By Thulani Ncube
All is not well in the Mutambara MDC camp after a weekend rally to belatedly celebrate the winning of a rural ward in Ntabazinduna turned into a tribally explosive outburst from Vice President Gibson Sibanda and other officials in the party.
Sibanda who recently lost his ministerial post due to a failure to secure a parliamentary seat by his party told supporters this past Saturday that Ndebele people were perpetually accepting positions as ‘Vice’s’ or Deputies in government. He said there was no rule suggesting they were born into being deputies all the time.
His remarks were echoed by Fletcher Dulini-Ncube who said people from Matabeleland were being marginalized. Chronicling the circumstances surrounding the formation of the inclusive government Dulini-Ncube said Secretary General Professor Welshman Ncube played a key role in negotiations but when it came to government positions he was marginalized.
It was not clear what Dulini-Ncube meant since Welshman Ncube was appointed Minister of Industry and Commerce under the current coalition government. Each party was awarded cabinet portfolios in government based on their performance in the elections last year. Most candidates in the party were rejected by the electorate with only 10 winning parliamentary seats mainly in rural Matabeleland.
To a resounding applause from the crowd Dulini-Ncube said none of the principals at the signing ceremony for the unity government were from Matabeleland and this had to be rectified in the next election. He went further to say Gibson Sibanda was the President of the ZCTU and should have been president of the country, not Morgan Tsvangirai.
‘Kumele likhumbule ukuthi u Sibanda lowo, wayengumkokeli we ZCTU and ngabe nguye owaba ngu President, hachi ukuhamba lisiya dhinga omunye umunthu ungasowa wakiti.- You need to remember Sibanda was the president of the ZCTU and he should be the President, not this business of looking for someone who is not one of us.’ Several party officials also bemoaned the lowly position given to Sibanda in the coalition government.
What do you make of the remarks by officials in the Mutambara MDC, do they have a point or are trying to re-invent themselves and win support in Matabeleland?
