‘Makoni’s party lacks uniqueness’

The mission statement reads: “To mobilise the nation to share and realise our vision. To position Mavambo-Kusile -Dawn (MKD) to become the party of choice that will appeal to all Zimbabweans.”
Makoni broke ranks with ZANU-PF in February last year and sprung a real surprise by challenging one of Africa’s longest serving leaders, President Robert Mugabe.
While still in ZANU-PF, he was one of the party cadres who were tipped to succeed the veteran nationalist, who turned 85 in February.
Frustrated at the outcome of the party’s congress in December 2007, where ZANU-PF chose to endorse President Mugabe as the party’s candidate for the March 2008 elections, Makoni sought to challenge his former boss from outside.
But can his MKD survive the rough and tumble of Zimbabwean politics to catapult Makoni into a serious contender for power after garnering 8,3 percent of the vote in last March’s presidential poll against President Mugabe’s 43,2 percent and Morgan Tsvangirai’s 47,9 percent?
Political analysts this week said the new party has a mountain to climb before it can win the minds and hearts of the people, with University of Zimbabwe political science lecturer, Eldred Masunungure, saying the timing of the new party’s launch, would militate against its success.
“The timing for the launch was rather poor. You do not launch a party when there is euphoria, in this case about the inclusive government. You do not introduce a political party when people are celebrating. You introduce it when people are downcast. A potential suitor does not come when a couple is at a honeymoon, he comes when the marriage is breaking down,” said Masunungure.
He cited a recent Mass Public Opinion Institute survey, which showed that 80 percent of Zimbabweans support the inclusive government, with 81 percent believing that it would solve the country’s problems.
Masunungure said the best time for the launch would have been when people are becoming disgruntled with the performance of the inclusive government, formed in February between ZANU-PF and the two Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) formations.
Failure to wait for such an opportune time saw the party overlooking the structural realities of Zimbabwean politics, which has proved fatal for previous parties, Masunungure added.
“The party failed to take into account the structural reality of Zimbabwe. The country has always been a one party and two party State; it has never been a three party polity. For MKD to be effective, one of the two existing parties has to diminish in importance. You can see what is happening in the MDC-M. It is a structural reality,” said Masunungure.
He added that the party was also faced with the fact that its leader, who attracted mainly the middle class to his rallies, is known more than the organisation.
Masunungure gave an example of the Zimbabwe Unity Movement formed by Edgar Tekere which he said “zoomed to its demise” because the leader was more popular than the party.
Harare lawyer Terrence Hussein also said the launch of the party was ill-timed in light of a court case that is pending between Makoni and his former colleagues, including Ibbo Mandaza and Kudzai Mbudzi over the control of the party’s resources.
Mandaza was the national convener for Mavambo while Mbudzi was the mobilisation chairperson.
The duo, along with Dumiso Dabengwa, deserted Makoni after accusing him of financial impropriety, maladministration and failing to take the movement forward. The case is now before the courts.
Dabengwa, the former ZIPRA supremo, is now the interim leader of a rived PF-ZAPU, which is drawing its support from mainly the three Matabeleland provinces.
Hussein said the legal case between Makoni and his former colleagues gives the electorate the impression that the party is not based on any cohesion or binding principles.
He added that an attempt to sell MKD as a party that is going to champion democracy, uphold the rule of law and the constitution as well as promising balanced national development and decentralisation of government authority, as enunciated in its principles, fails to give it its own  identity as those have been touted by the existing parties.
“They are entering a political environment that is saturated. They need to create an identity that is separate from that of the main political parties that are presently in government. They need to create a new point of entry and not come up with tired cache phrases like democracy and the rule of law,” said Hussein.
“The party conducts most of its business through press conferences and not grassroots activities. This gives the impression that they are bereft of meaningful membership. People are seeing an individual and not a party. Where are the party structures? Where are their offices in Chimanimani, Kariba?” asked Rindai Chirinda-Vava the director of the Zimbabwe Election Support Network (ZESN).
Without really praising or condemning Mavambo, she, however, said its launch is a positive step for democracy in the country.
She said in last year’s presidential election the new party was able to garner eight percent of the vote when it was only a month-old movement. With such a vote, the party was going to be represented in Parliament if the country used proportional representation, Chipfunde-Vava added.
She however, said that MKD just like any other party needs to improve on intra-party democracy as evidenced by the fall-out among members that has since spilled into the courts.
“To create competition, you need as many parties as you can. The launch is a positive step for democracy as it balances issues. Having two dominant parties, usually — it’s not good for nurturing democracy,” the ZESN director said.
Makoni had last year indicated that he wished to form a political party to fill the vacuum created in opposition politics following the formation of the inclusive government between ZANU-PF and the two MDC factions.
Makoni told the recently held World Economic Forum that he welcomed the unity government, but did not like the way it was conceived. He described it as a child conceived through a rape.
The former finance minister had entered President Mugabe’s government at a relatively young age.
He was appointed deputy minister of agriculture in 1980, when he was 30 years old. In 1981, he became minister of industry and energy development, a position he held until 1983.
In 1983, he was appointed executive secretary of the Southern African Development Community (SADC), serving in that post for 10 years.
A US$25 000 scam rocked SADC in 1993, resulting in the dismissal of three officials. They implicated Makoni. He accepted full responsibility as executive secretary, but denied any personal wrongdoing.
He left SADC in 1994 and returned to Harare where he became managing director of Zimbabwe Newspapers until 1997.
Makoni resigned after he failed to rein in the late Sunday Mail editor, Charles Chikerema, for stirring up racial animosity.
Chikerema was a close relative of President Mugabe who backed the editor in the dispute. The government is the majority shareholder in Zimbabwe News-papers.
Makoni then had a second stint as cabinet minister, this time serving as minister of finance after the June 2000 parliamentary elections. He supported the devaluation of the Zimbabwean dollar, a policy that was opposed by President Mugabe.
The President showed him to the door for the second time and replaced him with Herbert Murerwa in 2002.