Former vice-president Joice Teurai Ropa Mujuru (JTM) has addressed two rallies, one in Bulawayo and another in Harare, effectively asserting her position in Zimbabwe’s opposition politics following her controversial expulsion from Zanu PF last year. She addressed another rally in Masvingo yesterday. She will also visit other provinces ahead of the launch of her party, Zimbabwe People First (ZimPF) on a date to be announced. Our chief reporter Everson Mushava (EM) recently caught up with Mujuru to discuss various issues regarding her party, elections, the economy and other issues. Below are excerpts of the interview, the first part of which was published in last week’ edition.
EM: What is your comment on the attendance at your rallies so far? Are you satisfied by the attendance and do you still believe you are the game-changer in Zimbabwe’s politics?
JTM: We are happy with what we are seeing, but where I come from; you don’t beat your own drum. It is up to you to make an appraisal of the impact that we have made.
EM: Is it true the party’s key structural legs are former Zanu PF officials and if so, does this not present the party as a breakaway Zanu PF and not an entirely new political kid on the block?
JTM: It is not true. Sixty percent of our membership comes from people who were not in any political party of any form.
EM: Has the party gauged its potential in countrywide membership — and where would you put it in comparison with existing parties?
JTM: We are satisfied with the work we are doing, but we will never compare ourselves with other political parties to gauge where we are. Doesn’t the Bible say “In comparing one to another, they were not wise?”
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EM: What is your vision for Zimbabwe?
JTM: We envision a Zimbabwe with peace, unity and democracy. A Zimbabwe where everyone is prosperous and in which people’s interests are put first.
EM: What would you say to Zimbabweans that are losing hope of seeing the country enjoying economic prosperity and the fruits of the country’s independence such as freedom in their lifetime?
JTM: I say to them none but ourselves can free our country. It is our God-given habitat. Let’s fight to make it habitable. Together we can BUILD Zimbabwe and make it a first world country.
EM: Where does the ZimPF strength lie? [mobilisation, policies, Zanu PF weakness]
JTM: Zim PF’s strength lies in the people. It is a party that puts people first. Its strength is in the people. We exist right inside our people’s hearts, so as long as the people are there with their hearts; we are strong, very strong.
EM: What is the party’s mobilisation strategy — does it have a rural or urban focus?
JTM: We focus on every part of the country where we have people. If the people are in Mars, we are there as long as they take their hearts with them. We are not confined to a place. We are confined within the human anatomy, in people’s hearts. So our focus is where the people are and we appeal to their hearts.
EM: How strong is the party financially?
JTM: What do you mean by how strong? We are as financially stable as we are strong support-wise. The people are our benefactors, so for as long as we have them, we are okay.
EM: After your inaugural rally in Bulawayo and the other one in Harare, are you convinced you did the right thing by joining the opposition ranks?
JTM: My willingness to see things change in this country, my realisation that we were regressing as a country informed my decision to leave Zanu PF and try to change things from outside. I made the decision to leave Zanu PF on December 1 2014 and I have never regretted that decision. It was a decision that thrust me back to the people. You have seen the numbers in Bulawayo and in Harare; I’m not alone; I’m with the people and naturally, if you are among the people you are bound to be happy unless you are an introvert. I am not an introvert. I am firmly rooted in the life that most people live in our country. I blend with people in the rural areas, the urban poor, those in the commercial farming areas. I am at my best when I am with people. I love being with them because I am one of them.
EM: Your critics say your speech in Bulawayo was not very critical of President Robert Mugabe. Do you still find it difficult to criticise someone you once described as your father?
JTM: In People First, we don’t specialise in criticising people. We criticise policies, institutions, and if those policies are encapsulated in people, if people become policy issues, if they become impediments to policy implementation, we criticise them. I have made reference to the excesses of the Mugabe administration; I have opposed his policies even when I was in Zanu PF. That is the reason I left the party; I made that decision on my own, on 1 December 2014 and I personally communicated that to him. The reason was that I was critical of the way he was running the party, the way he allowed his wife who was not an elected official of the party at that time, to savagely attack anyone she disliked. The way things were turning out, I thought it was best to leave and most of the time, action speaks louder than words. If I wasn’t critical of Mugabe, would I have been here today, talking to you as president of People First?
You see, if people shout at you, if they act with apparent barbarism, do you also become barbaric and start hurling insults at them? Aaah mwanangu, [my child] it doesn’t work that way. I am a mother, a grandmother, a mother-in-law, daughter-in-law, a sister, a church mate, a comrade and all such other persona as assigned by society. I have to act with dignity and leave that uncouth behaviour to those without any shred of morality and dignity. Be that as it may, I will not be restrained from calling a spade a spade. A mother who doesn’t espouse the aspirations of her children is not worth the name. I will rebuke evil, will speak against avarice, against vice, corruption, sin and any form of moral decadence, but I will not allow myself to be morally decadent to drive any point home. There is a way of rebuking vice that does not leave you needing to be rebuked as well.
EM: The People’s Democratic Party delivered a solidarity message at the Bulawayo rally; did that mean you are closer to reaching an agreement on a coalition to contest the 2018 elections?
JTM: I am glad you called it solidarity message. Does delivering a solidarity message equate to engaging in coalition talks? I have said it many times; in Bulawayo and even in Harare. There are a lot of things that bind us as a people, as Zimbabwean politicians, and these things form the basis of our desire to work together, to unite our people and work for the development of the country. Coalition or no coalition, we should work together because we are one people. We have a common goal of making our country work again. This we can achieve if we realise the strength in our diversity, if we respect the different qualities and skills we bring to the table. Political coalitions, or whatever name you can call them, can be formed at the right time, what is important now is to find each other, to unify our people and work our way out of the mess Mugabe has plunged us into. It is a task for every Zimbabwean, not only those that come to give solidarity messages at our rallies.
