Zimbabwereporter.com
7 December 2010
BULAWAYO- MDC-M secretary for Legal Affairs and Khumalo Senator, David Coltart, has said small political parties need to form a coalition to successfully dislodge President Mugabe’s Zanu PF from power in the crunch 2011 vote.
Coltart’s assertions flies in the face of remarks by Welshman Ncube, who is tipped to take over the leadership of the MDC-M from Deputy Prime Minister Arthur Mutambara, who has explicitly ruled out the prospect of an opposition pact in the 2011 ballot. Ncube said his party made a “big mistake” backing Simba Makoni’s Mavambo/Kusile/Dawn in the 2008 vote, a move he says he regrets. But Coltart differs. “We are likely to give a gift to Zanu-PF in the forthcoming elections if parties do not accommodate each other,” Coltart told a rally at the Presbyterian Church at Hillside Shopping Centre on Monday evening.
“Small parties have to make a compromise and join MDC formations so that we unseat Zanu-PF.”
Coltart reiterated that the country was not ready for an election, which President Mugabe has said will happen next year come what may.
“This is not the right time for elections but time for constitution-making process,” Coltart said. “The constitution-making process needs to follow its course.
“After the successful constitution-making meetings there should be a referendum then the constitution has to be taken to Parliament,” he said.
But Ncube said: “We are not going to support anyone other than ourselves. Supporting Simba Makoni in presidential elections was a big mistake. Come elections next year we are fielding our own candidate, will not support anyone,†Ncube told journalists in Bulawayo at the weekend.