corruption. No one who has been in power for 33 years can fight corruption. You need someone new to fight corruption."