Road to Victory (R2V): Nelson Chamisa on Tuesday 

Nelson Chamisa

The national council on Friday noted and acknowledged the fact that the party had positively rebranded is renewing and has positively re-energized its base and its organs as testified by the continued affirmation and re-invigoration of its national strength and dominance.

The same council noted that the people’s party of excellence has re-affirmed itself as a revolutionary, democratic and patriotic movement ready to provide national leadership.
On Friday, 23 March 2018, the national council of the party sat and made far reaching decisions, some of them painful, as we enter the home-stretch to this year’s watershed plebiscite.

The shedding off of beloved comrades for undermining party organs and putting the party into disrepute was painful. These are colleagues who had stood resolute in the course of the democratic struggle in the country, only for them to misguidedly let off their guard.
It was unfortunate that petty selfish interests got the better of our beloved colleagues at a time when Canaan was well within our sight.

2.Handeyi Kumusha/Asambeni ekhaya
Our weekend programmes in Murehwa and at Nzvimbo growth point in Chiweshe went into to confirm the nation traction of our party and its resonance with grassroots supporters in the villages in Mashonaland East and Mashonaland Central provinces.

For the first time, our thrust is going to be the rural areas in order to debunk and offload the myth that these areas are citadels of the outgoing government as led by Zanu PF.

We will intensify our forays into the rural areas to educate, engage and inform our parents and our brothers and sisters about the urgency of NOW in the context of transformation and real change.

In Murehwa, before the rally, I had occasion to meet with a wide range of stakeholders among them war veterans, farmers, tomato growers, community leaders, business persons. All these diverse groups shared with me their hopes and aspirations about the future of this country.

I got to hear the concerns and complaints from areas such as Mutoko, Mudzi and Uzumba. These concerns centred on intimidation, harassment and victimization of citizens on account of supporting the incoming government led by the MDC Alliance.

They also raised the challenges of underdevelopment, including cases where children have to walk long distances to school. I heard bizarre stories of a very few secondary schools in the area, with come bemoaning the absence of a State University.

I was also told gory stories of political violence, which stories emboldened me to conclude that this outgoing government’s commitment to free and fair elections as bold on paper weak in practice; high-sounding in words but hollow in deeds.

We intend to have more of these interactions in the rural areas and we will escalate them as we draw closer to the imminent watershed moment.

On Sunday, before the rally at Nzvimbo in Chiweshe, Mashonaland central province, I first had a meeting with students from Bindura University.

Their complaints were the same from what I have heard from tertiary students across the country. These include, but are not limited to, issues to do with attachment fees, accommodation challenges, a short supply of recreational facilities, and lack of academic freedom and victimization of students.

I took the occasion to give them our vision to position Zimbabwe as a hub and champion of world-class education excellence through the provision of quality education.

I had highly enriching engagements with business people, farmers, and pensioners but particularly with survivor of political violence who included the Chironga family from Chaona in Chiweshe communal lands.

3. An inclusive process at national events
In our national council last Friday, the supreme decision-making body between Congresses resolved to move into new uncharted waters.

We formed this movement 19 years ago to complete the unfinished business of the liberation struggle and the national council resolved that henceforth, we will not allow ourselves to be second-class citizens in this country.

From now on, we will now be attending national events such as the national Independence Day, Heroes Day, Defence Forces day and other such national days.

The time has come for us to cast away the image of bastards in our own motherland. These are national days that should not be needlessly politicized by a single political party.
Elsewhere in the world, these are important days where partisan politics should never be allowed to take centre-stage.   National days and national events should be attended by the entirety of a country’s leadership regardless of political affiliation.

As leadership, we will be playing our part in carving out a new niche for our national politics and to give our despondent people a reason to hope again.

We are not bastards in this country but we are patriots.

We are a legitimate party represented in Parliament; a party running a sizeable number of our local authorities including the metropolitan provinces of Harare and Bulawayo.

So we are a patriotic national party that deserves its space on the high table where the people’s business is transacted and where we celebrate nodal achievements by the sons and daughters of this land.

From now on, we want an inclusive process in all national events.

See you at the national Independence Day celebrations.

4. The Easter Holidays: It is finished
This Easter, we are suspending all party programmes to allow the people of Zimbabwe to give veneration to the Almighty,

We are allowing the power of resurrection to grip both our souls and the nation.
Easter is the time to ruminate over those powerful words by Christ as death became imminent during his crucifixion.

In that dire moment, our beloved Christ ominously shouted “It is Finished” and for the people of Zimbabwe, these words have immense power and meaning.

As we prepare for this watershed plebiscite, we are under no illusion that come September, our suffering is finished.
Indeed, joblessness is finished.
Anguish and despondency are finished.
Hopelessness is finished. Zvapera!

The Lord we serve is a God of eternal goodness and mercy.

We need to change the heart of the nation. We need a heart of worship and praise.
The heart of nation needs to be filled up with love, peace, unity, selflessness and forgiveness.

Let us go this Easter and summon the power of the Cross; the immortal power of resurrection!

One Zimbabwe, one people.
One Zimbabwe, one future.
One Zimbabwe, one vision.
Behold the new.
God bless Zimbabwe.
God bless Africa