Wanted: a grand coalition for change

QN: Are you running for president in the next elections?

SM: Our party is preparing to run for all the posts, from president to local government posts – but we have not yet chosen our candidates. There is protocol to be observed so I cannot safely say that being the current president of the party, I will automatically stand as the candidate for national president. We have faith that whoever is selected to represent the party will be stronger than the other candidates in their respective positions.

QN: In the event that you are selected, what are you offering to the people?

SM: Our party is offering a number of values that are quite distinctive and different from the other parties. We offer leaders, not rulers, who are committed to service and servant leadership, honesty and integrity in our personal conduct and collective institutional behaviour. Our leaders will be beyond reproach. We offer cooperation, inclusion and the total mobilisation of all our resources. We refuse to be placed in little paddocks that diminish the impact of our work. Leaders from our party stand for equity, justice and fairness – all individuals have rights that must be respected, preserved, protected and promoted, beyond individuals, regions, communities and country. There shall be no discrimination as to how we take our country forward as groups and regions. MKD stands for genuine empowerment of citizens and we do not hold people captive to the leadership or even to government. We will eliminate the dependency syndrome. We would like all citizens, families, communities to have the ability to sustain themselves.

QN: What is your party’s manifesto?

SM: The key issues for our manifesto are the values mentioned above. Competence and merit are also critical qualities offered by MKD leadership. When we get elected, we will not look at who is the most loyal cadre, who shouts the loudest slogan.

What we value is the individual who is the most competent. We will go beyond our party candidates as we are committed to mobilising the best of Zimbabweans with the capacity and resources. We will look outside our party to bring in the most competent people: to revive our economy, industry and put us back on the international map as the bread basket of Africa.

QN: When will your party hold its annual national convention?

SM: We do not have a date yet but when all the preparatory arrangements are in place, we will hold it in time for elections. We are mobilising for support. I do not believe any political party will ever feel that they are ready for elections because there is work to be done even on the eve of elections. We will be ready to the extent of our preparedness at the time. But I want to assure the majority of Zimbabweans that we will be ready with the best leadership that we have.

QN: Concerns have been raised that you are half-hearted as a leader. What is your response?

SM: I do not know why people make that conclusion. I am giving my all to build MKD as a party. I am not just working within the confines of the party because I refuse to be placed in a paddock. I relate to a broader cross section of Zimbabweans, maybe because I do not do aggressive politics. I do not engage in antagonistic politics neither do I call people names. I do not deal with their personalities but I deal with the real issues. For those who are used to denigrating politics, they may find it difficult to relate to the party. We do not do mud-slinging and people may not be used to it.

I am not a half-hearted person. When I commit myself to anything, I give it my all. As a party, we are not as visible as we should be yet but this is because we are still building the party. We also acknowledge the hostility in the political environment that we are operating in and we are careful not to expose our members to danger. Some of the methods we are using are not the methods that are being used by the other parties, but i am sure once we are established we will be visible and audible.

QN: What are your views on Indigenisation and Economic Empowerment Act?

SM: I find it a tenuous concept. The way in which it has been defined by certain political parties is outright racist. Narrow it down: if you are black you are indigenous and if you are white you are not indigenous. I know of white families who settled in this country with the pioneer column whose fourth generation descendants have never set foot in Scotland or Wales. Our Act says those children are not indigenous but I know of black families who came here in 1983, others in 1956 to work on the farms and because the colour of their skin is black, they are indigenous. It is nonsense, so I draw a distinction between the two titles, indigenisation and empowerment.

MKD supports empowerment, and this is one of our value propositions. The difference is that we want genuine empowerment, not the grabbing of assets and sharing out among a small number of elites. To us that is not empowerment.

QN: The land reform programme is still a controversial issue – what are your views on this?

SM: Land reform is still essential for Zimbabwe. Our proposition is agrarian reform. Acquiring and redistributing the land is only one part of addressing previous imbalances. Putting the land to productive use is the more important aspect. There is need to ensure that people working on the land are capacitated to produce for themselves and the nation. Small farmers in tribal trust lands were self-sufficient even before the land redistribution exercise, so there is no room for those who have been resettled to fail to put the land to its maximum use.

QN: There is talk of a grand coalition of opposition parties ahead of elections. What is your take?

S.M: We are already advocating for a grand coalition for change. We are not going to wait for elections because we are already looking for partnership and cooperation with like-minded Zimbabweans. We are looking for leaders who are committed to serving the people, not leaders who want to accumulate wealth while the rest of the citizens are in abject poverty

Biography

Born in 1950 in Mutare, Makoni became a political activist at secondary school and was expelled in his final year at the University of Zimbabwe in 1973. He became one of the youngest deputy ministers at Independence in 1980. He was promoted to lead the Ministry of Industry and Energy from 1981-1983, and later appointed to head the ministry of Youth, Sport and Culture from 1983-1984. He was Minister of Finance and Economic Development between 2000 and 2002,

He was Executive Secretary for the Southern African Development Community from 1984-1993 before becoming Managing Director f Zimbabwe Newspapers in 1994-1997.

He holds a Bachelor of Science in chemistry and zoology from the University of Leeds, UK and a PhD in medicinal chemistry, Leicester Polytechnic, UK. He is married to Chipo and is a father of three boys, one who is late, and a grandfather of four.