(Last Updated on August 30, 2012 by Editor)
ZIMBABWE – Preparations are underway for the MDC 13th Anniversary celebrations to be held at White City Stadium in Bulawayo on 29 September 2012.
This year’s celebrations will be held under the theme; “MDC @13 The Last Mile: Towards Real Transformation”. The main event, at White City Stadium in Bulawayo, shall set the tone for similar festivities to be held countrywide.
Last year’s celebrations attended by thousands of party supporters were held at Gwanzura Stadium in Harare. The carnival atmosphere at the MDC’s 12th Anniversary celebrations was spiced up by a group of local musicians who provided entertainment for the thousands people gathered at Gwanzura Stadium.
Sungura starts, Hosiah Kwachu Kwachu Chipanga, and Allan Chimbetu, the reggae/star groover dreadlocked Dino Mudondo, gospel musicians Sebastian Magacha, Kudzi Nyakudya and little Francis Chikunguru kept the packed stadium on its feet for the better part of the day as they churned their favourite hits.
Some of these artists and more are expected to grace this year’s anniversary and provide first class entertainment.
As the theme clearly suggests, over the past 13 years the MDC, as the vanguard of the people’s struggle has made phenomenal achievements in the social, political and economic life of Zimbabwe.
The MDC has acquitted itself well as a pro-people and pro-poor party – A Party of Excellence.
Since the party’s formation 13 years ago on 11 September, 1999 at Rufaro Stadium in Harare, the MDC has achieved a number of goals which among other issues include; bringing food to the people of Zimbabwe despite many challenges faced in light of Zanu PF’s brutality.
During its 13 year journey to achieve real change and democracy in Zimbabwe, the MDC has faced many challenges of election victories being stolen and supporters being injured and killed by Zanu PF using State machinery throughout the country.
The party will therefore celebrate these sad and happy moments in the City of Queens and Kings, Bulawayo, which is its natural home.
The MDC is now in control of all the urban councils except Chitungwiza and most of the rural councils. In 2009, after winning the 2008 harmonised elections it was involved in the formation of the inclusive government with President Tsvangirai becoming the Prime Minister of Zimbabwe.
Ministers from the MDC have done a lot since the formation of the inclusive government in improving the lives of the people of Zimbabwe.
This year’s celebrations come at a time when the party is preparing for a referendum on the draft Constitution which will lead to the holding of free and fair elections next year. The MDC is confident of winning the elections and forming a government t that will deliver and bring real change and democracy to Zimbabwe and its people.
The Bulawayo celebrations will be graced by leaders from the civic society, foreign diplomats, church and traditional leaders .
The MDC, as an idea, was first endorsed on 26 February 1999 by over 700 ordinary men and women at the Zimbabwe Women’s Bureau in Hillside, Harare. After an objective examination of a whole gamut of national issues and a Zanu PF-inspired crisis of governance, delegates to that National Working People’s Convention bravely decided to challenge Zanu PF politically.
The convention’s resolutions have since guided the MDC as it addresses a national crisis, bedevilling Zimbabwe for over 30 years.
Zanu PF immediately polished up its political culture of violence, leading to scores of deaths and massive displacements of the poor. The situation remains unchanged to this day.
When the party took part in a general election, for the first time barely seven months after its formation on 26 June 2000, the result emphasised that the past was another country. A shocked Zanu PF intensified its violence against the people and stole the Presidential election of March 2002. But the party and the people remained steadfast in their endeavour to bring about change in Zimbabwe.
Zimbabweans demand equal opportunities, peace and security; food and jobs