SOUTH WESTERN NATIONS CONGRESS ESTABLISHMENT ROUTE This is from a previous comment that I made on another strand and its been suggested that I post it as a stand alone for the benefit of those who may not have seen it. It concerns the establishment of a regional party for the region currently called Matebeleland, to be named along the lines of South Western Nations Congress (SWNC). The original post below: Let me first state that it will not be easy. The challenges are big, but not insurmountable. We will need funding, but that too can be found once we have thoroughly organized and set forth a clear vision. As Mo Shaba Mpofu has rightly said, I need to put this vision on paper. Yes, I will and make it available online. Briefly, this is how I propose we move forward. 1) We organize and mobilize online, both people and financial resources, online and offline. Each ethnic group - Kalanga, Nambya, Venda, Tonga, Ndebele, Sotho, etc - will select a certain number of agreed delegates to the Congress, which can be held in Bulawayo (obviously there would have been established a core steering committee). 2) At Congress, a Draft Constitution, which would have already been circulated online and thoroughly debated and amended as seen fit, will be further debated and adopted. A Freedom Charter will also go through the same process. 3) A Congress leadership will then be elected at that Congress. A point to note: the leadership will be made up of delegates from each of our Nations, with each ethnic group with an equal number of representatives (except in the most exceptional circumstances). Another point to note: this Party - South Western Nations Congress - will not have a permanent President, but be led by a rotating Chairmanship. The President will only be elected amongst candidates seconded by each ethnic group and they will go through primaries subject to established rules agreed on by Congress in the Constitution. This protects us from the personalization of the Party (Congress may choose to elect a first president for the first 5 years for the execution of the struggle). 4) Each ethnic group will come up with a list of its candidates, bona fine citizens of those areas, Venda for Venda, Tonga for Binga, Ndebele for Lupane, etc etc. We will then go into the next election expressly as a regional party seeking to capture all the seats in what is currently named Matebeleland. This will give us enormous leverage in negotiating with the Government of Zimbabwe once we have about 40 seats in Parliament and control via Proportional Representation all Provincial Council seats in our Provinces, namely MatSouth, North and Bulawayo, and parts of Midlands (one of our key demands in the future may be that all Ndebele-speaking parts of the Midlands should be re-demarcated and made part of our region). 5) Once we are in control of all Parliamentary, Provincial and Local Council seats in our Provinces, we will then be able to not only fight for full implementation of devolution, but for Federalism (and beyond as time goes on and our people gain more confidence in their own systems). We will be able to legislate on languages to reverse the cultural and linguistic imperialism currently underway (we will adopt what is called a dynamic and progressive interpretation of the Constitution). We will fight in the Courts, on the Streets, in Government Offices, and everywhere were we can have opportunity to ensure our people have access to jobs and economic opportunities. A revolution would have been kindled and the road to total freedom and independence graded. Having said all this (which I know the enemys spies are looking at), let me state that it will not be easy. We will have opponents amongst our own people, some because they are beneficiaries of the present status quo, some because they are afraid. Our challenge will be to first persuade our own that this is the right way forward, as Dr Theodore Herzl once put it in his Der Judenstaat (The Jewish State). Let me also state that we will have challenges amongst our own people, especially those that we will elect or will want to be elected into leadership. Not only will the enemy seek to infiltrate us, knowing human nature, we will have opportunists wanting to ride the tide for personal aggrandisement (sp). We will have people who want to be gods in our midst. Let me sound the warning, never over-trust anyone, including this very writer. As such, there will be need for strong checks and balances in the system. Ndaboka South Western Nations. PS. How about the Mthwakazi Movement? We cannot wish away those that have attempted to fight for these same causes and havent been successful (yet) perhaps owing to the goals that they set out from the beginning which set them on a collision course with the law, rendering their struggle impossible. We will need them and soldier with them, but agreement will need to be reached that for now, all of us are fighting for one thing: Federalism, something not illegal to fight for like Secession. Also, there will be a need to accept that some amongst us are not comfortable with the Mthwakazi characterization, and they shouldnt be deemed enemies for that. Acceptance of each others identity as we choose to define it has to be a hallmark of the South Western Nations.
Posted on: Tue, 21 Oct 2014 04:47:20 +0000
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