The party, through its mouthpiece the Herald newspaper, tried to drum up attendance by making reference to the crowds that gathered at the same Highfields venue in 1980 to welcome the country’s nationalist heroes.
Reports suggest that 150 commuter buses were laid out to ferry people to Zimbabwe Grounds, with popular musicians Sulumani Chimbetu, Jah Prayzah and Mathias Mhere on hand to provide entertainment.
If the plan was to use free entertainment and transport as bait to lure the crowds to the grounds before President Robert Mugabe’s address it failed, as only a thin crowd attended amid reports of serious divisions within the party.
“The sparse crowd – dressed in yellow T-shirts and green caps – is an exact antithesis of the bumper crowd that graced the stadium in 1980 when Mugabe returned from the bush war,” the Daily News reported.
The theme of the party’s manifesto was ‘Indigenise, Empower, Develop and Create Employment’: ‘Bhora Mugedhi/Ibhola Egedini’, but Mugabe’s speech was said to have been the usual rhetoric, devoid of any meaningful implementation strategies.
Mugabe steered clear of the challenges facing Zimbabweans, such as how his party intends to create jobs in a country with 95% unemployment, or revive the economy that has succumbed to three decades of ZANU PF mismanagement.
In the past ZANU PF has subjected the country to ill-conceived, knee-jerk policies such as the chaotic land reform program and the controversial indigenisation drive, in a bid to appease disgruntled party supporters at election times.
SW Radio Africa correspondent Simon Muchemwa said Mugabe’s address did not focus on what the party had in store for Zimbabweans should it retain power.
“Mugabe’s address emphasised his party’s revolutionary credentials. He urged his supporters to ensure that the MDCs did not come to power, and to say ‘never again’ to another unity government.”
Riding high on his recent poll-date court victories Mugabe chided his co-governing partners in the GPA whom he said should have known before approaching SADC that the regional bloc had no power to reverse ConCourt’s decisions.
Mugabe and party stalwart Joice Mujuru took turns to applaud the ConCourt bench for endorsing ZANU PF decisions.
Meanwhile, MDC-T President Morgan Tsvangirai is expected to officiate when his party launches its manifesto this Sunday at Rudhaka Stadium in Marondera.
MDC-T national organising secretary Nelson Chamisa told SW Radio Africa that this is an historic event in the party’s calendar, as this is the first time that the party will be launching such an important document in Mashonaland.
“We will be unveiling to Zimbabweans our party’s policy tools and programmes, mainly the agenda for real transformation and our job creation plan.
“Our manifesto also outlines our action plan for the first 100 days in office: and it’s not a question of if we get into office, but when, because it is self-evident,” he said.
Chamisa said some of the key issues that the document outlines include a jobs plan, infrastructure development and social service delivery and how the party will address corruption.
He said: “We expect the President to highlight how the MDC-T will revive the economy and also to touch on national healing and reconciliation as we know that our country has a troubled past.”
Chamisa also said that the MDC-T was happy with the performance of the finance ministry, under the stewardship of the party’s secretary-general Tendai Biti.
“We achieved more than we thought we would, given that ZANU PF had killed the economy. While they were busy scheming, we were busy planning and we managed to resuscitate the economy. And although it is not yet kicking, it is breathing. Our focus now will be to grow it,” he said. – SW Radio Africa
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