NCA TURNS POLITICAL, WAY TO GO, THUMPS UP!!!!
WITH Zimbabwe’s new constitution
set to be debated in Parliament next week, the National Constitutional Assembly
(NCA) pressure group announced on Wednesday that it would soon transform into a
political party. The NCA, a vocal advocacy group which has for more than a
decade been demanding a new constitution, campaigned unsuccessfully in March to
have Zimbabwe’s new charter rejected at a referendum. But six percent of those
taking part in the referendum voted ‘No’, despite the country’s major political
parties led by Zanu PF and the two MDC factions all urging their supporters to
vote ‘yes’.
Now NCA chairman Lovemore Madhuku,
speaking during Workers’ Day celebrations at the Raylton Sports Club in Harare
on Wednesday, says they believe they have a very important constituency that
needs representation. They are also not abandoning their demands for a
“people-driven” constitution, dismissing the new supreme law set to be rushed
through Parliament before President Robert Mugabe’s assent as an imperfect
compromise document negotiated by politicians.
People in NCA are saying they no longer want
the organization to remain an NGO when it is carrying out the important task of
demanding a democratic and people-driven constitution. They want the
organisation to continue advocating for a democratic constitution while
competing with other political parties. So I am here to announce that the NCA
is forming a political party, which is not to say you must join the party. Madhuku
said MDC-T leader and Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai, a former secretary
general of the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions, had failed workers since
joining a coalition with President Robert Mugabe in 2009. He warned Tsvangirai
that the NCA’s new party – whose name was not disclosed – had potential to
wreck his political chances if he continued calling for elections to be delayed
until October. The NCA was minded to enter the new party in those elections
which could potentially split the anti-Zanu PF vote.
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