Jeffrey Muvundusi • 2 March 2015 12:09PM • 7 comments
BULAWAYO - The Welshman Ncube-led MDC has absolved President Robert Mugabe’s continued stay in power saying the problem was with Zimbabweans who are fixated with the nonagenarian’s age, instead of concentrating on his removal from power.
Addressing journalists at the Bulawayo Press Club on Thursday, spokesperson of the smaller MDC, Nhlanhla Dube, decried how Zimbabweans have concentrated on an individual instead of Zanu PF’s flawed political system.
“We can’t go forever and chase the time and term limits of an individual and get carried away with his age,” Dube said. “The system as a whole is not performing and even after the departure of Mugabe, Zanu PF will still be Zanu PF.
“So it’s not a systemic problem but an individual problem. We believe if we remove Mugabe, Zimbabwe’s economy will get sorted out! No, the problem is the system that is Zanu PF, the policies which are created by Zanu PF and not implemented by the government.”
He said the “Mugabe must go” rhetoric which has become the slogan for opposition politics for the past two decades must be a thing of the past.
Dube said while people have concentrated on the “Mugabe must go” theory they forgot their purpose of bringing change and this has created problems.
“This theory concentrates on removing Mugabe and replacing him with another without dealing with policy issues in terms of governance policy systems. Zanu PF as an entity is not delivering systemically,” Dube added.
The smaller MDC spokesperson said the 35-year stay in power of the leader since independence was simply a choice by Zimbabweans.
“The indictment is on Zimbabweans themselves. You can’t blame him for wanting to stay in power. We must blame ourselves for allowing him to stay in power if we feel he is no longer capable of being in power,” he said.
Mugabe last week celebrated his 91st birthday amid calls by opposition parties and other disgruntled forces for him to step down as he was past his sell-by date and that he has effectively presided over the collapse of the country’s once vibrant economy.
Dube insisted that blaming Mugabe was never going to be a solution to Zimbabwe’s myriad of problems as “individuals will come and go”.
Meanwhile, speaking on the resignation of senior MDC officials, Dube said: “Yes there have been resignations but the reality of a political party is that it’s not constant.
“A political party is an organism that changes. People cooperate in a political party to achieve certain ends which they can’t achieve as individuals.
“If they feel as individuals that they can no longer achieve that which they hoped in that vehicle, whatever their reasons are, that is their democratic reason to step out,” he explained.