zimfinalpush
Don't unite the two MDC's!
MDC Unification Should Not Be Encouraged
By Joe Mugabe see www.talkzimbabwe.com
Mr Editor I would like to air my views regarding the split of the MDC and so called tribalism in Zimbabwe. I do not believe that it had anything to do with tribalism.
Tribalism may have been used as a trump card by the likes of Nelson Chamisa who were cornered at some point and good enough Welshmen Ncube was so mature to refuse to be dragged to those kind of politics.
The split of the MDC has in a big way improved democracy in our nation. It is common knowledge that Zanu PF is as good as a dead party waiting to be buried with Mugabe and really what we should be focusing on now is a strong opposition to counter either a Mutambara government or a Tsvangirayi government.
What we don't want to have is a Zambian scenario where UNIP lost elections and it was gone and MMD comes in as one party in parliament thereby defeating the whole purpose of democracy.
MDC split at the right time before we even got to national elections in 2008 so that it gives both parties adequate time to set up district, provincial and national structures to give Zanu PF a run for their political life.
For those advocating the unification of MDC, you are making a terrible mistake. We should ensure that there is no unification. People now have a choice of either supporting a democratic Mutambara MDC or Tsvangirayi MDC whose ideology is not clear or not different from Zanu PF in terms of violence and a Presidency that manipulates votes and lies about its outcome.
It is on record that Tsvangirayi lied to the world about the outcome of the National Executive Council secret ballot in the same way Mugabe has lied to the world about fairness of election results in Zimbabwe.
Prof Mutambara has made a lot strides in stamping out tribalism in his own party and even mad as he is Robert Mugabe has done much better than Tsvangirayi in terms of maintaining tribal harmony. So the issue of tribalism is not a factor at all in our politics though the Tsvangirayi MDC is fighting hard to bring it back by the back door. We need to make sure they don't win on that.
Zimbabweans now have a choice of either to continue backing a party that has ruined the economy for 26 years or backing a party (MDC Tsvangirayi) that advocates boycotting or not boycotting elections thus confusing the electorate, or new kid on the block MDC Mutambara. For democracy to work we need to do better than the USA where there are only two major political parties. Taking into account our history and African problems it would be ideal to have at least three major political parties.
Mutambara MDC taking its fair share of constituencies in its strongholds in Matabeleland, Midlands and Manicaland, with Zanu PF taking its share in Mashonaland, Midlands and Masvingo, Tsvangirayi MDC in Harare and scattered in other parts of the country.
These are my views and I differ with some of your writers who say that tribalism is a factor in our Zimbabwean politics today. I will fight against moves to unite MDC. Uniting the two MDCs will defeat democracy. We have seen it before when PF Zapu and Zanu PF united. It destroyed democracy in Zimbabwe and pushed our political development back by many years.
We need to educate our people that there is life of opposition politics beyond Zanu PF government. We do not want to replace one party Zanu PF government by another MDC one party government.
Tribalism is not a factor at all. Even issues to do with "Gukuraundi" are debated in an open and transparent way by all political parties including those involved in the artrocities. Even the 'National Vision' document mentions it.
We unreservedly condemn the 'Gukurahundi' atrocities. It was, in all its manifestations, ethnic cleansing and Nazism of our own time. This should be a lesson to all Zimbabweans and should not happen again.
Our future parliament should continue to have many political parties and uniting the two MDCs would defeat democracy. Tribalism does not pay. This is the reason why even Mugabe himself saw reason to join hands with Dr Joshua Nkomo for the betterment of his party and life in politics.
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