What are your expectations of the 2018 Election?

Zimbabwe's fast growing political party sector

Zimbabweans must gear up for a prolonged struggle..2018 is not a game changer

I decided to cut my planned six month field assessment trip to Zimbabwe after coming face to face with some of the complex challenges faced by ordinary citizens and the generality of the Zimbabwean population struggling in various sectors of our society.
Besides having a taster of what one can expect when they return home I also needed some time to reflect on my political pursuits in Zimbabwe and the work I'm involved in with individuals from diverse professionals working and resident in South Africa from motherland. 

Nathan meeting Zimbabweans on the ground

As a new political party it's unfortunate that our entry has also been over shadowed by the break away formations from MDC-T and Zanu PF who naturally have the advantage of being known political brands and as such have somehow been able to dominate our public information sources. 

The increase in the number of new political formations has also put a dent in our chances of sharing our vision and principles more effectively as a credible alternative to the current political environment. A new national chorus by some Zimbabweans dismissing our entry as that of 'splitting votes' or being agents of the regime has become the propaganda tool to try promote the relevance of the so called 'Big tent' as larger opposition party supporters wanting their party to stay relevant in spite of a visible track record of failing to remove Zanu PF and some of their officials being caught up in corruption scandals at local government levels.

Rural Water Community Investment Partnership

During my trip I also approached a number of Zimbabwe based business owners to share our vision and try and entice them to fund our activities.Though most of them showed admiration for our principles and vision they were quick to come up with reason why it would be a risk for them to invest in our political party. Most hid behind the psychologically induced fear of being vindicated by the current system for opposing them and rather suggested that we explore  marriages of convenience (Coalitions) with those they saw as more established players in the arena. 


A lack of a more modernised Political party funding Act is one of the reasons the political playing field will remain dominated by a few political parties. The invisibility of most new parties is because they are not as well resourced to reach out to Zimbabweans across the country as the older and more established political entities. That is something that will take a radical shift in policy and attitudes if ever new ideas are to rise in our current political environment.

Luveve Community Under 14 Team

My trip was not just focused on my political goals but I also got a chance to visit some of my community investment projects that I initiated last year, the first done with the partnership of family members resident and working in the Diaspora working with those on the ground in Rural Zimbabwe to drill and install solar power pump that would benefit the whole village. The second was a piggery project that I am working on nearer to the city centre in partnership with a young aspiring businessman and the third and final a Community organisation that I am helping set-up for my target constituency in Luveve with focus on Youth activities. I facilitated the donation of football kits for an under 14 team and are still to distribute some board games to youth clubs and old people's homes. These are just extensions of work in philanthropy and business that I have always pursued.

I do appreciate that politics is indeed about numbers but let's not forget that the so called 'Big Parties' were also small parties at some point and not brush every new entity with the same brush. I do appreciate the need for unity of purpose but it is something that needs to be negotiated based on all sides seeing value in each other and not as a means to secure individual position and advantage in any such partnership. I never chose to become a politician, it's something that was persuaded into by fellow citizens and something that I personally felt should be supported by strong institutional foundations.

#ThisFlag Campaign

I personally welcome the emergence of social movements like #ThisFlag campaign and others to try and empower citizen's with knowledge about their rights to hold leaders accountable for their actions and decisions. I do hope that they will play a significant role in voter education not because we have an upcoming election but because it is an important pursuit in ensuring citizens have access to information that can help us shape our society and elect more responsible leaders into office.

FJCZ Cardboard Campaign

This is one reason you will note that Freedom Justice Coalition Zimbabwe Party campaigns are more focused on sharing our principles and values more than the party presidents image to the general public. The personalisation of political parties so they are branded around individual leaders is part reason we have not had many political parties with leadership renewal. I believe if there was leadership renewal from our liberation political parties we would not have so many break away factions and new political parties in Zimbabwe. 

With leadership renewal new ideas can be born helping create an environment that promotes shared responsibility in terms of working to accomplish key national objectives beyond partisan based politics.

It's important for citizens to register and vote in 2018

I am yet to see a political entity that transforms it's election promises to visible outcomes that change the lives of a greater number of people. 

I have had a few citizens asking me why is your party not part of CODE or NERA or any of the current planned coalitions. Well first it's not my personal property and in democracy there are certain processes that need to followed in order to arrive at a collective agreement. Second we are still busy with our political structuring exercise which will end when we hold our first Elective Congress and nominate and elect party officials that will represent the party in 2018 elections. It therefore does not make any sense to negotiate with any party for any coalition without first having a political structure with democratically elected candidates at party level. Last the decision to enter into any coalitions will be decided by our members at our elective congress though our doors will remain open to those who see value in our party being party any coalition arrangement as we progress.

Meeting our members in Cape Town

As a citizen what do you expect from an election victory, what do you expect from your Ward councillor, your Member of Parliament, your President? Are their promises realistic or just lucrative sounding statements that give you hope that they will deliver on those promises? How many chances are you willing to give someone that never fulfills your promise?

As I see it our political environment is based on a culture of entitlement and hero worshiping individual leaders, until we appreciate the importance of building strong institutions over strong individuals we may remain with the same culture of recycling and reshuffling the same political players who belong to the same school of thought in terms of defining a way forward for our beloved nation. I will continue my journey into politics and do what ever I can with the time and resources at my disposal. Building an effective and results oriented team to accomplish our collective objectives is one of my greatest challenges as an aspiring leader. 

I hope time will help us leave good visible examples for future generations.