So it’s now all but confirmed that Mthuli Ncube and Dr Thoko Khupe will slug it out for Bulawayo’s Cowdray Park parliamentary constituency in the 23 August 2023 harmonised general election.
All things considered, and without taking anything from or casting any aspersions on her, Dr Khupe who indeed is very much adored in the region, will be well advised not to take a dive into this one.
This is because Prof Mthuli Ncube is the best possible candidate for Cowdray Park and the region.
If truth be told, and if elections are about having communities deploy their most able and best positioned or placed sons or daughters with self-evident capacity to get things done for the community, then it is manifestly clear that Prof Ncube deserves the support from everyone not only in Cowdray Park but also across the region, including and particularly from Dr Khupe.
It is not an indictment of Dr Khupe but an acknowledgement of the objective reality on the ground in Cowdray Park and the region that there is really hardly much that she would be able to do differently or better now for either the constituency or the region which she has not been able to do since 2000, when she first went to Parliament.
If Dr Khupe returned to Parliament in August 2023, she would merely add to the dwindling minority numbers of the opposition benches. That would perhaps mean something to her personally, as it has meant since 2000, but it will not mean anything to or for Cowdray Park, let alone the region.
On the other hand, Prof Ncube has nothing much if anything to gain personally, but he has everything to offer from which the community and the region have a lot to benefit.
This is an objective fact. It’s praxis, and that’s what real politics is all about: the community using what it has [Prof Ncube] to get what it needs [development] and regular high level attention as might be necessary from time to time over the next five years.
But of course Dr Khupe has a constitutional right to stand for the parliamentary election in Cowdray Park or anywhere else for that matter. However, if she stands in Cowdray Park, she should not be surprised to see many who have supported her in her trials and tribulations in the past, and who have tremendous respect for her, do the right thing to support Prof Ncube this time round.
This is because in this case, and on this occasion, support for Prof Ncube is support for everyone in Cowdray Park, the region and the nation, given the truism that the best national politics is local!
