ON THE eve of his coronation as president of the MDC party led by Deputy Prime Minister Arthur Mutambara, Industry and Commerce Minister Welshman Ncube has called for elections to be held in 2013 when they are constitutionally due.
Ncube, the MDC’s secretary general, insists that no meaningful electoral, media or security reforms have been put in place to avoid a repeat of the disputed 2008 ballot which forced President Robert Mugabe to share power with his opposition rivals.
Ncube told the Zimbabwe Independent on Friday that elections should follow the full implementation of the Global Political Agreement (GPA), which stipulates that a new constitution must be in place and calls for the establishment of independent commissions and electoral and media reforms that create a conducive environment for holding of free and fair polls.
“Clearly, as things stand now in 2011, those conditions do not exist,” Ncube said ahead of his party’s congress this weekend which is expected to elevate him to leader after Mutambara stood down.
“There is unanimity that those conditions do not exist. It is pointless to have them (elections) in 2011. Let’s use 2011 to implement those things and have elections in 2012 but if not, the best thing to do is to have the elections when they are due, that is in 2013.”
President Robert Mugabe’s Zanu PF resolved at its December 2010 conference in Mutare to hold elections this year, but both MDC factions, including the other led by Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai, have dismissed the calls as premature.
Ncube said contrary to assertions that the unity government ends after two years, the GPA calls for a review of the working of the government to measure if it has created a conducive environment to hold elections, and the result of such a review will determine if elections should be held.
Ncube’s bid for the MDC presidency is supported by 11 of the party’s 12 provincial administrative provinces. Masvingo failed to hold a provincial congress to make its nomination.
Mashonaland Central is the only province that nominated Mutambara for a post in the party’s national executive, as secretary-general, the same position Ncube currently holds. Moses Mzila Ndlovu and Priscilla Misihairabwi are locked in a dead-heat for the post.
Ncube will become the second president of the party since it split from the Tsvangirai-led MDC in October 2005.
Ncube believes his party will be within its remit to recall Mutambara from the government post as Deputy Prime Minister.
“People who were seconded to the government are deployed by the parties,” Ncube said. “In our case, it’s the party that decided who was deployed as Deputy Prime Minister, ministers or deputy ministers. All of these can be redeployed without exception, all of them.”
Ncube said Zanu PF and President Robert Mugabe have no right to veto any nomination to the cabinet by the other partners in the inclusive government.
“No party is given a veto over the nominees of the other,” he said. “It is against the spirit of the agreement for Zanu PF to allege a veto for a person qualified to be a minister. To arrogate themselves a veto is wrong in principle.”
He added that the party’s standing committee would decide Mutambara’s fate in government.
As the new president of MDC, Ncube said he would continue to fight for the full implementation of the GPA and restore the economy by pushing the inclusive government to deliver.
“We will have to ensure that the GPA is fully implemented with a new constitution, electoral reforms, governance reforms that will guarantee that the will of the people is not distorted. This also includes developing the economy. It is only a truly free people, economically free who can exercise free choice in elections,” he said.
Ncube said they were not looking for coalition partners in the next elections.
“The most important thing is to focus on the growth of our party and be ready to fight an election on our own. If in the process we get a broader coalition, that would be a bonus,” Ncube said.