Interview: Mujuru best qualified to lead coalition says Jabulani Sibanda

Former Zimbabwe National Liberation War Veterans Association leader, Jabulani Sibanda (JS), is picking up the pieces after his fallout with President Robert Mugabe and the ruling ZANU-PF last year.

Without a political home, Sibanda has become a common face gracing opposition political gatherings. The Financial Gazette’s Bulawayo Assistant Bureau Chief, Ray Ndlovu (RN), spoke to him this week about his life outside ZANU-PF.

RN: You were suspended from ZANU-PF following your links to former vice-president Joice Mujuru. How has life been outside of ZANU-PF?

JS: I was fired from ZANU-PF in 2004, so I have been out of the ruling party for over 10 years. I have never become a member again. A person’s life shouldn’t be judged by their affiliation to political parties. There is so much more that one can do in their economic, cultural and even political lives.

RN: What would you say has been the biggest lesson that you have learnt about ZANU-PF since you left?

JS: The biggest lesson I have learnt is that the defenders of the constitution of the political party are the first ones to breach it. They are the first ones to go against the party ideologies. I had been a member of ZANU-PF since 1987 and had joined it with the sincere belief that we can be different from other political parties. I have since discovered that it is a party steeped in personalities and the spirit of comradeship.

RN: What do you now spend your time doing?

JS: I spend more time at the farm, in fact, that is where I am almost always. I spent a lot of time campaigning for President Robert Mugabe in 2008 and in 2013 for him to enjoy the electoral victory which he has now. In doing that I didn’t really get to do much for myself. As you can see I am still staying in Nkulumane and I am developing my farm. On the farm I grow maize and also have some cattle. I recently dug three boreholes, but didn’t have enough money to go into irrigation farming as I would have liked to.

RN: You were the leader of the War Veterans’ Association; are you drawing any benefits from them or all ties have been cut off?

JS: There is nothing which I receive from the War Veterans’ Association except for the (government) pension which I receive monthly. That often gets paid out late and is delayed, as has become common with pension payouts in the country.

RN: Let’s talk about the proposed coalition between Joice Mujuru and Morgan Tsvangirai: Is this the best way to tackle President Mugabe?

JS: Tsvangirai has come out clearly that he wants to work with others. The same goes for Tendai Biti who has said that he wants to work with others. The mechanism of how to go about this will have to be decided by the leaders, but it is nonsensical for brothers who have a common enemy to take an individual approach to dealing with their problem, otherwise their individual efforts are all in vain.

RN: Who is the best placed person to lead any coalition that may emerge among the opposition parties should they decide to unite?

JS: Let the people choose their leader, but so far the only person that is appealing is Mujuru. She has the qualifications and all the necessary qualities which are needed.

RN: Criticism levelled against Mujuru by some opposition members is that she is just an individual and does not have a political party behind her. Is this a valid criticism?

JS: In the 2013 elections there were only three million voters who cast their votes out of a registered eight million voters which means that five million voters stayed away from the poll. Those five million did not have a political party representing their interests; Mujuru therefore does not need a party in order to reach those five million. When she does have a party it will be for those people, and will be by the people and will put the people first.

RN: When you look at the ongoing factional fights in ZANU-PF, despite the wide-scale purge of coup plotters like yourself, do you feel vindicated by the turn of events?

JS: President Mugabe was wrong and finds himself in a worse situation than before. Now some of his people are doing rites with vapostori in broad daylight; we can imagine what they do at night under the cover of darkness.

RN: Will the succession dilemma in ZANU-PF ever be solved?

JS: I am not concerned about the succession issues in ZANU-PF. What is important is not ZANU-PF, but the people of this country. My President has been taken captive by the people around him. How is it possible that a President is made to read a wrong speech? That is turning him into nothing; these people must not humiliate him that way and I will not allow my President to be treated and humiliated in that way. Financial Gazette