[lg policy] Chamisa pledges to address Matabeleland grievances

[Harold Schiffman]

 Chamisa pledges to address Matabeleland grievances
by Staff reporter
12 Mar 2018 at 05:59hrs | 954 Views
MDC Alliance presidential candidate, Nelson Chamisa has pledged to address
several thorny issues that have remained unresolved in Matabeleland
provinces since independence in 1980.

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.

"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.

"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."

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.

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.

This came amid reports that Mugabe was the brains behind the Ambrose
Mutinhiri-led NPF.

The NPF reportedly boasts of disgruntled Zanu-PF members, particularly
those belonging to the G40 faction.

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.

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".

"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.

"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.

"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.

The Mugabe-linked NPF joins several other opposition parties that have been
formed, of late, to challenge Mnagwagwa's Zanu-PF.

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.

"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.

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.


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 Harold F. Schiffman

Professor Emeritus of
 Dravidian Linguistics and Culture
Dept. of South Asia Studies
University of Pennsylvania
Philadelphia, PA 19104-6305

Phone:  (215) 898-7475
Fax:  (215) 573-2138

Email:  haroldfs at gmail.com
http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/~haroldfs/

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