Exiled former cabinet minister, Patrick Zhuwao has chided the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC-T) for trampling on its founding values and principles resulting in the 2005, 2014 and 2018 splits.
Zhuwao who is former President Robert Mugabe’s nephew also accused Zanu PF of instituting a military coup which he said was against its ‘honored’ principle of politics leading the gun.
“ZANU PF was formed as a liberation movement to free the people of Zimbabwe from colonial bondage under which they lost their political and civil liberties. ZANU PF’s founding values, principles, ideology and constitution have been eroded with the most recent and dramatic assault being the 15 November 2017 coup that trampled on the Party’s time- honored principle that politics must lead the gun.
“The recent massive expulsions of ZANU PF members in 2015, 2017 and 2018 were in the same vein.
“The same malaise has been seen in the MDC which was formed in 1999 by, mainly, former ZANU PF members as a critique to ZANU PF’s reliance on the bullet against the ballot under the grip of stockholder politics. This MDC challenge inspired a broader quest for democratic change under the banner of Movement for Democratic Change.
“Alas, the excitement around the MDC promise was short-lived as it too suffered the same fate as ZANU PF when it came to the Party’s failure to live by its founding values, principles and constitution. The highlights of this are the MDC splits of 2005, 2014 and 2018,” wrote Zhuwao in his Zhuwao Brief Reloaded column.
Zhuwao was part of the G40 faction in Zanu PF which was ousted during the military coup that replaced Mugabe with his deputy, Emmerson Mnangagwa.
Together with Professor Jonathan Moyo and Savior Kasukuwere, Zhuwao has been in self imposed exile since the events of November 2017 and they part of the new political outfit National Patriotic Front led by Retired Brigadier General Ambrose Mutinhiri.
