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<h1 id="gmail-heading">Chamisa pledges to address Matabeleland grievances</h1>
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<i class="gmail-fa gmail-fa-clock-o"></i> 12 Mar 2018 at 05:59hrs | <span id="gmail-p_v">954</span> Views
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MDC Alliance presidential candidate,
Nelson Chamisa has pledged to address several thorny issues that have
remained unresolved in Matabeleland provinces since independence in
1980.<br><br>Addressing a rally in Dete on Saturday, Chamisa cited
underdevelopment, devolution, Gukurahundi and deployment of non-Ndebele
government officials in the province, as some of the issues that
required urgent attention.<br><br>"It's pointless to try to wash away
Gukurahundi. The most logical thing is to acknowledge that the massacres
left deep scars in survivors' hearts and there is need to heal those
psychological wounds through properly-structured healing processes," he
said.<br><br>"My government also promises to come up with a language
policy that ensures that non-Ndebele-speaking people are not deployed in
such areas as Matabeleland as that stifles development."<br><br>Chamisa
said his "government in waiting" was ready to roll out several
developmental programmes to transform the province and put it on the
same level with the rest of the country.<br><br>Speaking at the same
rally, MDC Alliance spokesperson, Welshman Ncube dismissed the
newly-formed opposition National Patriotic Front (NPF), as a nonentity,
arguing no sane Zimbabwean would vote a political party linked to former
President Robert Mugabe.<br><br>This came amid reports that Mugabe was the brains behind the Ambrose Mutinhiri-led NPF.<br><br>The NPF reportedly boasts of disgruntled Zanu-PF members, particularly those belonging to the G40 faction.<br><br><center>
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</center>In an interview on the sidelines of an MDC Alliance rally in
Dete, Matabeleland North on Saturday, Ncube, who is also MDC leader,
ruled out Mugabe's NPF causing a major shock in the elections, saying
Mugabe's alleged involvement is enough to anger them to vote against the
new political party.<br><br>Ncube said Mugabe caused so much misery
during his 37-year rule and no sane Zimbabwean "would want to re-live
that suffering in their lifetime".<br><br>"The first premise is that
this is a free country. In a democracy, everyone is at liberty to form
and organise their own political party if they feel that the existing
political parties don't serve their interests or ideological
inclinations.<br><br>"It's a right guaranteed by the Constitution. If
those who were in Zanu-PF feel that they are unable to feel at home by
joining any of the other existing parties and they want to create their
own party as it where, let them be," he said.<br><br>"We think it is
wrong, for instance, for (President Emmerson) Mnangagwa to begin to
speak as if Robert Mugabe and G40 have no right to organise themselves,
as if action must be taken against them. It is fundamentally wrong to
let the people judge them. The people of this country know what damage
was done, what suffering Mugabe brought to this country, and I believe
that they would meet the full wrath of the people at an election," Ncube
said.<br><br>The Mugabe-linked NPF joins several other opposition parties that have been formed, of late, to challenge Mnagwagwa's Zanu-PF.<br><br>Mnangagwa
has said elections will be held in a few months' time, although
legally, they are only due at the tail-end of July to August 21.<br><br>"So,
while we are surprised that they don't realise that they did so much
harm to this country, and think they can actually go back to the people
and ask for their votes, that is quite surprising but it is their right,
let them be, we are totally unconcerned about them," Ncube said.<br><br>Zanu-PF
has reacted to Mugabe's alleged re-entry into politics, with the youth
league describing the 94-year-old former President, as the ruling
party's enemy.<br></div>
<br clear="all"><br>-- <br><div class="gmail_signature" data-smartmail="gmail_signature">=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+<br><br> Harold F. Schiffman<br><br>Professor Emeritus of <br> Dravidian Linguistics and Culture <br>Dept. of South Asia Studies <br>University of Pennsylvania<br>Philadelphia, PA 19104-6305<br><br>Phone: (215) 898-7475<br>Fax: (215) 573-2138 <br><br>Email: <a href="mailto:haroldfs@gmail.com" target="_blank">haroldfs@gmail.com</a><br><a href="http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/~haroldfs/" target="_blank">http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/~haroldfs/</a> <br><br>-------------------------------------------------</div>
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