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Statement by ZPDP Interim Secretary General
Dudley Gura, Zimbabwe People's Democratic Party (ZPDP)
December 06, 2007

I will outline in this statement the party's background, current position and its intentions especially in the advent of the forthcoming harmonised elections in March 2008.

Some or most of you may be familiar with the ZPDP because it is not a new party, but it is a renewed party that is re-launching its brand to meet the present challenges that come with Zimbabwean politics today.

The party is led by Ms Isabel Madangure and Vice President Mr Kudakwashe Jaunda. Like other members of the National Executive, they both did not need to be here today. To complement the full National Executive, the party also now has Provincial and District Executives in all the provinces and Districts of the countries.

These are supported by a full complement of Area Representatives in all the regions and sub-regions of the country. Full information regarding party leadership and structures is now available and obtainable from our party website and through the Information and Publicity and the Organising Departments. More information leaflets will be coming to people's homes and local points of contact.

To all those who are already familiar with our party's recent activities and communications you may have familiarised yourselves with our party's renewed vision and programme of action. As Zimbabweans in this country and others outside the country, we have sat down and deliberated through telephone and email about the current state of our country.

The state of the economy, our politics and the social state of our lives is unacceptable. We have all agreed that things are getting worse rather than better and that there is an apparent case for another major political player in our country. This is why we agreed not necessarily to form a new party, but to look at existing parties that have the potential to turn the fortunes of Zimbabweans round.

There was common consensus that the ZPDP is an ideal project on the basis that although the party had not made any serious inroads as yet into the parliamentary system, it has a very strong grass roots base that was now visibly agitating for the party to make that giant step towards serious political engagement.

Others felt that this may split votes between the opposition MDC and ZANU PF, but these views represented a minority segment of our consultations. The main argument was that there was no splitting of votes between the opposition and ZANU PF because there is a large section of the population of the country that still would neither vote for the opposition nor ZANU PF. That is the largest section of our population outside the MDC and ZANU PF.

The MDC and ZANU PF memberships put together cannot constitute half of this country's population and that combined membership is also significantly dwindling due to recent events in both the MDC and ZANU PF.

There is a large section of the MDC support base that greatly feels let down by the party's lack of mature and serious leadership. The dictatorial tendencies in the MDC that have seen the party leadership violate their own constitution have resulted in disgruntlement and discontent with the current MDC leadership.

The fact that the MDC was split along very personal grounds has left the party under severe scrutiny as to its ability to bind the nation together especially at a time when there is growing disunity in the country. This has also resulted in significant numbers of MDC supporters becoming disinterested in the party and any of its activities as witnessed in the dwindling numbers thronging MDC rallies and meetings.

As for ZANU PF, the party has failed to reform itself. No sane Zimbabwean would have expected that to happen anyway but these are desperate times and people expect the impossible to happen. Unfortunately, or fortunately, the impossible has not and is not going to happen. This has resulted in equal levels of disaffection with the party leadership in ZANU PF.

The fact that the MDC and ZANU PF have all failed to benefit from the blank cheque and unlimited spending that they have all been given by SADC clearly shows how inadequate the two parties are in dealing with the very challenging situation facing our country today. The two major political parties in Zimbabwe have failed to combine their efforts and resolve our problems. Instead we see childish mud-slinging and taunting at a time when they should be sitting down to attend to the serious business of resolving Zimbabwe's problems.

The simple reason why the so-called SADC dialogue led by President Mbeki is failing even to take off, is that it is premised on defective guiding principles. Zimbabweans are not part of that dialogue because the parties in that dialogue are an unpopular ruling ZANU PF and a divided, squabbling MDC that cannot even agree on who is representing them in the talks. Who then is representing ordinary Zimbabweans in those talks? Where did the so-called representatives in the dialogue get that mandate to trade, in the name of our country?

There is not therefore, any credence in the argument that another political party will simply split votes in the forthcoming elections. There is nothing for Zimbabweans in the policies of both ZANU PF and the MDC, and there is nothing in the charade that is the SADC initiated dialogue. However, what is now here for Zimbabweans is a fantastic opportunity to kick ZANU PF out of government and to render the defective MDC party obsolete, with Zimbabweans being the ultimate winners in the process.

And what is definitely there for us as a party, is the void through which we can appeal to a large number of people who had almost lost hope of anything fruitful coming out of the desperate situation that is our politics today. This is our passionate appeal to all Zimbabweans, at home and abroad, to come together and seize the very last floating piece in this flood of problems and swim to the shore of dignified existence once again.

The ZPDP will be undertaking the following in regard to the forthcoming elections:
• Fielding our Presidential Candidate
• Fielding Parliamentary candidates in all contested seats
• Fielding Senatorial candidates in all contested seats
• Fielding candidates in all contested local seats

Our appeal to all Zimbabweans from all walks of life is to:
• Reject what is sub-standard and join hands with the ZPDP
• Contribute towards the redemption of your country and donate to the ZPDP
• Offer any kind of help and support to the ZPDP initiative
• Stay informed and conscious of your right to acceptable standards of political service

And our Ten Pledges to the people of Zimbabwe are:
• To restore the dignity of the Zimbabwean individual
• To restore the confidence of the Zimbabwean people in government
• To enforce and apply the law without selection or favour
• To deal with corruption at every level of Zimbabwean society
• To re-establish functionality at the heart of government
• To revive health delivery system
• To revive agriculture
• To revive the productive sector
• To create meaningful and gainful employment

These are expanded further in our Party's Manifesto that is now available online and in hard copy

The ZPDP train is leaving and for those with a conscience, this is the time to come on board.

We are stronger together.

Thank you.

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