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Hebert Zharare Political Editor
NCA chairman Professor Lovemore Madhuku has been accused of opportunism in trying to be all things to different people in a bid to access donor funds.The long-serving NCA chairman, on Saturday, declared his organisation a political party which he dubbed a social democratic movement on one hand, and Pan African on another.
In the next breath, the party was dubbed nationalistic showing shocking lack of ideological congruency in the interim leader’s utterances.
Political analyst Mr Tinei Nyatsambo accused Professor Madhuku of trying to appeal to European donors by claiming to be social democratic, and Zimbabweans by laying claim to nationalism and Pan Africanism when from inception his organisation pursued a reactionary agenda.
“The NCA is trying to ambush Zimbabweans by claiming to be a nationalist party that pursues the values of Pan– Africanism, yet its grand agenda was to capitalise on the weaknesses of the ailing opposition MDC-T to access Western donor funds,’’ Mr Nytsambo said.
Progressive Teachers Union of Zimbabwe secretary general, Mr Raymond Majongwe, yesterday said the NCA would face an uphill task coming as it did at a time Zanu-PF was at its strongest.
“Lets see how these guys will run the next mile. Politics is a marathon race and not a relay. Zanu-PF was formed in August 1963, but it took it 17 years to form a Government. If they think they will form the next Government in 2018, they must be dreaming. They must be prepared for some of their members to be consumed by time, experience and other forces,” Mr Majongwe said.
“If Madhuku comes in pursuing a Zimbabwean and African agenda — being anti-neo imperialism, expressing solidarity with Africanism, supporting the values pursued by African legends such as President Mugabe, Kwame Nkrumah (Ghana), Muammar Gaddafi, he might have support.
“We want Africa to be led by Africans who hold and support African values, who look at Africa as their home, pursue views propagated from African point of view and this is what is lacking in the MDC-T,” he said.
Political and media analyst Mr Alexander Rusero was of the view that the NCA had been formed out of frustration to capitalise on MDC-T weaknesses.
The NCA was formed in 1997 and it gave birth to the MDC in 1999, but broke ranks after the MDC-T joined the inclusive Government in 2009 and joined Zanu-PF in crafting the new Constitution.
“Chances of the NCA becoming a formidable political party are not there. We had a lobby group now saying we are a political party. The people are going to view all the NGOs with scepticism. The civil society is a myth, it’s a group of disgruntled people who will have failed to make it in national politics,” he said.
Mr Rusero said the NCA was not supposed to have transformed itself to a political party, but remained as a pressure group that monitored the implementation of the new Constitution.
“These people are trying to be smart. They are sitting on dead carcasses of the MDC-T. They know why the MDC-T failed. This is a case of a neo-liberal organisation trying to be Pan African,” he said.
Midlands State University lecturer Dr Nhamo Mhiripiri, concurred with Mr Rusero saying the coming on-board of the NCA party was a welcome development, but argued that the new outfit was going to face political legitimacy.
“The relevance of the NCA, as a pressure group, might face a serious dilemma because pressing for a constitution after a new one has already been adopted might not have takers. The party needs a better agenda, the Constitution issue has been resolved. They might become irrelevant,” he said.
Prof Madhuku’s shift from being the chairman of the NCA as a constitutional body for over 10 years and then its leader as a political party, was interpreted as “dubious, selfish and undemocratic.”
Some people are of the opinion that there is no way the NCA could be more patriotic that Zanu-PF. However, Dr Mhiripiri differed with that school of thought, arguing chances were there for the party to be successful as Zanu-PF had also its weaknesses.
“The party (Zanu-PF) has gone through many changes. New political elites have been formed and there is a conflict that has risen with the poor. If it positions itself to the left of Zanu-PF, it has better chances. The MDC-T was on the right and it was just opposing Zanu-PF. If he comes and say what Zanu-PF did good, say on indigenisation and empowerment, but as a party we are saying it did not spread the opportunity to many people and we want more to gain, that will attract the people,” he said.
Online Reporter