George Maponga in GUTU—
The Joice Mujuru-led National People’s Party (NPP) yesterday threw spanners into the envisaged coalition of opposition parties ahead of next year’s harmonised elections, declaring that either she leads or there will be no deal. The party said MDC-T president Mr Morgan Tsvangirai, who is widely touted as the natural leader of the proposed pact, could not do so because he was a “spent force”.
Addressing a poorly attended rally convened to formerly launch the party here yesterday, NPP vice president Mr Samuel Sipepa Nkomo said only Dr Mujuru was qualified to lead the proposed coalition.
“We cannot afford to go backwards with a person who has failed,” he said, referring to Mr Tsvangirai’s previous fruitless attempts to snatch power from the ruling Zanu-PF.
Mr Nkomo’s utterances came barely a few weeks after Mr Tsvangirai summoned Dr Mujuru and MDC leader Professor Welshman Ncube to sign memoranda of understanding at his Harare house to form the coalition.
The move by Dr Mujuru’s party is likely to wreck plans for the grand coalition, with other opposition parties, mainly MDC-T, angling for Mr Tsvangirai to lead the coalition.
Speaking at the rally at Maungwa Business Centre, Mr Nkomo said his party was prepared to go it alone if Mr Tsvangirai refused to step aside for Dr Mujuru.
“I want to speak about the issue of the coalition talks before I sit down because I know that my president (Dr Mujuru) will tone down in a bid to be diplomatic,” he said.
“We as NPP, we are saying that a coalition does not mean Tsvangirai will become our presidential candidate. He has been in opposition politics since 17 years ago and if a person has failed, he has failed.
“If a person fails you try next door and in this case Tsvangirai failed, and if he does not want a coalition, he should let go because we are going to have Dr Mujuru as our presidential candidate.
“If they (MDC-T) do not accept it, its their problem because we cannot afford to go backwards with a person who has failed.’’
Mr Nkomo said NPP had the capacity to contest and win next year’s elections on its own if coalition talks failed.
In her address after Mr Nkomo’s speech, Dr Mujuru said the MoU that her party signed with Mr Tsvangirai recently was not a final agreement, but a roadmap to be followed to seal a coalition deal.
“NPP will remain NPP and MDC-T will remain MDC-T. What we only agreed on in the MoU was the roadmap to be followed and nothing else. As NPP, we must continue building the party by recruiting more members.’’
Dr Mujuru said those who were not actively supporting her party to fight Zanu-PF, would not get posts in her government if she happened to win next year’s harmonised elections.
Former Zanu-PF Politburo member Mr Dzikamai Mavhaire, who was fired from Zanu-PF together with Dr Mujuru, took a dig at Mr Tsvangirai.
“Tsvangirai does not have liberation war credentials and does not have the support of ex-liberation war fighters, but we (NPP) we can match Zanu-PF because we have war veterans in our ranks, unlike the MDC-T.’’
Mr Mavhaire took a swipe at some senior officials in Zanu-PF whom he accused of chickening out after initially being the brains behind ZimPF, which later split, leading to the formation of NPP.
Former MDC-T Gutu Central Member of Parliament and NPP Masvingo provincial chairman Mr Oliver Chirume also attacked Mr Tsvangirai, describing him as a coward who failed to take power from Zanu-PF on several attempts.
COMMENTS
Clearly, what some of us have said long-long time ago is now unravelling itself. I will restart it again: One can not have any meaning full coalition with a cabal of wounded hyenas and corrupt power-mongers, who only plunged into opposition politics after being chased from their autocratic and murderous party zanu pf.
Now this idiot, Samuel, is parroting the virtues of having the support of “so-called war veterans”, as if those murderers have any credibility among the masses anymore. For all what they are known is, they zanu pf’s killing machines together h CIO, Army & police. So, the idiot is better spare us his myopic nonsense – thee is nothing enviable about his party’s association with murderers & rapists who masquerade as war veterans. In his hallucinations the clownish Sam goes on to describe Tsvangi as a failure. Failure in what? We know Tsvangi has been beating Mugabe & zanu pf for the last three consecutive elections & only denied power by zanu pf regime through its murderous agents. We all know Zim economy improved drastically during the GNU all thanks to Tsvangi & his MDC team. Now, what success does Joice have to show for the over that 30 years she was among the most powerful people in zanu pf; and actually second most powerful person in the land for ten of those years ? All she has to show is personal wealth acquired throw the most corrupt means, and in some cases through the spilling of blood. Yes, all that Joice is good at is spilling blood & of course, playing a sugar-mam to some cash starved young boys. Nxaaaaa!
If Zimbabwe’s political arena was not infested with zanu pf sanctioned murderers, some of us would have been active as advisers. some of us have long since envisaged these scenarios. please can somebody tell tsvangirai to have his real intelligence arm. he needs analysts of his own who can tell him exactly where he is going to be trapped. joice is not to be trusted. all ex zanupf members are not to be trusted. all ex mdc members are not to be trusted. they are clandestinely paid agents. guys think hey think.
Majaira you are quite right, there is no man in this world to trust. Compare king David of the holy history, take again King Solomon well known as the most wisest human being, and a lot more. We can change the government but later we will regret our own choice. Those one who can remember during the first election or the independent year election can surely agree with me. It was ”BABA MUGABE tongai Zimbabwe” and LONG LIVE COMRADE MUGABE. Now the same people and the so called born free are saying Zimbabwe will be better after the death of MUGABE.
Remember again the formation of ZUM. My people ZANU PF is a machine which needs to be replaced yes, but not by joining hands with small parties of people like MAI MUJURU, or it will be like joining ZUM of EDGAR TEKERE “TWO BOY”. MUJURU is out of ZANU but she is still attached to ZANU PF, I mean she is still spiritually a daughter of MUGABE and a ZANU PF member. MDC-T open your eyes, if you need collision find other parties no ZANU sister parties, “YES MDC – T can remove ZANU what is only need is a trusted manifesto so as to attract members, not a copy and paste manifesto, or opposite one that one which you cab change only the context but not that one which shows the change.