Ostallos Siziva rules out Presidency

by Staff reporter
Former Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC) legislator Gift "Ostallos" Siziva says calls for him to emerge as an independent political leader have strengthened his resolve, but insists he is not positioning himself for the presidency.

Siziva, 33, said political power should not be pursued for personal ambition and that his priority was to help rebuild a credible democratic movement from the grassroots.

He also does not currently meet the constitutional age requirement for presidential candidates, which is 40.

Speaking in an interview with senior reporter Miriam Mangwaya, Siziva said his political work was now largely focused on Tshabalala-Pelandaba, where he previously represented constituents before being recalled from Parliament.

"The Blue Movement was never an organisation, institution or political party," Siziva said, describing it as a transitional platform that emerged after the collapse of the CCC.

He said the movement was a way for opposition supporters to maintain political mobilisation after what he described as the "capture" of the CCC.

Siziva said the subsequent disappearance of the Blue Movement from public view was deliberate, arguing that its supporters had made a strategic decision to move away from large gatherings and concentrate on grassroots organising.

"We are no longer interested in big gatherings," he said. "We are more interested in going into those branches and constituting them because they will become the social base upon which the democratic movement going into the future will be launched."

He said the opposition needed to build structures around the country's approximately 14 000 polling stations rather than focus exclusively on elections.

Siziva said his decision to concentrate on Tshabalala-Pelandaba was not a retreat from national politics but an attempt to rebuild from the community level.

"If I am to contribute to the politics of my country, it has to start locally," he said.

He argued that opposition politics should not be reduced to election campaigns, particularly amid uncertainty over the timing of future elections following Constitution Amendment 3.

"A democratic movement is a home for oppressed people to find full political expression of their day-to-day grievances against the establishment," he said.

Siziva maintained that resistance to Zanu-PF should continue regardless of the electoral calendar.

"People are being oppressed every day. Zanu-PF does not wait for an election to oppress people. So we must reject Zanu-PF today, yesterday and tomorrow," he said.

He added that resistance would persist as long as people felt politically and economically marginalised.

"As long as there is oppression, there will always be resistance," he said.

Siziva rejected criticism that he was relatively quiet during the campaign against Constitution Amendment Bill 3, saying he had been involved in organising opposition to the legislation.

He claimed that groups involved in public hearings across the country had been organised with his involvement and alleged that he faced an attempted abduction after opposing the Bill in Bulawayo.

He also said he was involved in mobilising opposition activists in Harare and Chitungwiza and providing security for prominent critics of the legislation.

Siziva argued that the amendment was particularly aimed at neutralising the electoral advantage he believed former opposition leader Nelson Chamisa had over Zanu-PF parliamentary candidates.

He said Zanu-PF had historically maintained strong parliamentary structures while struggling to match Chamisa's support at presidential level.


Siziva said growing calls for him to assume a bigger leadership role were encouraging but did not mean he intended to seek the presidency.

"I am not someone who can be considered a presidential candidate at the moment, fundamentally because of the laws of the country. The law requires someone to be 40. I am 33," he said.

He said political power should be approached strategically rather than through personal ambition.

"To us, power is scientific. We do not just want to assume power because of vibes, slogans or affirmations," Siziva said.

He went further, saying he might not even seek a position among the top leadership of any future democratic movement.

"If, for example, a movement is going to have a top 10, I do not intend to be part of that top 10," he said.

Instead, he said he could contribute as a Member of Parliament, councillor, secretary or potentially as part of a shadow government.

"If I am an alternative minister of industry or agriculture, for example, that is an important portfolio because you want to showcase how you are going to do things differently before you enter government," he said.

Siziva also addressed the controversial appointment of former CCC member Brilliant Dube as a senator, saying opposition movements had to accept that political infiltration was an enduring reality.

He said the lesson from Dube's movement into Zanu-PF should not be to abandon political organising, but to strengthen internal intelligence and information systems.

"We have witnessed infiltration. We have also seen people moving from the opposition to Zanu-PF and from Zanu-PF to the opposition," he said.

Siziva argued that a future opposition government would also need people currently working within government institutions and the security services.

"We do not seek to replace the State. We want to occupy it with these people who are bureaucrats within that organisation," he said.

He maintained that civil servants, security personnel and other State employees should not automatically be treated as enemies in the event of a political transition.

On calls for opposition parties and factions to unite under one umbrella, Siziva said the demand was legitimate but cautioned against attempting to determine the structure of a future movement before consulting ordinary citizens.

"I think I can say and confirm with absolute certainty that those calls by ordinary people are legitimate and understandable," he said.

He said consultations with citizens would determine what form any future political organisation or alliance might take.

"Whatever emerges is going to be born out of the aspirations of ordinary people," he said.

Siziva also said he was working to strengthen the democratic movement's regional and international networks, describing the emerging approach as pan-African and patriotic.

He said the objective was not simply to change Zimbabwe's government but to address broader challenges facing the continent and other oppressed communities.

For now, Siziva said the focus was on reflection, grassroots mobilisation, leadership development and preparing the opposition for a longer political struggle.

"We are simply the conveyor belts of those aspirations," he said.

Source - newsday