by SAVIOUS KWINIKA
Editor-In-Chief
JOHANNESBURG, (CAJ News) – A NEW opposition party formed ahead of the 2023 general elections has pledged to turn Zimbabwe into a self-sufficient nation as well as fight corruption and lure millions in the diaspora back into the country.
The Zimbabwe African National Congress (ZANC) is the latest entrant into the political space dominated by the Zimbabwe African National Union – Patriotic Front (ZANU-PF) regime, in power since 1980.
Timothy Mncube, the founding president, exclusively told CAJ News Africa his party would genuinely transform people’s lives as opposed to the current administration he alleged was motivated by the desire to plunder and loot the country’s resources.
“ZANC is the real alternative that shall bring a new Republic (Zimbabwe) that is good for all. ZANC shall bring the best economy by ending corruption and the mass looting of our natural resources by the few elites in power,” said Mncube.
He said there were some fundamental changes that people of Zimbabwe desperately wanted.
“The economy must be self-driven and self-sustenance and not dependant on imports and foreign aid. We need employment for our people both those within and outside the country,” Mncube said.
Formed in 2019, ZANC insists its establishment was aimed at unifying Zimbabweans from across colour, creed, race or tribe.
“We are focused on developing the country as a whole economically, socially and politically,” Mncube said.
ZANC supporters
He said his party has not yet started campaigning as the leadership were busy putting structures right from grassroots, district, provincial and national levels.
“We have not started campaigning yet but we are creating structures in place to prepare for full campaigning when the relevant authorities give the green light,” Mncube said.
He maintained ZANC would prove to be a vital opposition missing in Zimbabwe, which will stand strong against ZANU-PF.
Mncube pledged infrastructural development such as bridges, modern road highways, hospitals, dams, water reservoirs, stadia, provision of clean water, creation of jobs, sincere devolution of power, among others.
“We need employment for our people both those within and outside the country,” he said.
“Those outside the country (diaspora) are busy developing other people’s economies only to retire back home to face pot holes, 90-year-old judges, collapsing economy, eroded pensions, captured state institutions and a corrupt government. We need the over 4 million able-bodied and hardworking Zimbabweans in the diaspora to come back home, among them thousands of investors of our own people,” said a confident Mncube.
He said ZANC’s objectives were to eliminate corruption, create youth empowerment, providing social and economic solutions as well as uniting Zimbabweans.
Mncube said these would help improve the country’s health care system, the provision of affordable healthcare for all citizens and building of more clinics especially in remote areas.
He called upon all Zimbabweans within and outside the country to vote ZANC during the next elections.
He promised ZANC would bring to Zimbabweans true democracy, the rule of law and security.
ZANC urges Zimbabweans to register
Mncube said ZANC boasted branches stretching right across all provinces of Zimbabwe as well as the diaspora, mainly South Africa, where the majority of Zimbabweans reside (about 3,5 million).
He bemoaned the failure by the ruling ZANU-PF to turn around the economy since winning elections in 2018, arguing the move had negatively affected its support base throughout the country.
“Voters and the general population (of Zimbabwe) continue to experience disappointments in Government corruption, looting of national wealth, total state capture and failure to arrest runaway hyper-inflation and other total social failures,” said Mncube.
Prior to the formation of ZANC, only one vibrant opposition party – the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) – initially gave hope to millions of Zimbabweans only to start intra-party fighting resulting in unprecedented disintegration thereby weakening the party.
Formed in 1999, MDC crumbled in 2005 when founding secretary general Welshman Ncube broke away from founding president Morgan Tsvangirai.
MDC further split into numerous fissures comprising MDC-1999, MDC-T, MDC-N (MDC-Ncube), MDC Alliance, commonly known as (MDC-A) and People’s Democratic Party (PDP), among others.
– CAJ News
