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The MDC needs a new paradigm shift
Daniel Molokele
November 02, 2005

This article was originally written for Daniel Molokele's weekly column called 'Letter from Jozi' in The Zimbabwean news paper.

What a month of unprecedented drama and political upheaval it has been for the MDC! Indeed, if the events of the last few weeks are anything to go by, then the party is most certainly going through its worst difficult crisis ever.

Never has the MDC experienced such a deep level of political innuendos, suspicions, counter-suspicions, allegations and counter-allegations. Not to mention the very public nature of the fallout within its top leadership ranks!

The past month's fiasco has only served to seriously weaken the MDC's claim as a serious contender in the political landscape of Zimbabwe. Even more it has also served to compound the already existing doubts over its ability to bring true and sustainable political transformation in the crisis riddled country.

Six years after its formation, the much hyped democratic change of which the party was formed to bring about has slowly but surely evaporated like a typical political mirage. Whichever way one may look at it, there certainly seems to be no change in the political horizon of Zimbabwe. Hopes of change continue to recede like a tired tidal wave while the levels of tyrannical paranoia continue to rise up daily like the devastating waves of an advancing tsunami.

If anything, dark clouds of political impunity, cronyism, and tyranny continue to gather over the skies of the future of the country. As it today, the political storm that has brought the never ending lightning strikes of repression, suppression and depression continue to pommel the hapless Zimbabwean majorities. Surely to al practical purposes and intents, there is no end in sight for the Mugabe led dictatorship.

The mere fact that the party leadership has stooped low enough to debate on the merits and demerits of participating in the Senate clearly reflects the crisis of vision and purpose that has bedeviled the party. Every Zimbabwean political observer or analyst worth their salt will not hesitate to dismiss the whole hullabaloo about the Senate as part of the additional carriages in the Zanu-PF gravy train.

Mugabe clearly said it in public rallies that all losing candidates should not worry since he would make sure an alternative source of 'chibanzi' would be created for them. He did not have even the shame to hide the fact that he would use the proposed senate to extend his levels of patronage and influence within the Zanu-PF ranks.

It is common cause that the very process of enacting the law that has led to the resetting up of the Senate was conducted in bad faith. It violated every norms of constitutionalism. It was a deliberate affront on the democratic will of the nation's majorities.

There is no doubt that the much reviled Constitutional Amendment No.17 Act has already found its rightful place in the annals of legal history as one of the worst imposed laws of Zimbabwe ever. Popular participation was completely negated by the choice of the weakened parliament as the only route in the enactment process.

Ironically, the very same MDC was at the forefront among the leading critics of the new law. It was thus unexpected of them to even consider the notion of participation in the Senate as a popular and reasonably strategic option.

Common sense demands that the MDC continued to oppose the entire concept of the Senate even after the enactment of the new law.

Even more critically, it was also logical of the party to initiate a debate on the efficacy of its continued stay in the other house of Parliament. As it is, the furore within the MDC should not have been about the Senate at all. Instead, it should have been about the available options for the party outside the discredited legislature.

The Zimbabwean Parliament has by now lost total legitimacy and no longer has any semblance of democratic credibility whatsoever. Even worse, the electoral system has become so sterile, so impotent and so emasculated that only a naïve fool can expect anything democratic to be borne out of it. The electoral route has by now reached a dead end. Period!

What then is the way forward for the MDC? The way forward is simple.

Firstly, to maintain its relevance, the party must invest all its available resources to mitigate the adverse effects of its very public fallout over the Senate. The party must seek to regroup and close ranks immediately.

In particular, the ethnic overtones that have been concomitant with the Senate debate must be dealt with decisively. The MDC must not allow the tribal ghost of Zanu-Zapu to haunt the party at all costs. Tribalism is an evil whose ugly head can never be viewed as beautiful under whatsoever circumstances.

Secondly, the MDC leadership must renew its mandate urgently. As long as the much postponed Congress remains a pie in the sky, it will be difficult for the leadership to maintain their legitimacy and credibility. There is an urgent for the party to reconstitute its leadership through a credible internal electoral process.

Thirdly, the party must initiate a debate on the other options outside the Parliamentary route.

Various options have been forwarded as possible agenda items for the party's debate on the way forward. These include the broad alliance coalition, mass civil disobedience, a government in exile among others. These all need to be deliberated upon in an open and objective manner.

Fouthly, the MDC must revisit its membership strategy in the diaspora. Since 1999, millions of young Zimbabweans have left the country and are now living abroad. Most of these are natural members of the MDC. At present, the party's structures abroad are at their weakest ever. The party needs to learn from Zapu, Zanu and ANC on how to turn the exiled activists into a formidable force for democratic change back home in Zimbabwe.

Fifthly and perhaps most crucially, the party needs to develop a political ideology. It is about time that the MDC has a distinct nationalist identity. To that end, questions must be answered as to whether the party is for liberal democrats or social democrats or whatever else it may choose to be. Essentially, the party has to ensure that it develops a very strong nationalist identity. As it is today, it is difficult to really pinpoint what the party's real identity is.

The days of being a mere anti-Mugabe coalition are over now. The common desire to remove Mugabe from power is no longer adequate as a common denominator for uniting its ranks and files.

There is thus an urgent need to revisit the common values and principles that bind the party's soul and spirit other wise the party's body will continue to decline in political health. There is an urgent need for a shift in the political paradigm of the party. Otherwise failure to do will mean the very end of the party. Forever!

*Mr Daniel Molokele is Co-ordinator for the Southern African Editors Forum.

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