Opposition deputy calls for Ndebele state

By Lance Guma
08 November 2005

The Deputy President of the Movement for Democratic Change, Gibson Sibanda has called for the establishment of an independent state for the minority Ndebele tribe in Zimbabwe. In a speech aimed at shoring up support from the marginalised Southern parts of the country Sibanda, according to the Daily Mirror said ‘Ndebeles can only exercise sovereignty through creating their state like Lesotho, which is an independent state in South Africa and it is not politically wrong to have the State of Matabeleland inside Zimbabwe,”

He was addressing a rally in Lupane at which secretary-general, Welshman Ncube, national treasurer, Fletcher Dulini Ncube, Paul Themba Nyathi, and Esaph Mdlongwa the organising secretary attended. Sibanda according to the Mirror newspaper said the establishment of the senate would be the only way to guarantee the Ndebele speaking people total sovereignty. The paper reports that at an earlier rally in Tsholotsho, Welshman Ncube had queried where Tsvangirai was getting money from to allegedly hire youths to decampaign the senatorial candidates.

The pro-senate faction has so far addressed rallies in Tsholotsho, Lupane, Binga, and Hwange