2023 Presidential Candidates profiles

PARTY: Zimbabwe Coalition for Peace and Development

GWERU-based chartered accountant and economic expert Trust Chikohora is one of the new entrants on the presidential ballot after cutting his teeth in Political Actors Dialogue (Polad) in the last five years.

Chikohora (48) represents six political parties in Polad that came together to form a coalition to contest in this month’s elections.

The six political parties — Coalition of Democrats, People’s Democratic Party, Rebuilding Zimbabwe Party, United Democracy Movement, United Democratic People’s Party and Straight Black Pride Zimbabwe Partnership — launched the Zimbabwe Coalition for Peace and Development (ZCPD).

ZCPD, Chikohora said, was formed to provide alternative solutions to the challenges bedevilling the country.

“Zimbabwe is experiencing multiple socio-economic challenges which have been with us for many years now. These challenges seem insurmountable because we have become a deeply polarised society. We believe that these challenges will only be solved sustainably if we come together as Zimbabweans to find each other and build our country together as a united people,” he said.

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“The founding member parties committed to approach the aforesaid general elections as a common front and to thereafter form an inclusive government that reflects the face of Zimbabwe.”

Chikohora said the ZCPD policies and objectives were to entrench the culture through free, fare transparent and verifiable election, form an inclusive, responsive and accountable government and to reform the economy of Zimbabwe to ensure inclusivity, eradication of extreme poverty, a sustainable public debt, empowerment of citizens through deliberate and measurable economic policies to create employment, promote

equity and improvement of livelihoods.

“Zimbabweans have been polarised across two party lines for more than two decades now and these have led us nowhere. It is time for us now to work together and be able to move our country forward. We need to fix the economy of this country and ZCPD promises an inclusive government,” Chikohora said.

He rose to fame when he was elected president of the Zimbabwe National Chamber of Commerce in 2011.

With his astute leadership and extensive experience in business advocacy, Chikohora positioned himself among the who’s who of business leadership in the country.

Born and raised in Masvingo, Chikohora holds a Bachelor of Accounting Science degree from the University of South Africa, a Postgraduate Diploma in Applied Accounting from the University of Zimbabwe, and is a qualified chartered accountant.

His educational background has earned him recognition and nominations to prestigious councils and institutes in Zimbabwe.

Chikohora is an entrepreneur in his own right. He runs a chartered accountancy firm and an employment agency in the Midlands capital.

His extensive experience and positive mindset make him a driving force for economic growth in Zimbabwe. Looking ahead, Chikohora remains optimistic about the country’s economic prospects.

He believes that with market-based policies and a stable socio-political environment, Zimbabwe can achieve double-digit economic growth.

 

                                         Lovemore Madhuku: It’s the Constitution, stupid!

GIVEN how long he has been in the public eye and at the forefront of the fight for constitutional change, Lovemore Madhuku would have expected more recognition for his battle for a more equitable country.

But on August 4, the less than 100 people who gathered at Gijima Grounds in Goromonzi North for his manifesto launch probably summed up his current political standing in a country largely polarised along two political parties and individuals.

This has been the trend in the country since independence.

Madhuku has been long in the trenches for democracy. He took over the chairmanship of National Constitutional Assembly (NCA) in 2001, after the founding leader Morgan Tsvangirai had pivoted to politics with the formation of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) months before the 2000 elections.

At the time, the NCA was a voluntary association of civil society organisations and individual civic groups advocating a new people-centred constitution.

After the new Constitution was adopted in 2013, Madhuku led the transformation of the organisation into a political party in September of the same year, months after general elections that signalled the death of a government of national unity (GNU) which had run the country from 2009.

In 2018, he contested for the presidency and got all of 2 692 votes, easily dwarfed by the two leading candidates, President Emmerson Mnangagwa of Zanu PF and Nelson Chamisa, then fronting the MDC Alliance with 2 456 010 and 2 151 927 votes respectively.

After the hotly contested 2018 elections, Madhuku joined the Political Actors Dialogue (Polad), a forum created by President Emmerson Mnangagwa for dialoguing with fringe political figures who contested the polls.

He was among the recipients of a double cab Isuzu D Max presented to Polad members by Mnangagwa in 2021, for which he was widely criticized.

Despite his travails, Madhuku has strong conviction that the electorate should vote for him and claims to have solutions to the country’s challenges.

“My party, the NCA and I are offering the most viable solutions to our country’s perennial problems. First, we offer an opportunity for Zimbabwe to get its basics right. We need a truly democratic and genuinely people-driven Constitution,” he told NewsDay Weekender.

“The NCA is the only political party in this election that believes that we must get the Constitution right if we are to have a governance framework that delivers the aspirations of the people. The 2013 Constitution is a fraud: it was imposed by the political leaders in the GNU.”

Madhuku says there will be no government that is accountable in the true sense unless the country gets a truly democratic and people-driven Constitution.

“I am the only presidential candidate who believes in this. Secondly, we offer a pro-poor development thrust, with a basket full of social justice oriented programmes such as a national minimum wage, National Health Service, total State funded education and natural resource extraction for the benefit of all.”

Challenges

“The only hurdle has been lack of resources to run the campaign.  All our savings were consumed by the exorbitant and undemocratic nomination fees.

“As a consequence, we failed to field all our MPs (candidates). Fielding all our (candidates for MPs) would have made our campaign easier. I have been kept going by my strong conviction that the NCA has the correct approach to the future well-being of our country.”

Despite the faux pax of the poorly attended ‘presidential star rally’ in Goromonzi, Madhuku perseveres in the hope that Zimbabweans will one day see the light in the same way he does.

                                                           Wilbert Mubaiwa: I have very few failures

WILBERT Mubaiwa is a presidential candidate in next week’s general elections representing the political party, National People’s Congress (NPC).

Mubaiwa, a former member of the Zimbabwe National Army and former director of projects implementation at the Infrastructure Development Bank of Zimbabwe, was once a member of Joice Mujuru’s party, National People’s Party. He served as the party’s secretary-general before he left after being suspended on allegations of undermining Mujuru and speaking ill of her.

Following his fallout with Mujuru, in 2018, he campaigned to become an MP under a Zanu PF ticket, but was disqualified by the party’s elections directorate for his well-known ties to Mujuru.

Mubaiwa, who is a businessman and engineer, went on to file his nomination papers as an independent candidate in the 2018 harmonised elections for the Guruve South parliamentary seat and lost.

He clashed with Zanu PF for using President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s images on his campaigning material. Mubaiwa was also accused of hijacking Zanu PF activities.

On April 23, 2022, Mubaiwa launched the NPC and chose blue and purple as the party’s colours.

The NPC’s ideology, he said, was anchored on duty, conscience, responsibility and commitment driven by Ubuntu/Hunhu in order to “restore our lives and reclaim the pride, dignity and honour as a people and nation”.

“I have never failed in almost everything I’ve done in my life. I was fairly successful at the bank, and that is when we did most of the infrastructural projects during the GNU [Government of National Unity].

“I was leading that process. I was fairly successful at Zesa although we had challenges with the structure that existed there,” he told HStv, the digital television and radio station owned by Alpha Media Holdings.

Mubaiwa said Zimbabweans should vote him into office because he had a highly decorated CV with little to no failures.

“I have done fairly well in my personal life, coming from a very humble background or rather a very poor background,” he said.

Mubaiwa says if elected into office, he won’t focus on the politics of blame game, but rather offer solutions that move the country forward.

“You don’t get into office to remove anyone you get into office to change things,” he said.

“When you quarrel with someone don’t focus on the quarrel but on the future.

“I am not challenging the government. I am challenging myself to achieve what I think I can do for this country. Things that I know I can do better. Never challenge anyone for anything. Challenge yourself.”

Mubaiwa’s party envisions an economic renaissance anchored on infrastructure rehabilitation, reconstruction and development, industrialisation, manufacturing and productivity. It is also anchored on entrepreneur promotion and development, the provision of public and civil services, economic development and growth, opportunity and employment creation, sustained by institutional reform and transformation.

                                             Gwinyai Muzorewa: My name means leadership

The name Muzorewa is familiar in Zimbabwean politics. The late founder and leader of United African National Council (UANC), Bishop Abel Tendekai Muzorewa, served as Prime Minister of the shortlived Zimbabwe-Rhodesia between 1979 and 1980.

78-year-old Gwinyai is the younger brother of the late former politician. He was elected party leader in 2017, after a “seven-year mourning period” following the death of the UANC founder in 2010.

He made it on the ballot this year after a failed attempt in 2018 despite dragging the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (Zec) to court.

He currently serves as the chair of the Department of History, Political Science, Pan-African Studies, Philosophy and Religion at Lincoln University, United States.

The key UANC message to Zimbabwe, he said, was “prosperity, true freedom, and the rule of law”.

“I will bring a new economic order, and eliminate poverty by creating a political atmosphere that is conducive to business. Put differently, I am selling prosperity and justice for all,” he told NewsDay Weekender.

“I view my colleagues in the race for the presidency as people also aspiring to bring real change in the country. However, some take politics as a game. I take it as a mission. The reason the nation should consider Muzorewa for national leader is because Muzorewa ‘leads’ the nation, rather than ‘rule’ the people,” he said.

“As a sovereign state, Muzorewa has confidence in the people and the people also have mutual confidence and trust for this God-fearing leader. Actually, voting for Muzorewa is voting for prosperity, not just power.”

The UANC leader believes he should be voted in power to create better employment opportunities for Zimbabweans.

This year, the UANC only registered two candidates to contest for the National Assembly out of the 210 available, a situation Murorewa blamed on Zec’s refusal to accept local currency.

He, however, is adamant that they are not just making up the numbers, and promising to tackle corruption and enforce the rule of law.

“By enforcing the rule of law, my administration will bring corruption to an end. Every citizen will have power and access to report any incidence of corruption,” he said.

“The nation should vote for the UANC because voting for us is voting for success and prosperity. The youth will begin to enjoy life because we bring employment opportunities that they have never experienced.

“The youth will begin to buy items like vehicles, houses, as well as enjoy the duty to take good care of their parents. I am running for President so that I bring economic recovery and to end the nagging unemployment in the nation,” he said.

Muzorewa accused Zanu PF of violence and intimidation against his political disciples.

“Our campaign strategy has been recruiting member’s incognito because they were afraid to be exposed to their Zanu PF employer who would victimise them. For the same reason, we have not held rallies. But this does not mean we do not have a large following. Come August 23, you will see the ballot count,” he said.

Muzorewa alleged that the upcoming elections are not free and fair as electoral board has already decided the contest.

“The elections this year cannot be regarded as free and fair given several court cases since the debate on the delimitations where most of us were not consulted. Zec simply informed us, without taking our objections seriously.”