By Nomazulu Thata| We have to ask ourselves pertinent questions and again humiliating questions regarding the Mthwakazi political parties in the region. Who do you stand for, what are your messages, why is the Mthwakazi message of regional development not sinking convincingly to the Mathebeleland electorate? Those red colours shamed all of us who want a regional leadership representation. Why are the politicians in the region failing politically to pull such a crowd when they make rallies in the region?
When we come up with such answers then we have solved our regional issues. This slap in the face by MDC-T in Bulawayo is worth a debate about their sheer lack success in the region, and they must ask themselves where are they going wrong: where are they getting it wrong? They speak the language Ndebele, they know the culture, and they experience the marginalization in the region on a daily basis but fail to give punch-messages to pull the regional and Bulawayo crowds we saw last fortnight at White City Stadium.
Who do you represent in Mathebeleland region dear Mthwakazi Parties? Why was the White City stadium so full of Bulawayo residents and all the surrounding people from as far as Gwanda to the MDC-T rally? Where is Mthwakazi party really? Is it still visible after that obvious humiliation: can they replicate that rally MDC-T did two weeks ago? What is genuinely lacking in their political messages for the residents in Bulawayo and indeed the surrounding to be outmanoeuvred by MDC-T that came in full force to attend the MDC-T rally and are not interested in attending Mthwakazi rallies in that number?
The rally was well attended by any reasonable doubt. Even if MDC-T bussed people from all corners of the country, it does not remove the fact that the rally had a very good attendance: respect we give it to where it is due. You need to seriously retrospect: which party in the region can pull that number at the white city stadium today. Let us leave the childish messages that the MDC-Alliance brought with them at that rally, and how Chamisa could hardly speak a full constructed sentence in Ndebele. Instead, let’s analytically deal with this reasoning why the residents of Bulawayo came in their full force to attend the rally, what Mthwakazi parties cannot do so in the region. Was it a slap on the face of the Mthwakazi parties who are also operating on the same page, legally contesting the coming elections of 2018?
Since the rally in Bulawayo two weeks ago, the Mthwakazi parties in the region are dead silent: silent because somehow they have been exposed seriously, openly exposed their short-comings in their messages. It been proven that Mthwakazi parties are marginalized by the people they represent: or the message they send to the region just does not offer anything tangible to the region for people to be comfortable with. Going by Mthwakazi argument, the White City rally was supposed to be a ¼ empty, only attended by those who were bussed from other regions. But it
is not the case this time around. The people of this region defied the messages the Mthwakazi parties are offering them as the solution to the region’s problems.
Serious retrospection must be made in the message of cessation by Mthwakazi Parties. The people of this region may not want cessation per se but devolution of central power to the regions. Again Mthwakazi Parties, just like many other national parties do not listen to advice from the people at all, it would appear as if some few “men” choreographed this idea of cessation from the Zimbabwe government. A number of the people of Mathebeleland do not want to Mthwakazi idea at all, as it saves only a few people in the region: mostly men. These parties, their rallies are dominated by men too. This silent speaking of the people in Matabeleland region, giving a message silently to the regional leaders must be addressed objectively. The mass attendance of Bulawayo residence at the MADC-Alliance is silent evidence that the region is not convinced about cessation but devolution as the answer to Mathebeleland marginalisation of the region. Ndisafire kureva!
The success of the MDC-T Bulawayo rally was the hard work done by Felix Magalela Sibanda. The push and pull was the influence of Magalela Sibanda’s work and influence in the region. But nobody talks about it: that he was the person who mobilized Bulawayo and the surroundings to as far as Gwanda, make the MDC-T rally a great success. During the rally event at White City, there were fliers going round to vouch and campaign for him to be the Vice-President of MDC-T. We understand those fliers were confiscated by those who wanted Bekithemba Mpofu or Thabitha Khumalo to be the Vice President of MDC-T. Dr Mpofu has no ground support in Mathebeleland; they do not know him at all as he resides in South Africa. But because Chamisa will be ONE to choose who; Mafa Sibanda has no chance because of his age. The Führer Chamisa will choose whom he wants as VP to him and not the people of that region: have no right in hell or heaven to do so. MDC-T and its alliance is a one-man-show. There are no democratic wishes respected. Politics dzacho ndedze chisawhira!
If indeed Felix Magalela Sibanda is a nobleman as we are informed by the several articles alluding to his wisdom, why does he tolerate so many undemocratic developments going on in this party called MDC-T? How does a nobleman of Magalela Sibanda’s calibre work so hard for the party just to be part of a cabal that use violence to purge its opponents? Can Magalela live with the fact that Chamisa has secret “gangsters” that violently fight any dissenting voices against him? Mafa has been in this party since its inception, he has so far not learnt the dictatorial characteristics of this MDC-T, ever to aspire to be its Vice President. Now Mafa Sibanda has been sidelined openly, uzikhotha izilonda njengenja: there is no mention of him after pulling such a huge Bulawayo crowd to MDC-T and all the success of the work he put in pulling the White City Bulawayo crown is heaped on Chamisa and not him, how sad. This time around we hopes you have learnt something.
These coming elections are already rigged elections. To participate in these election serves Zanu PF: an excellent piece of propaganda to the world at large. There is no Mthwakazi party that will win these elections, but their participation legitimizes everything about the 2018 elections; a propaganda piece for the Mnangagwa party. Why participate in the election processes that will give legitimacy to Zanu Party? Marginalization of Mathebeleland should have a different approach to solve the problems the region is facing. It is not by participating in the already rigged elections. There are no electoral reforms so far on the ground that can guarantee free and fair election results. Zanu PF knows the results already, it is the legitimacy they now crave for to get by winning a landslide, albeit rigged, whom Mthwakazi will have participated in the hope of winning some seats. To think and hope to win seats under such uneven election environment, simply means that you trust the Zanu PF processes leading to the elections, you trust ZEC, you trust the government of Zanu PF.
Well it is good and easy to me to criticize what others are doing on the ground, but my suggestion is, I have said this most of the time: we go to the people and live with them, work with them, do projects that uplift the rural population to be self-sufficient in food securities. When you work with them and live together with them until you smell like them, said the His Holiness Pope Francis. People should know you by your work and not by word of mouth. Share their joys and sorrows together with the rural folk. It is inconceivable to gain trust from the people by coming during the day, make a speech under the tree and quickly leave the place because it is dark, to the safety comforts of Bulawayo. It is practically staying with the people in the region; then can you sincerely say you represent them at any level in the village, province and beyond?
Let me summarize my today’s input with the following: A development credo produced by James Yen says the following: “Go to the people. Live among them. Learn from them. Work with them. Plan with them. Start with them what they know. Build on what they have. Teach by showing. Learn by doing. Not a showcase, but a pattern. Not odds and ends, but a system. Not relief but release. Of the best leaders, when their task is accomplished and their work is done, the people will remark! “We have done it ourselves!” Taken from World Vision