Ncube concedes defeat

Herald Reporter
MDC president Professor Welshman Ncube has accepted the heavy defeat his party suffered in the harmonised elections last Wednesday and said he is now focusing on trying his luck during the 2018 elections. Prof Ncube said in an address to his party’s losing candidates in Bulawayo yesterday that he would not pursue any court action or lobby regional bodies to overturn the loss.

He lost dismally in the election, managing to score almost three percent of the vote, with his party gaining only two legislators apiece in the National Assembly and the Senate through proportional representation.

“We accept our situation and embrace it as our rite of passage,” said Prof Ncube in his address released by his party through a statement.
“There can be no Egypt without a Canaan. It is for us a test of faith in the system we believe in and know that it will be achieved.

“Therefore, from this day forth we commence re-building on all fronts for the 2018 elections. We have no privilege of taking a rest. Let’s keep the faith, together we will win.”

The party’s losing candidates who met Prof Ncube were from Bulawayo, Matabeleland South and Matabeleland North.
“The party, having considered all available options, has opted to refrain from taking the disputes to court,” said Prof Ncube. “The party has further discounted the option of taking the dispute to the regional and continental organs, principally Sadc and the AU.

“These institutions have already made known their views about the process and outcome of the election.
“That they have already pronounced satisfaction with both the process and outcome of the elections signifies the futility of taking that course of action with any hope of a positive intervention.”

Prof Ncube alleged that there were “glaring inconsistencies” in the electoral process which he said included the printing of duplicate ballot papers and disqualification of “our rural council candidates”.

He regretted having joined the inclusive Government, saying it helped Zanu-PF revive its fortunes.
The MDC, Prof Ncube said, would continue pursuing devolution which he said would solve problems for Zimbabwe.

“We remain absolutely committed to the devolution agenda because for us it is not an election gimmick or slogan, but a matter of ideological conviction,” said Prof Ncube.

“We have taken stock of all that happened and while there are no easy answers, we have resolved to continue the fight for a fully devolved Zimbabwe because we believe that the problems which we find ourselves in as a country can only be solved through making a paradigm shift diametrically different to the centralised system of Government which landed us where we are today.” Prof Ncube said solutions to national political problems would be delivered by Zimbabweans.

“We have come through the fire, learnt lessons through our experiences and we are ready to prove that we are visionaries, builders and the party of the future,” he said.

He then signed off with a statement seemingly full of bravado:
“As your president I say, fear not, I will be with you all the way, I will neither retreat nor surrender. Let none of us give up, we will walk hand in hand to the bitter end if need be for our cause is necessary and just. What we stand for is absolutely important.”