Mthwakazi Republic Party hammered in parly polls

By Jeffrey Muvundusi

Mthwakazi Republic Party (MRP)’s plan for secession was thrown into doubt on Monday after voters angry at the idea of their Mthwakazi State breaking away from Zimbabwe gave the opposition party a fierce drubbing in parliamentary elections.

MRP leader Mqondisi Moyo yesterday conceded the worse-than-expected defeat but said its participation in the Monday poll was for “strategic purposes” particularly to get international recognition on their cause.

The regional radical party lost dismally in most parts of Matabeleland region where it fielded candidates in both parliamentary and local government seats. It failed to pick up even a single seat, and clocked appalling votes.

In the run up to the elections, the outfit had indicated that they wanted to go in the election battle as part of the first step to push their agenda from within.
However, following their pathetic show, Moyo said theirs was a strategic move.

“We went into the July 30, Zimbabwe’s harmonised elections, for strategic purposes and some of us are happy we made history,” Moyo told the Daily News.

“Not only that we manage to get the much needed national and international attention a really good starting point for our International Lobby Committee.”

Moyo said their international attention bid was also embraced by a huge number of foreign journalists who came all the way to Bulawayo to hear their story.

“These past four weeks MRP got not less than six international journalists coming to cover us……We met several national and international observers who were so curious about our story. We got the much needed media attention,” he said.

Moyo equated their struggle to that of the South African’s ruling ANC.

“Any member of MRP, sympathiser or supporter would know that this is not our time for reaping, it is sowing time. Ours is a revolutionary struggle, it’s not an event but a process.

“It took the ANC more than 80 years and some of its leaders lives to get South Africa’s independence, some spent time in prison for independence, and ours is not an exception. Zapu and Zanu spent not less than 15 years in the trenches to get Zimbabwe independence. MRP is only five and on the right path so far so good.”   DailyNews