Francis Mufambi wrote > WELSHMAN LEADERSHIP UNDOUBTED Professor Welshman Ncube is indeed stamping his mark in the leadership terrain of Zimbabwe. There is no doubt that the Professor has emerged over years to be a formidable, thoughtful, consistent, credible and responsible leader in Zimbabwe. His formidable comeback into politics as a leader of MDC party and the incredible way his party has been consistent in its ideological view and in its efforts to address the urgent and long term needs of the people has been commendable. MDC is going to harvest votes in the coming elections and it will be foolish for anyone to relegate them to the periphery of politics in the future. The ‘green machine’, as this party is popularly known, is the first party in Zimbabwe, since 1980 to democratically remove its own leader and replace it with another leader. Zanu PF under the leadership of Mugabe and MDC-T under the leadership of Tsvangirai sought to stall this culture of democratic change in politics by keeping the un-strategic and visionless Mutambara in government despite being recalled by his former party. It is an open secret that Tsvangriai and Mugabe are found wanting in cultivating a culture of leadership change in their parties and view leadership renewal as a threat to their political existence. MDC-T’s failure to renew its leadership has made them become a Movement for the Creation of Dictators led by Tsvangirayi (MCD-T) and makes a mockery of their claim to be a Movement for Democratic Change. At least Zanu PF has never faked the fact that Robert Gabriel Mugabe is their only leader to lead them as a party until he dies or he becomes incapacitated by old age. This is the reason why Tendai Biti says that Zimbabwe is Mugabe and Mugabe is Zimbabwe. It is equally the very reason why the Nelson Chamisa’s of this world will pass notes to Mugabe in meetings praising and glorifying him as a great leader and yet pretending to be making efforts to replace him through their party. MDC-T has become a get rich quick party that has long abandoned its democratic ideals at the expense of its followers. It is no wonder Roy Bennett, the finance guru of MDC-T is livid about the top leadership of MDC-T and he and a number of others would today grudgingly accept that Professor Welshman Ncube and others saw this coming a long time ago and that they are vindicated for having taken a stand in defence of democracy in 2005. Apart from being concerned that MDC is the first party in Zimbabwe to engineer within its leadership ranks, a culture of democratic leadership renewal, Mugabe and Tsvangirai have played a tribal card to malign and marginalize Professor Welshman Ncube. Professor Welshman is viewed as a ziMuNdevere political upstart who has become overzealous to change the political system of Zimbabwe where Joshua Nkomo failed and therefore he needs to be taught a lesson of who is in charge in Zimbabwe. Overtime one hopes that he will eventually get this lesson and declare MDC a regional party pursuing the interests of the region of Matebeleland without fear or favour. While we have seen and observed the political meteoric rise of Professor Welshman Ncube in the political landscape of Zimbabwe and indeed in the SADC corridors of power, we have equally observed attempts being made to politically wrong foot him and his party by combined formidable forces of Zanu PF and MDC-T. As the political fortunes of these parties and their leadership are being thrown at the ‘deep end’ of politics by the natural forces of God’s will, that is old age in the case of Robert Gabriel Mugabe and corruption, poor political judgements and messy private affairs that have become public affairs in the case of Morgan Richard Tsvangirai and his MDC-T, Professor Welshman Ncube’s political star is rising. While Professor Welshman Ncube has been at the receiving end of every dirty political book that has been thrown at him by his enemies in Zanu PF and MDC-T, including from their formidable political lackeys from the region of Matebeleland in the form and shape of Professor Jonathan Moyo, Obert Mpofu, Gorden Moyo, Thokozani Khuphe and Bhebhe to name but a few, he has managed to keep his head above the political parapet of Zimbabwe’s highly polarised political landscape where ethnicity and region defines who you are in politics. His enemies find him to be a hot political potato to handle and he is giving these dark political forces sleepless nights as they plot day in and day out how to counter his meteoric rise in politics. He has got some of them by their dangling political balls and they have no option except to work with him as a party leader and a principal to the GPA. It is amazing to note that his hardball politics has brought Zanu PF and its rebels found in the MDC-T party closer together to counter his political machinations in the political arena. The professor is breathing in the necks of his political enemies and what more with the clear backing of the SADC leaders as the rightful leader of MDC who is rightfully a principal of his party. The three political witches in the form and shape of Mutambara, Mugabe and Morgan are in a political quandary regarding this one. These are interesting times indeed. It is however notable that these political witches are now in a bullish mood to undercut Professor Welshman Ncube and his MDC by forming a formidable alliance against him and his party. We have seen the formation of an alliance between Zanu PF and MDC-T that has led to great praises of Robert Gabriel Mugabe by the leadership of MDC-T and Mugabe returning the favour by withdrawing any moves by the police of Zimbabwe to probe alleged corruption cases in the MDC-T party and its leader. Morgan Richard Tsvangirai is accused of swindling millions of public money to build himself a mansion in Harare and his MPs and those from Zanu PF have swindled thousands of dollars meant for development programmes in their respective constituencies. The probe in their corruption cases has been switched off by Robert Mugabe. Interestingly and despite these machinations against him, Professor Welshman has managed to outwit his political enemies and stay in the game this long by ensuring that he is a principled leader who is deeply enmeshed in real democratic principles and who derives greater inspiration to be a servant of the people and to attend to the needs of the people. In the process he is managing to creatively mould his MDC party to be a formidable party in Zimbabwe that can not be taken for granted in the coming elections. Professor Welshman Ncube is all things that one needs in a leader. He is principled. He is consistent. He is a cunning politician and tends to judge situations very well. Mugabe and Tsvangirai are in awe of him and therefore, according to them, he needs to be on the periphery of the cauldron of the current politics at play. Their actions and political behaviours have actually helped Professor Welshman to grow in his political stature and there is no doubt that his party will be one party to watch out for in the coming elections. This alliance has only served to strengthen Welshman Ncube’s political hand and indeed his green political powerbase is on the increase. The political landscape of Zimbabwe is indeed headed for interesting times whether one supports MDC or not.
Posted on: Fri, 14 Jun 2013 15:33:36 +0000
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