Opinion / Columnist
Why Welshman Ncube should shun Tsvangirai coalition
17 Jul 2013 at 10:36hrs | Views
MANY people suggest that MDC president Welshman Ncube should form a coalition with MDC-T's Morgan Tsvangirai against President Mugabe for the July 31 harmonised elections. While this seems a perennially enticing proposition based on the misplaced notion of ganging up and ousting President Mugabe, it is not a sound political move for three reasons. First, it creates a "moral hazard" that encourages parties not to grow their supporter base by articulating good policies, but rather relying on coalitions.
Second, such a coalition brings together different groups with an incongruent ideological vision for no other purpose than to oust President Mugabe. Third, it stifles the development of democracy and multi-partyism as different parties morph into one messy and ideologically incongruent entity that will most likely end up creating serious internal conflicts.
Presumably, the main purpose of trying to remove President Mugabe is for those parties to get into power and subsequently achieve their end objective; to implement their policies and programmes. However, that same objective can still be achieved through different means without having to compromise one party's values and character. The obsession to remove President Mugabe cannot be an end in itself. If it is, then it demonstrates the objective of the coalition as bereft of a sound political rationale and undermines the credibility of the coalition.
Competing with or neutralising President Mugabe can be accomplished by each party competing singularly or through a coalition of parties with the same ideological mindset. The multiplicity of parties holding parliamentary seats dilutes the ability of Zanu-PF to dominate the political field. Zanu-PF will be forced to govern with the other parties; unless of course, the other parties are not sophisticated enough to deal with Zanu-PF.
In this circumstance, they will accuse Zanu-PF of acting in bad faith, when, in fact, they (Zanu-PF) are only gaining political advantage because they have a strategic focus grounded on a solid ideological vision. However, lack of political shrewdness cannot be substituted by a coalition lacking sophistication and an aligned ideological vision.
I believe the Ncube/Dabengwa coalition is mutually beneficial because the two parties have an ideological alignment.
The coalition will bring a stable structure, a result of a similar ideological approach, and bring both Ncube and Dabengwa into contact with a large pool of ideologically similar supporters.
The coalition is not driven by the sole desire to remove President Mugabe but rather on creating a democratic and non-violent government focused on building sustainable lives for Zimbabweans.
The Ncube/Dabengwa Coalition would be effective because this coalition, which shares a strong ideological vision, can capture a fraction of the votes and still have a significant role to play in terms of having their policies implemented.
Based on the recently dissolved parliamentary seat numbers, the Ncube/Dabengwa coalition could still have the least number of seats but hold the balance of power.
Let's assume that Zanu-PF and MDC-T share the majority of seats between them. In this scenario, if MDC-T or Zanu-PF wants to have their policies passed in Parliament, they must get Ncube and Dabengwa's support. That puts Ncube and Dabengwa in a powerful position which they can use to build their coalition, and their respective parties' popularity.
They can rightly claim that they have been effective in holding the governing party to account by making sure that it passes good policies.
In addition, the coalition can claim that it moderated the behaviour of the opposition MDC-T into suggesting good policies.
This is especially good for Ncube, who is still a young politician and is in the process of building a party for the future.
On the other hand, if Ncube accepts Tsvangirai's convenient invitation, he puts a stop to his process of building his party.
In addition, he runs the risk of undermining his principled position of dissociating himself from violence, corruption and all the other vices associated with MDC-T.
He will be joining an entity he clearly demonstrated harbours everything that is undemocratic and violent.
In other words, he immerses himself into an undemocratic and violent organisation.
If he joins this coalition with a dirty history, Ncube will have a difficult job reasserting himself as a principled, non-violent and democratic leader.
He will have to take ownership of the mess that might arise with such a coalition. If this occurs, he must then start rebuilding his compromised character. It's not guaranteed that he will get a second chance.
Instead of using this election as an opportunity to take significant steps in establishing his party as a future powerhouse, Ncube would have traded that for short-term goals. His vision for long-term growth and strong standing as a principled, non-violent and democratic presidential candidate would be jeopardised.
Ncube cannot undermine his strategic approach to long-term party building only to fulfil Tsvangirai and donors' short-term interests.
----------------------
Peace Thabane is a policy analyst based in Canada.
Second, such a coalition brings together different groups with an incongruent ideological vision for no other purpose than to oust President Mugabe. Third, it stifles the development of democracy and multi-partyism as different parties morph into one messy and ideologically incongruent entity that will most likely end up creating serious internal conflicts.
Presumably, the main purpose of trying to remove President Mugabe is for those parties to get into power and subsequently achieve their end objective; to implement their policies and programmes. However, that same objective can still be achieved through different means without having to compromise one party's values and character. The obsession to remove President Mugabe cannot be an end in itself. If it is, then it demonstrates the objective of the coalition as bereft of a sound political rationale and undermines the credibility of the coalition.
Competing with or neutralising President Mugabe can be accomplished by each party competing singularly or through a coalition of parties with the same ideological mindset. The multiplicity of parties holding parliamentary seats dilutes the ability of Zanu-PF to dominate the political field. Zanu-PF will be forced to govern with the other parties; unless of course, the other parties are not sophisticated enough to deal with Zanu-PF.
In this circumstance, they will accuse Zanu-PF of acting in bad faith, when, in fact, they (Zanu-PF) are only gaining political advantage because they have a strategic focus grounded on a solid ideological vision. However, lack of political shrewdness cannot be substituted by a coalition lacking sophistication and an aligned ideological vision.
I believe the Ncube/Dabengwa coalition is mutually beneficial because the two parties have an ideological alignment.
The coalition will bring a stable structure, a result of a similar ideological approach, and bring both Ncube and Dabengwa into contact with a large pool of ideologically similar supporters.
The coalition is not driven by the sole desire to remove President Mugabe but rather on creating a democratic and non-violent government focused on building sustainable lives for Zimbabweans.
The Ncube/Dabengwa Coalition would be effective because this coalition, which shares a strong ideological vision, can capture a fraction of the votes and still have a significant role to play in terms of having their policies implemented.
Based on the recently dissolved parliamentary seat numbers, the Ncube/Dabengwa coalition could still have the least number of seats but hold the balance of power.
Let's assume that Zanu-PF and MDC-T share the majority of seats between them. In this scenario, if MDC-T or Zanu-PF wants to have their policies passed in Parliament, they must get Ncube and Dabengwa's support. That puts Ncube and Dabengwa in a powerful position which they can use to build their coalition, and their respective parties' popularity.
In addition, the coalition can claim that it moderated the behaviour of the opposition MDC-T into suggesting good policies.
This is especially good for Ncube, who is still a young politician and is in the process of building a party for the future.
On the other hand, if Ncube accepts Tsvangirai's convenient invitation, he puts a stop to his process of building his party.
In addition, he runs the risk of undermining his principled position of dissociating himself from violence, corruption and all the other vices associated with MDC-T.
He will be joining an entity he clearly demonstrated harbours everything that is undemocratic and violent.
In other words, he immerses himself into an undemocratic and violent organisation.
If he joins this coalition with a dirty history, Ncube will have a difficult job reasserting himself as a principled, non-violent and democratic leader.
He will have to take ownership of the mess that might arise with such a coalition. If this occurs, he must then start rebuilding his compromised character. It's not guaranteed that he will get a second chance.
Instead of using this election as an opportunity to take significant steps in establishing his party as a future powerhouse, Ncube would have traded that for short-term goals. His vision for long-term growth and strong standing as a principled, non-violent and democratic presidential candidate would be jeopardised.
Ncube cannot undermine his strategic approach to long-term party building only to fulfil Tsvangirai and donors' short-term interests.
----------------------
Peace Thabane is a policy analyst based in Canada.
Source - herald
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