I WAS horrified as I watched ZTV, to see “political commentator” Goodson Nguni declare that Enos Nkala had betrayed the liberation struggle “by joining the right-wing Forum Party”. If people depend on such “commentators” to construct the history of our country, they will be sadly and severely misled —— which raises the issue of whose history is it anyway?As a founder and a member of the Forum Party of Zimbabwe’s national executive in 1993, I oversaw its dissolution and the subsequent integration of our members into the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) in 1999. It is from this standpont that I can assure the nation that Enos Nkala was never a member of the Forum Party of Zimbabwe.  It is true that Nkala approached Forum Party leaders —— including Enoch Dumbutshena, Washington Sansole and Patrick Kombayi. We were the lone voice of opposition to Zanu PF rule at that time, and he had been sadly disenchanted with the actions and dissimulation of the former ruling party.  We had gone to the extent of engaging him in negotiations on possible funding to support opposition to the regime. He had, after all, been treasurer for Zanu PF for some years.  However, we did not complete our negotiations and efforts in that regard, because firstly the 1995 election was upon us before we had time to prepare, and secondly because there was considerable discomfort within our party about engaging a person perceived to have been involved in the Gukurahundi massacres.In the event Nkala backed off and took a back seat in politics for another 10 years or so until popping up again in the run-up to 2008, after the late entry into the fray of Simba Makoni in February that year.  His choice of platform turned out to be based on smoke and mirrors, as Makoni made a very poor showing, despite much hype and questionable opinion polls —— so he was back to square one.It is my view that Nkala has outlived his moment and should retire gracefully from active politics and rather become the statesman that he so aspires to turn into.
Trudy Stevenson is former MP for Harare North.
