Opinion / Columnist
Zimbabwe must brace themselves for a real opposition political outfit
09 Aug 2017 at 17:03hrs | Views
The incessant bickering among opposition and many other serious missteps by the Zimbabwean opposition leaders have left me with no choice but to launch a smart opposition party by September 2017. The new opposition party will be formidable in that it will be representative of the broad cross section of our society including professional bodies such as lawyers, doctors, judges, bankers, teachers, and students.
This is what the current crop of opposition parties has failed to realize - any dictator in the world cannot shut down shut down the operations of any of these professions. We have seen street protests organized by opposition parties that achieve nothing but I assure you, Mugabe cannot survive a strike by well-organized professional bodies.
Personally I cannot believe that our opposition has failed to capitalize on the divisions of the ruling ZANU PF and the security sector. The President's wife is on the prowl, attacking anything and everything about Emmerson Mnangagwa. The army took it upon themselves to discipline the police. Instead of the opposition taking advantage of these developments; they enjoyed free cinema on Robert Mugabe road.
The divisions in the Zimbabwean opposition came to a head just this week when the coalition of zeros was formed. The problems in the opposition are an insult to the people of Zimbabwe and that is why I am coming up with a real opposition alternative. I have lost count of how many opposition groups they are in Zimbabwe but one thing is true, there is no coordination of any sort. Even more confusing is the coalition of zeros have differing goals. One group wants to maintain the status core; keep Mugabe in power and join the loot bandwagon as parliamentarians. Second group wants to oust Mugabe. Third group has no agenda but just to be in opposition; maybe they are ZANU PF proxies.
Today's opposition is not broad-based. Even though the opposition is urban-based, they have failed to attract the elites and the middle-class to their side. They have completely failed to galvanize support outside the urban areas. The rural areas that constitute 75 percent of Zimbabwean electorate is not in the opposition plans. It is absurd for the opposition to even purport to be forming a coalition to try and unseat Mugabe when they only have presence in urban areas.
I want to challenge any Zimbabwean to tell me what the opposition message to the country is? Tendai Biti once declared that, "Regai vatonge" (let them rule) before reversing himself and joining the unity government. Tendai Biti also, as finance minister, condemned the targeted sanctions saying they were making the work of the clearing house difficult. This put him and all the opposition leaders on the same side as Robert Mugabe.
The targeted sanctions were put in place because of corruption, human rights violations, starvation, political repression, censorship and restriction on freedom of expression and the media—have we already forgotten about Johnathan Moyo's repressive POSA Act? By opposing the sanctions, the opposition lost much needed international support.
And also to show the lack of seriousness on the current opposition outfits, they choose to communicate via Facebook, Twitter, and WhatsApp. These are open communications and Mugabe already knows what is going on that is why he can afford to call their efforts at coalition zero. Use something different. Right now it is very difficult to get people enthusiastic about fighting for their rights. The opposition tactics have made it very difficult for anyone to see a clear alternative to ZANU PF and a clear way out of the malaise we find ourselves in.
The weaknesses displayed by opposition has forced my hand into starting the only party that will be a legitimate Zimbabwean party. Every other party starting with ZANU PF is illegal. ZANU PF lost the right to use the name ZANU to Ndabaningi Sithole's ZANU Ndonga. ZANU PF knows it very well that they are illegally using this name. MDC-T/MDC-N/MDC-99/MDC-Renewal knows very well that they are personal outfits now with the surname indicating the personal identity of the party. ZAPU is in union with the illegal ZANU PF even if they claim they split, the presence of people like Mpoko in the illegal ZANU PF outfit makes it difficult to take them seriously.
Our new outfit, Yes Zimbabwe will be grounded in the rule of law first and foremost and will be fiscally responsible. All tenders announcements will be public and their winners announced publicly. The payments will reflect the true contractors of a tender. Today we have Masvingo Road project that we know has been awarded corruptly. I challenge the illegal ZANU PF regime to announce the winner of this project. Our outfit will respect individual freedom.
Stay tuned. An announcement is coming in three weeks and the launch will be here in Mhandamabwe.
This is what the current crop of opposition parties has failed to realize - any dictator in the world cannot shut down shut down the operations of any of these professions. We have seen street protests organized by opposition parties that achieve nothing but I assure you, Mugabe cannot survive a strike by well-organized professional bodies.
Personally I cannot believe that our opposition has failed to capitalize on the divisions of the ruling ZANU PF and the security sector. The President's wife is on the prowl, attacking anything and everything about Emmerson Mnangagwa. The army took it upon themselves to discipline the police. Instead of the opposition taking advantage of these developments; they enjoyed free cinema on Robert Mugabe road.
The divisions in the Zimbabwean opposition came to a head just this week when the coalition of zeros was formed. The problems in the opposition are an insult to the people of Zimbabwe and that is why I am coming up with a real opposition alternative. I have lost count of how many opposition groups they are in Zimbabwe but one thing is true, there is no coordination of any sort. Even more confusing is the coalition of zeros have differing goals. One group wants to maintain the status core; keep Mugabe in power and join the loot bandwagon as parliamentarians. Second group wants to oust Mugabe. Third group has no agenda but just to be in opposition; maybe they are ZANU PF proxies.
Today's opposition is not broad-based. Even though the opposition is urban-based, they have failed to attract the elites and the middle-class to their side. They have completely failed to galvanize support outside the urban areas. The rural areas that constitute 75 percent of Zimbabwean electorate is not in the opposition plans. It is absurd for the opposition to even purport to be forming a coalition to try and unseat Mugabe when they only have presence in urban areas.
I want to challenge any Zimbabwean to tell me what the opposition message to the country is? Tendai Biti once declared that, "Regai vatonge" (let them rule) before reversing himself and joining the unity government. Tendai Biti also, as finance minister, condemned the targeted sanctions saying they were making the work of the clearing house difficult. This put him and all the opposition leaders on the same side as Robert Mugabe.
The targeted sanctions were put in place because of corruption, human rights violations, starvation, political repression, censorship and restriction on freedom of expression and the media—have we already forgotten about Johnathan Moyo's repressive POSA Act? By opposing the sanctions, the opposition lost much needed international support.
And also to show the lack of seriousness on the current opposition outfits, they choose to communicate via Facebook, Twitter, and WhatsApp. These are open communications and Mugabe already knows what is going on that is why he can afford to call their efforts at coalition zero. Use something different. Right now it is very difficult to get people enthusiastic about fighting for their rights. The opposition tactics have made it very difficult for anyone to see a clear alternative to ZANU PF and a clear way out of the malaise we find ourselves in.
The weaknesses displayed by opposition has forced my hand into starting the only party that will be a legitimate Zimbabwean party. Every other party starting with ZANU PF is illegal. ZANU PF lost the right to use the name ZANU to Ndabaningi Sithole's ZANU Ndonga. ZANU PF knows it very well that they are illegally using this name. MDC-T/MDC-N/MDC-99/MDC-Renewal knows very well that they are personal outfits now with the surname indicating the personal identity of the party. ZAPU is in union with the illegal ZANU PF even if they claim they split, the presence of people like Mpoko in the illegal ZANU PF outfit makes it difficult to take them seriously.
Our new outfit, Yes Zimbabwe will be grounded in the rule of law first and foremost and will be fiscally responsible. All tenders announcements will be public and their winners announced publicly. The payments will reflect the true contractors of a tender. Today we have Masvingo Road project that we know has been awarded corruptly. I challenge the illegal ZANU PF regime to announce the winner of this project. Our outfit will respect individual freedom.
Stay tuned. An announcement is coming in three weeks and the launch will be here in Mhandamabwe.
Source - Sam Wezhira
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