Background to the NTA idea

PDP spokesman, Jacob Mafume

HOPE is the PDP’s economic blueprint which proffers practical and sustainable solutions to the plethora of challenges that Zimbabwe is currently facing. Among them the general economic meltdown; in-formalisation of the economy, joblessness, deindustrialization, infrastructural decay, moral decadence, widespread poverty, high unserviceable debt, high budget deficit, toxicity and hate among many ills.

ARREST in turn seeks to suggest the political answers and a political roadmap and was written to complement HOPE. It bears in mind the following, which has characterized the political history of Zimbabwe:

• Cycles of rigged and stolen elections.
• The perpetuation of a crisis of legitimacy and the governance of the country by an unpopular elite whose basis of existence has been coercion fear and power.
• Emasculation of institutions, the rule of law, the constitution and constitutionalism.
• Continued reproduction of ZANU PF’s predatory, militarized and undemocratic rule based on patronage and crony capitalism.
• Systematic economic collapse.
• Accelerated poverty and impoverishment of the Zimbabwean people.
• The emergence of a state of hopelessness and fatalism which has seen the citizen finding refugee in extreme religious movements, the occult, and social and domestic vices. In other words, the breaking down of the Social Contract.
• Increased incidents of domestic violence particularly violence against women and children, rape and general depredation of values.

The PDP’s ARREST, thus seeks to “arrest” the current political status quo of fatigue, fatality and hopelessness by clearly defining an alternative political model for Zimbabwe following years of frustration and delayed or arrested transition. It is based on seven key canons which seek to address the current impasse:

1. CANON A – HOPE
2. CANON B – the National Transitional Authority (NTA)

• CANON C – Coalitions Against Dictatorship

1. CANON D – Social Movements and Broad Alliances
2. CANON E – Peace and Security
3. CANON F – Devolution of Power

• CANON G – Conditions for Free and Fair Elections (COFFEE)

We are all aware that Zimbabwean elections have been regular fraudulent processes of citizen disempowerment, where the people’s will has been hijacked and used to rubber stamp the continued reproduction of unpopular, undemocratic and extractive rule by ZANU PF. That has to change.

As the PDP we seek to create a new narrative in the agenda of Reclaiming Zimbabwe based on the following;

1. A humble and bold leadership that believes in working as team
2. The convergence of all Zimbabweans though a United Front in fighting the predatory single-dominant party state – hegemony formation by ZANU PF
3. The amplification of social dialogue and securing of a Social Contract by a consulting State.
4. An approach based on thought leadership, strategy and the placement of dominant issues and debate at the forefront of political differences, discourse and direction.
5. In other words, the PDP intends to RENEW Zimbabwean politics through a new brand of politics based on sustainable ideas and politics of accommodation. It is time to convert, Zimbabwe’s vicious cycles of exclusion into virtuous circles of inclusion.

It is within this background that we proffered the idea of an Agenda for the Restoration and Rehabilitation of Electoral Sustainability (ARREST) which is our suggested political roadmap whilst at the same time articulating demands for a sustainable free and fair elections.

ARREST focuses on the following key pillars:

• Knowing the opponent, and understanding the shapers and drivers of the present predatory status quo.
• Articulating a new brand of politics that celebrates thought leadership and puts issues at the forefront. This cerebral approach deserts politics of slogans and personalities allowing Zimbabweans to debate and frame the content and context of their struggle.
• Creating a counter balance and counter force to ZANU PF through the creation of a united political platform.
• Defines the centrality of convergence through the galvanizing or creation of a united or popular fronts on various agenda and national issues. In this regard, social movements will be key and central in defining the new paradigm.
• Defines the obligation, at national level, of crafting an inclusive transitional phase bridging the current status quo and the Zimbabwe to emerge after a free and fair legitimate election
• Defining clear and unambiguous demands for a free, fair and legitimate elections

We recognize that the situation now is so dire and desperate that an urgent political solution is required now and more so, in the post Mugabe era. In this regard we proposed the establishment of NTA to oversee the country between now and the date of the next election. The functions of the NTA were envisaged as follows:

1. To attend to the issues of national stability and peace in a very volatile post Mugabe period.
2. To attend to the implementation of Zimbabwe Emergency Rescue Strategy (ZERST); program which the PDP envisages will solve the current economic meltdown.
3. To attend to the restoration of the Social Contract, national vision, renewal and rebuilding through a holistic program of national justice, reconciliation, peace building, tolerance and moral rearmament.
4. And importantly, to attend to the creation of conditions for a sustainable election whenever that election is held.

The PDP’s justification for calling for such a Transitional body as the NTA is that Zimbabwe’s woes cannot be fixed by the same crop of failed leaders who created it.

The PDP firmly believes that it is time that both ZANU PF and the disjointed opposition movements stepped aside and gave Zimbabwe a genuine chance at economic and social recovery. Fortunately the idea of an NTA has since gained some traction and in our next instalment we shall deal in detail with how we envisaged the NTA would operate at that time including its structure, roles and responsibilities.

Another Zimbabwe is possible!

Jacob Mafume

PDP Spokesperson