Ncube decries region’s ‘marginalisation’

lose patience, the leader of the MDC, Professor Welshman Ncube, has said.

Prof Ncube said in an interview in Bulawayo that people from Matabeleland were against the idea of breaking away from the country to form a separate state, but the continued preferential treatment being given to other regions of the country, could make them change their minds.

He said it was important for the Government to acknowledge the Gukurahundi atrocities to begin the long but essential process of national healing.
Prof Ncube also said his party felt it was wrong for President Mugabe to decide that Prof Arthur Mutambara is their representative as it was against the Global Political Agreement.

MATABELELAND

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“It is unanimously perceived in Matabeleland that the region is being sidelined in most developmental issues.
“Look at projects like the Bulawayo-Nkayi Road. The road has been under construction for close to 20 years but less than 20 kilometres have been completed so far.
“There is also the cabin that passes for an airport called Joshua Mqabuko International Airport, Will it ever be completed?” asked Prof Ncube.

He said everything in the country was being done in Harare almost to the total exclusion of Matabeleland.
“If one needs a substantial business loan, banks say they should go to their Harare branches to put in applications.
“Government projects in Matabeleland are done by people from other regions, who in the end use the money they earn at their respective areas of origin, leaving the people in Matabeleland without tangible benefits,” he said.

Prof Ncube said it was central Government’s duty to ensure that when citizens are said to be equal, they are indeed seen to be equal.
“It is our duty to bring about that change. To borrow from Cde Edison Zvobgo; ‘equality is not an outcome of research’.
“It must be palpable, obvious and be seen by everyone. We do not need research from universities to tell us that we are equal,” said Prof Ncube.

He said the continued marginalisation was resulting in splinter elements calling for the secession of Matabeleland, when it was not what people in the region wanted.
Referring to the Gukurahundi issue, Prof Ncube said one had to be “blind and foolish” not to acknowledge that it happened.
“Not a single person from Matabeleland and some parts of Midlands was left unscathed one way or the other by the atrocities.
“If you have about 20 000 people dying in a conflict, more than those who died during the war of liberation, then questions must be asked and answers given,” he said.

Prof Ncube declined to comment much on the issue, saying the inclusive Government had set up the Organ for National Healing to deal with it.
“I lost family members during that time and it still pains me when I remember it.
“However, I feel we should give the Organ for National Healing a chance to investigate and give recommendations on how to solve the matter.

“I also think it is important for Government to at least acknowledge that it happened,” said Prof Ncube.
He said his party felt wronged by President Mugabe who, he said, decided to retain Prof Mutambara in the Deputy Prime Minister’s position, even when he had replaced him as the MDC’s leader.
“He is in that position by virtue of having been our leader. Now that he has been deposed, we feel that I should have replaced him. The President is going against the GPA in this decision,” he said.

“However, as a party, we have decided that if the President wants him in that position, he can keep him.
“The only thing we will not allow, under any circumstances, is for him to represent the party in any capacity in the inclusive Government, or make any decisions on behalf of the party.”

Prof Ncube said instead of wasting time on a long legal battle, the party would concentrate its energies on nation building and bread and butter issues that affect Zimbabweans.