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Wallace Ruzvidzo
Herald Reporter
As the August 23 elections are fast approaching, Herald Reporter Wallace Ruzvidzo (WR) had an interview with Zimbabwe Coalition for Peace and Development (ZCPD)’s Presidential Candidate Trust Chikohora (TC), where he spoke of his candidature and what he is promising to bring to the table.
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WR: Who is Trust Chikohora?
TC: I am 48 years old, I was born in Masvingo in December 1974 and my family moved to Gweru in 1978. I have lived in Gweru for most of my life. I left Gweru and went to Harare for work and study, but Gweru is my hometown.
I am a chartered accountant by profession. I am a businessman and leader. I was president of the Zimbabwe National Chamber of Commerce from 2010 to 2011.
I was also the secretary- general of the COMESA Business Council from 2011 to 2013 covering 19 countries in terms of a leader in the business community. I have been a director of several companies and organisations in Zimbabwe.
I was involved a lot in corporate governance issues, and I was a member of the board which came up with the national code on corporate governance in Zimbabwe.
I wrote the acknowledgements page of the code. I am now a politician and I am a leader of the Coalition of Democrats (COD) which is a member of POLAD.
I am the chairman of POLAD’s economic committee since its inception and I have been responsible for leading POLAD’s economic interventions and for example, I hosted its economic summit in February 2020 which came up with a lot of recommendations which have helped the economy including things such as the auction system and also that we continue with multiple currencies.
I also hosted the POLAD currency indaba in June 2022 when the currency started to nosedive and a lot of the recommendations came from that function including the 200 percent interest rate, limiting money supply and even the gold coins were all recommendations from the currency indaba to name just a few that we have managed as political leaders.
WR: What was the major inspiration behind your candidature?
TC: Now that we are going to elections, as POLAD we decided to come up with a coalition to contest in a united front and we formed the Zimbabwe Coalition for Peace and Development (ZCPD) and I was elected the president.
WR: How strong do you think your run for presidency is and what gives you such confidence?
TC: Zimbabwe has been polarised along two-party lines over the last 23 years, so as ZCPD, we believe that Zimbabwe will never develop if that situation continues. So, the philosophy of ZCPD is we want to bring everybody together so that we work together for the development of our country. This is why we have created this vehicle of a coalition so that we move away from our individual party cocoons and try to build a whole together as Zimbabweans. That is why from the onset, we have stated that as ZCPD. If we win the elections, we will form an inclusive government which will comprise of members from across the political divide including people who are not involved in politics, who can add value to this country.
We will create a government of the best people to lead this country going forward for the benefit of everyone to improve our country together. That is our philosophy of ZCPD.
I believe that this election is about the economy. The most pressing issue for any Zimbabwean now is the economy, and I believe that with my background in business and economics, I am the right person to lead Zimbabwe out of this quagmire. You will find that our manifesto as ZCPD is based on rebuilding the economy and making it work again, getting everybody to prosper together.
I have the best credentials in terms of addressing the economy of this country. Furthermore, our value proposition as ZCPD of wanting to create an inclusive government is the only way out of the polarised situation that we find ourselves in Zimbabwe now, which has led us nowhere for the past decades.
We believe because of our value proposition and the background of the candidate, we have the best chance at this point in time to win the election.
The alternative of going for parties that have already been there is to continue in the same situation of a national economy that does not work and local authorities which are dysfunctional.
So, we are a breath of fresh air which can take the country out of this mess. I love my country Zimbabwe, and I believe that there is nowhere else I would rather be than in Zimbabwe. We should make Zimbabwe work. That is why I have taken it upon myself to lead this process of the economic revival of this country, starting with this candidature, creating this vehicle that we call ZCPD.
WR: Can you give us a background of your party and its main values?
TC: ZCPD was formed on March 16, 2023 and since then we have managed to go to all the provinces in Zimbabwe launching the party addressing people about the thinking and philosophy of ZCPD.
WR: And the values?
TC: Our values are based on transparency, servant leadership, honesty and hard work and we shun corruption. We will work to eradicate corruption from this country. We will work so that Zimbabwe rewards hard, honest work to ensure everybody has a great chance to make it in this great country of ours.
WR: Have you addressed any meeting or rallies yet?
TC: We have had a tremendous response and now we are going back to selected areas where we are going to reinforce this message to the people of Zimbabwe. We have found a massive response and yearning for this fresh way of doing politics which will lead Zimbabwe to prosperity.
WR: What are you promising the people?
TC: In our manifesto the economy is paramount. We will be focusing on improving the economy. Zimbabweans will have strategic stakes in natural resources, and we see that through upgrading social services. Specific policies will be put in place for corporate social responsibilities for big mines in our country.
WR: What do you make of the peaceful political environment that has been ensured by the Second Republic?
TC: We value peace. We urge all political actors to promote peace in all that we do. After all we only have one country, and we are all Zimbabweans. Elections come and go but Zimbabwe remains, let us protect our country and promote peace. We are all brothers and sisters, and we are all one family. ZCPD promotes unity, peace and development for all.
WR: Did you manage to field candidates for the National Assembly and local authority seats?
TC: Because of the nomination costs it was not possible for us to field all the 210 National Assembly candidates so from a strategic point of view we went for the Presidency and a few MPs and we have a lot of councillors throughout the country.
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