New political party to be launched

The Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU) and civic groups will on Saturday launch the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) as a political party which aims to challenge the ruling ZANU-PF of Robert Mugabe in next year's parliamentary elections. The 'Zimbabwe Independent' said the ZCTU's general secretary Morgan Tsvangirai, its president Gibson Sibanda, and deputy president Nicholas Mudzengerere are tipped to form the nucleus of the new party's interim executive. Other members expected to lead the new party are said to be constitutional lawyer Welshman Ncube, law lecturer Lovemore Madhuku, human rights lawyer David Coltart, Catholic church worker Mike Auret, college lecturer Fidelis Mhashu and two unnamed former students of University of Zimbabwe. The idea of the movement first surfaced at a convention of civic organisations in April hosted by the ZCTU, the main purpose of which was to seek a mandate from the civic bodies and the ZCTU to form a labour-inspired political party. The ZCTU's successes in organising national strikes in 1997 and 1998 in protest against commodity price rises prompted the civic organisations to ask the labour movement to spearhead the formation of a political party, with the aim of ousting Mugabe's government. Tsvangirai told the 'Independent' the MDC would unveil its manifesto at its launch at the Rufaro stadium in the capital, Harare. Spelling out what the MDC would do if elected to power, Tsvangirai said: "Our main thrust would be to achieve fiscal prudence, low taxation and eliminate wasteful expenditure in government." Political analysts differ on how the MDC would perform in next year's elections, saying it was difficult to predict this before they know who would lead the party. "Based on what we have heard so far, it would appear as if the political fortunes of MDC are between slim and none," said Professor Jonathan Moyo, adding that the fatal flaw of the MDC is that it is ideologically misplaced in that they are to the right of ZANU-PF. "Right-wing parties never win elections in Africa," Moyo said. Alfred Nhema, a politics lecturer, disagrees. He said the MDC is going to be one of the most formidable political opponents to enter Zimbabwe's political scene: "The MDC is going to appeal to a lot of workers and I think it's going to be in the centre rather than to the right."