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Welshman Ncube

Herald Reporter
The MDC, led by Professor Welshman Ncube, and a section of the MDC-T led by Mrs Sekai Holland and Mr Tendai Biti, united in Harare yesterday under a new name, Democratic Union.

The two sections parted ways with Mr Morgan Tsvangirai’s MDC in 2005 and this year.

The new party would be led by co-presidents Prof Ncube and Mrs Holland representing the Renewal Team.

Addressing a handful of supporters drawn from the party’s 12 provinces, Prof Ncube said the MDC mantra that “Mugabe must go” was useless and does not address the challenges confronting the country.

“Are you saying that if we remove Mugabe we will have addressed the issues of the people? The moment we keep to that narrative is the moment we give victory to (President) Mugabe.”

He said when they formed MDC in 1999 they had an agenda for change.

Prof Ncube said some of the issues they had wanted addressed included coming up with a new constitution.

He said although the country now had new constitution, it was just a paper tiger because it was not being implemented.

“It is our job to complete that agenda for change,” he said.

“But you cannot complete the agenda for change in the absence of democratic political parties.

“If we are not able to build truly democratic political parties committed unconditionally and equivocally, we will not have a democratic Zimbabwe.”

Mr Biti said they parted ways with Mr Tsvangirai after realising that he was centralising power.

“When transition delays, the movement rots. We started to see power being concentrated on one individual. We started to see all people at rallies singing Tsvangirai simudza ngere ngere ndiende.”

He apologised to the Ncube faction for accusing them to be sell-outs when they split in 2005.

Mr Biti said you could not build a nation on politics of ego.

The reunification ceremony was attended by the two parties’ national leadership.