Deliver or Good Bye

By Cde Che Chiremba

Members of Parliament are elected to serve the people in their constituencies. Everyone knows that, especially the MPs themselves. As ZANU PF UK we keep stressing that our elected officials should be above reproach and as such very high standards are expected of them. The public are quite willing to forgive certain indiscretions. But in this age of social media, when it comes to financial impropriety, completely different dynamics kick in. As the anti corruption drive and declaration of assets becomes mandatory, we expect to see some deciding to leave public service. Voluntarily or otherwise. Having said that the let us deal with the composition of the August House itself first.

After the MDC split up for the second time or third time (or was it fourth), the Morgan Tsvangirai led outfit sought to recall the almost two dozen MPs that had gone with Tendai Biti and Elton Mangoma. Despite Advocate Biti's objections, Section 129 (1) (k) of the Constitution had to be followed.

The MDC Renewal aka MDC B had accused the MDC-T of being in "bed with ZANU PF by effectively donating seats as Tsvangirai had vowed not to contest any more elections".

Having "failed" to interpret the law properly, formerly Hon Biti was quite right in saying this was effectively a donation to ZANU PF! Those who understand parliamentary democracies will know that when political parties have certain strongholds where they would have large majorities require mini miracles to overturn. Harare, Bulawayo and Gweru had been such strongholds for the MDC since their formation. In the same way, Chipinge was ZANU Ndonga territory once. Then you have areas such as Zvimba, Chinhoyi, Bindura, Hurungwe, etc. that only a fool would think of going against ZANU PF. It's a bit like some newbie Tory candidate trying to get elected in Tony Blair's former constituency. Akwenziwa lokhu! There are some things best avoided in politics.

When by-elections eventually happened on the 10^th of June 2015, Tsvangirai’s MDC refused to participate. There were no surprises on who the new MPs were. It's never wise to look a gift horse in the mouth so ZANU PF candidates had a clean sweep. There is no known record of a Thank You card being sent to Harvest House from ZANU PF HQ. Human courtesy says there should have been.

After over a decade of the MDC controlling one of the cradles of Zimbabwe's nationalism, Highfields came back home. Highfields is a tricky constituency as even the highly controversial and popular Munyaradzi Gwisai failed to win back his seat after running against the official MDC candidate. But this used to be President Mugabe’s constituency and remains where he is registered to vote.

Out of the blue ZANU PF had fresh faces who had worked hard during their campaigns but clearly had odds in their favour.

As much as ZANU PF's popularity has been on the up as the MDCs are claiming more letters of the alphabet, it's vital to note that seats gained in one horse races are not automatically ours to keep. Some MPs in those constituencies are basically representing on borrowed time. The by- elections were a perfect opportunity to show the people of Luveve, Kambuzuma, Dzivarasekwa and other areas that ZANU PF means business and is there for the people. Such MPs should be working harder than those that faced stronger candidates to maintain those seats. The party in general needs to give greater support to the likes of Hon Psychology Maziwisa, Hon Terence Mukupe , Tshinga Dube, Ephraim Mupfumi and others. Without concerted efforts, the MDC-T will make a clean sweep of these areas the same way they did with Ncube’s seats in Bulawayo as ZANU PF watched.

A lot of work is being done by the majority if these new MPs, however more needs to be done. Our chapter being uniquely placed in the diaspora has a varied membership spanning people hailing from Beitbridge to Kariba. These people often give feedback on which MPs haven't been seen after being elected or which ones have been coordinating efforts to support their constituents. Publicly available parliamentary records also tell us who has been attending debates and who has been contributing. More telling those records tell us which MPs are happier just adding Hon before their name and MP after on their Facebook profiles. There was even one who have himself the title of Shadow MP. Apparently he is still a shadow of some kind or a Shallow MP now.

There is a lot of work to be done around the country, especially in Metropolitan areas. There has been good feedback on Retired Col Tshinga Dube the new MP for Makokoba, Bulawayo's oldest township. There has also been visible progress from the by Hon Terence Mukupe who has been visible in his constituency and quite vocal on matters relating to solving the shortage of US dollar notes.

In the past there have been one term MPs, if hard work is not put in and credible difference is seen at constituency level, there will be half term MPs come 2018.

We have been given a shot at claiming back Harare. The more progress is initiated by ZANU PF MPs in Harare and Bulawayo, the higher the chance of claiming a greater option of votes.

Iwe neni tinebasa. Wena lami silomsebenzi. Let's get on with it!