SundayOpinion: Defining moment for MDC-T

Obituaries
  By Blessing Vava   The Movement for Democratic Change headed by Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai will soon hold its watershed congress in Bulawayo. Since the dates for the congress were announced there has been fierce jostling for positions. Sadly factionalism and divisions are now rearing their ugly heads in the party. But a question which quickly comes to mind is: what is the importance and significance of this congress, both for the party and the nation as a whole?

 

This I say mindful of the fact that the MDC got the majority of votes in the last elections held in Zimbabwe and therefore they remain arguably the most popular political party in the country.

 

For us ordinary people, I think the congress presents the party with an opportunity to redeem itself and return to its founding principles and ideologies they have since negated. This is unlike what we witnessed in the last congress held in Harare in 2006 at the City Sports Centre where some cadres with no clear ideological standpoint gate-crashed and found themselves into leadership positions without really understanding their roles and the basic principles governing the party.

 

This time around those of weak ideological grounding should be exposed and should not be allowed to occupy any position in the party.  But the misfortune that may haunt the congress is that a majority of the delegates might be largely a pool of mediocrity as we have witnessed in the past. So there is need during the ongoing provincial congresses to elect quality leadership.

 

What should be the focus of the MDC as they conduct the congress?

 

Fundamentally it should be noted that the congress is the highest decision-making body outside the National Council in the MDC and it converges after every five years.  Hence there is need for seriousness when the party goes to congress. To some the congress presents an opportunity to grab those positions they have been yearning for so dearly while to others it will be an occasion to mix and mingle and make merry. But the most important aspect of this watershed congress is not about electing a new leadership as some might think.

 

The single most important objective of this congress is to lay bare the aspirations, frustrations and struggles of the suffering people of this country, the working class people, the unemployed youth, the vulnerable groups, those infected and affected by the HIV and Aids who are finding it difficult to have their issues raised and listened to in a country where  polarisation and intolerance have become the order of the day.

 

This congress should be able to develop a clear action plan to advance the aspirations of the party and the  people of Zimbabwe since it is now evidently clear that the Zanu PF regime has totally failed the people. The congress should be able to debate and interrogate the failures and successes made by the party since its formation and also usher in new strategies of dealing with other opposing political players. It should be able to address the issues of violence, factionalism and the cracking alliance between the workers and the students’ movement.

 

When the MDC was formed in 1999, it was a product of a coalition of the students, the working class and other vulnerable groups of our society and its main objective was to address the aspirations of the poor. Remember the National Working People’s Convention (NWPC) in 1999 organised by the ZCTU, NCA and the students movement was the alliance which stood by its baby the MDC for all these years. Sadly the MDC, like a stubborn child who refuses advice from its parents, decided to run away from home unceremoniously. To put it straight, they failed to maintain the alliance with partners largely due to the fact that those with money were now dictating the pace and thereby deliberately sidelining the working class and the poor people.

 

The congress provides the MDC with an opportunity to address this anomaly if they still seek to remain a viable force in the country. Indications are that if they remain rigid the alliance would be faced with no option but to transform itself into a formidable political movement that will address the aspirations of the poor.

 

The ANC of South Africa is a party that can stand the test of time. It has managed to maintain its allies whose grassroots organisations have played a key role in maintaining its power.

 

The alliance comprising COSATU, SASCO and the SACP has remained the ANC’s support base.