Professor Welshman Ncube, leader of the smaller MDC faction, has declared himself the favourite to win next year’s Presidential elections and tipped his party to sweep the majority of seats in Parliament and council elections as he claims his party is better prepared for elections than other political parties.
“At the January congress that saw me become the president of MDC, we came up with a strategy to woo voters and we believe it has paid dividends as the numbers of people who are on our side have multiplied. We have been holding rallies throughout Zimbabwe. We started early because we knew that we were far behind the other political parties, namely Zanu-PF and MDC-T.
“We have been recruiting new members, mobilising and restructuring the party. Our presence is felt in all the provinces of the country. We are not a Matabeleland party but a national party and that will be reflected come elections. We are confident of victory, victory is certain,” said Professor Ncube.
Professor Ncube shot down claims that MDC has managed to hold rallies all over Zimbabwe because it is bankrolled by foreign donors and said their outreach was due to conviction and determination.
“One of the reasons we started early on the campaign trail is because we do not have the financial muscle of other political parties. We believe that by being the early bird we will catch the worm. We are sponsored by businesspeople who identify with our policies and party members.
“Some of the funds we utilise are from our own pockets. We also use the 10 percent we got from the Political Parties Finance Act. We believe that we have used this money wisely compared to Zanu-PF and MDC.
“If we had access to foreign funds, we would have new vehicles like other parties. We would be holding rallies every week, but our rallies are staggered because we don’t have unlimited funds. We have three rallies every two weeks because we are living within our means,” he said.
Professor Ncube said the emergence of his party was because they had fired former leader, Deputy Prime Minister Arthur Mutambara.
“With (DPM) Mutambara, we had five years of stagnation, virtually nothing took place. We have already said it was a mistake to have Mutambara as president, but now we have the benefit of hindsight.
“It was not only a mistake to elect him leader, it was a mistake post-congress because we have had to deal with court battles. It has cost us time and money. We believe (DPM) Mutambara’s actions to undermine the party have vindicated us. We won’t make the same mistake again,” Professor Ncube said.
Professor Ncube dismissed speculation that his party would close ranks with MDC-T.
He said: “How can villagers unite with royalty? (PM) Tsvangirai said we are villagers a few days back and he is royalty. Do you think there is a chance of us uniting with such people? We are MDC and we will not have pacts with other parties. We stand alone because what we stand for is different from what other parties stand for.” Zimbabwe Mail
