Opinion / Columnist
MDC-T is putting the cart before the horse
30 Mar 2021 at 06:49hrs | Views
RECENTLY, someone asked me to share my view on the recent call by the MDC-T for dialogue for all the concerned stakeholders to discuss a common way forward for our great country, Zimbabwe.
The call for dialogue was made by such top leaders of the MDC-T as Douglas Mwonzora, Morgen Komichi, Elias Mudzuri, among others.
Personally, I have really struggled to take this call seriously.
It is my personal view that the MDCT is either being politically naive at the very best or being hypocritical or insincere at the very worst.
There is no way one can expect to have a serious dialogue when there is a clearly unresolved issue about which MDC-T is the legitimate custodian of our ongoing struggle for a new free and democratic Zimbabwe.
This matter on its own is enough to pour cold water on the call for a national dialogue by the MDC-T.
Just in case the MDC-T leaders now have a selective memory system or they have now developed some form of selective amnesia, last year a lot of our popularly elected deployees were recalled simply for taking a principled stance in favour of the MDC Alliance as led by Nelson Chamisa.
Right now there are popularly elected deployees like me who were unceremoniously demoted from parliamentary portfolio committee chair simply because they chose to remain loyal to Chamisa.
Right now, there are a lot of popularly elected deployees who live in fear because they might be included in the next list of recalls simply because they decided to remain loyal to the MDC Alliance.
Right now, there are new deployees in Parliament who were not popularly elected; in a blatant and deliberate affront to the democratic will of the Zimbabwean electoral masses.
Honestly, how can we continue to claim that Parliament of Zimbabwe is a people's legislature when we have new deployees who were nowhere in sight when the nomination court sat prior to the July 2018 elections?
Honestly, how does a true democrat justify the fact that a July 2018 presidential candidate is now back in the House of Assembly using a political parachute that has nothing to do with the democratic wishes of the electoral masses of Zimbabwe?
Right now, we have our deployees who were popularly elected by the long-suffering people of Zimbabwe in July 2018; who were given the popular mandate to represent them on the ground to represent them both at legislative and local government levels, who are languishing under the harsh cold weather of political Siberia.
These same deployees were unilaterally removed from their popularly elected roles without any effort to consult the electorate.
Right now, there are so many wards and constituencies that have no elected representatives as a result of the recalls that were done last year and early this year.
Worse still, there are not even any plans to hold by-elections by the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (Zec), at least to give the local voters a chance to elect their preferred representatives.
Is this not a deliberate affront to the political wishes of the electorate?
Why is the MDC-T not calling for Zec to announce its plan with regards to the long-overdue by-elections for the orphaned wards and constituencies?
Why is the MDC-T not concerned nor worried about these orphaned constituencies or wards?
It is my considered view that if the MDC-T was as popular and legitimate as it claims, by now it would have challenged Zec to announce a clear plan to make sure that the orphaned wards and constituencies are given a chance to elect their preferred representatives.
I am not opposed to the call for national dialogue at all; however, I think that under the present political circumstances it is definitely not realistic for the MDC-T to expect the MDC Alliance to positively respond to its call.
Honestly, how will the MDC Alliance leadership explain its decision to its recalled deployees who are still adversely affected by the recalls?
Is this not asking for too much from the MDC Alliance leadership?
Worse still, there are also plans to recall more deployees who have decided to remain loyal to the MDC Alliance.
Added to that, there are also plans by the MDC-T to use courts to ban the MDC Alliance from using its name.
To put it in a nutshell; I am challenging the MDC-T top leaders to take some time to reflect on the sincerity of their public call for national dialogue
In my view, they are busy putting the cart before the horse.
The call for dialogue was made by such top leaders of the MDC-T as Douglas Mwonzora, Morgen Komichi, Elias Mudzuri, among others.
Personally, I have really struggled to take this call seriously.
It is my personal view that the MDCT is either being politically naive at the very best or being hypocritical or insincere at the very worst.
There is no way one can expect to have a serious dialogue when there is a clearly unresolved issue about which MDC-T is the legitimate custodian of our ongoing struggle for a new free and democratic Zimbabwe.
This matter on its own is enough to pour cold water on the call for a national dialogue by the MDC-T.
Just in case the MDC-T leaders now have a selective memory system or they have now developed some form of selective amnesia, last year a lot of our popularly elected deployees were recalled simply for taking a principled stance in favour of the MDC Alliance as led by Nelson Chamisa.
Right now there are popularly elected deployees like me who were unceremoniously demoted from parliamentary portfolio committee chair simply because they chose to remain loyal to Chamisa.
Right now, there are a lot of popularly elected deployees who live in fear because they might be included in the next list of recalls simply because they decided to remain loyal to the MDC Alliance.
Right now, there are new deployees in Parliament who were not popularly elected; in a blatant and deliberate affront to the democratic will of the Zimbabwean electoral masses.
Honestly, how can we continue to claim that Parliament of Zimbabwe is a people's legislature when we have new deployees who were nowhere in sight when the nomination court sat prior to the July 2018 elections?
Honestly, how does a true democrat justify the fact that a July 2018 presidential candidate is now back in the House of Assembly using a political parachute that has nothing to do with the democratic wishes of the electoral masses of Zimbabwe?
Right now, we have our deployees who were popularly elected by the long-suffering people of Zimbabwe in July 2018; who were given the popular mandate to represent them on the ground to represent them both at legislative and local government levels, who are languishing under the harsh cold weather of political Siberia.
These same deployees were unilaterally removed from their popularly elected roles without any effort to consult the electorate.
Right now, there are so many wards and constituencies that have no elected representatives as a result of the recalls that were done last year and early this year.
Worse still, there are not even any plans to hold by-elections by the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (Zec), at least to give the local voters a chance to elect their preferred representatives.
Is this not a deliberate affront to the political wishes of the electorate?
Why is the MDC-T not calling for Zec to announce its plan with regards to the long-overdue by-elections for the orphaned wards and constituencies?
Why is the MDC-T not concerned nor worried about these orphaned constituencies or wards?
It is my considered view that if the MDC-T was as popular and legitimate as it claims, by now it would have challenged Zec to announce a clear plan to make sure that the orphaned wards and constituencies are given a chance to elect their preferred representatives.
I am not opposed to the call for national dialogue at all; however, I think that under the present political circumstances it is definitely not realistic for the MDC-T to expect the MDC Alliance to positively respond to its call.
Honestly, how will the MDC Alliance leadership explain its decision to its recalled deployees who are still adversely affected by the recalls?
Is this not asking for too much from the MDC Alliance leadership?
Worse still, there are also plans to recall more deployees who have decided to remain loyal to the MDC Alliance.
Added to that, there are also plans by the MDC-T to use courts to ban the MDC Alliance from using its name.
To put it in a nutshell; I am challenging the MDC-T top leaders to take some time to reflect on the sincerity of their public call for national dialogue
In my view, they are busy putting the cart before the horse.
Source - Daniel Molokele, Hwange Central MP, MDC Alliance
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