For many Zimbabweans living in South Africa, the name Ngqabutho Nicholas Dube sounds very familiar. Dube who is a human right activist and representative of MDC(M) in South Africa is ushering a new kind of politics in Zimbabwe. His name first shot to the headlines, when he and others like Mrs Joyce Dube, also an activist were instrumental in organizing a soccer match between Zimbabwe's oldest team Highlanders, and South Africa's famous side Jomo Cosmos. This was a deliberate effort to forge "Ubuntu" relations between the citizens of the two countries and also to combat xenophobia through sports.
He is also credited for helping a lot of Zimbabweans immigrants through liaising with South Africa"s ministry of home affairs to get them registered for documentation in the on going amnesty in that country. He works tirelessly to bridge the gap between the two bureaucratizes and the people. The forty year old political science student, is also aspiring to represent the MDC faction as a member of parliament for the constituency where he was brought up. Ngqabutho Dube who communicates much through his face book page, was recently nicknamed "the man of the people" for his efforts in helping all Zimbabweans regardless of race , tribe and gender.
Dube who crisscrosses the country now and then to get in touch with people on the ground in Umzingwane district, to hear the people' problems, recently launched a rare political campaign slogan in Zimbabwe's politics. "Love your neighbor". This because of his great christian influence, which he boldly confess that it inspires him in all that he does. He is a proud member of Brethren in Christ Church in Berea. BICC is a church that has its roots in Southern Zimbabwe where he comes from. It would be unfair for me to leave out that he is a proud Highlanders fan.
"My growing up in the village during the war of the liberation struggle and during the Gukurahundi era inspired me to become a political activist. I grew up in a community of hard working peasants who survived on tiling the land. We would struggle to take our farming produce to the city due to lack of transport thanks to poor roads. Our village is about 40 km outside Bulawayo, but it will take you two hours to reach the city. There is need to embark on rural development. There is need to develop roads, improve on farming methods, make it easy for the rural community to have access to irrigation and clean drinking water. We need projects that will target young people in rural areas and embark on skills development."
Our biggest challenge in rural communities remains HIV /Aids. There is lack of education on the subject and shortage of ARVs in local clinics. People travel long distances to clinics. There is need to make it easy for people to have easy access to health facilities. Our children travel long distances to school. During the rain season, most children can't get to school because they can not cross the rivers. There is need to build better facilities in rural schools as a way of attracting qualified teachers.
In terms of governance, devolution of power is the best option. The current system has failed us as a nation. The relationship between three tiers of government, namely, national, provincial and local must be clearly defined. My party the MDC believes in a mixed economy. We believe that the government must protect both the rights of workers and employers.
Our country remains divided on tribal lines. We need healing. I personally think we made a fundamental mistake by asking politicians to be in charge of the ministry on National Healing. We recall the statements made by Hon Holland, that was unfortunate. In my view, civil society should be in charge. Unfortunately we seem not to have an independent civil society anymore in Zimbabwe. There must be a quota system introduced when employing public servants. This is why we believe that devolution of power is the best at the moment. This will address the question of access to our natural resources and who stands to benefit.
Being a rural boy, my focus is more rural hence my desire to represent my rural constituency in parliament. I believe most rural communities have similar challenges. I did this interview with Mr Dube a little over two years ago. Mr Dube is running for MP for Umzingwane. There seems to be lot of new faces coming to the political arena this time around. I hope Zimbabweans will embrace the opportunity elect new leaders with new ideas.
No comments:
Post a Comment