Woman President for Zimbabwe as activist reveals plans on party

Long time Zimbabwe banned protest singer cum activist Viomak has chosen to put her lyrics and activism into political action after deciding to try politics as President of Zimbabwe Development Leaders (ZIDELE /ZDL) Party .

With some five years experience as protest singer and activist Viomak confirmed that plans are underway to form a political party that will see her concentrate on making ZIDELE a part of the solution to the problems that are destroying Zimbabwe.

According to the party‘s website which is under construction the “party whose goals are based on TRUTH principles  ushers a new era of politics and energises Zimbabweans to be at the forefront of creating a Tolerant, Responsible ,Understanding, Transparent and Honest leadership.”

Still in its infancy stage, Zimbabwe Development Leaders is “founded on basic principles that leadership in the home, school, college, at work, at state house, parliament in church and indeed everywhere should be grounded in the people and not individuals. Starting in every home the role of family will be supported to build good leadership.”

As Viomak is planning and working on registering the party and putting all other basic issues in place, she confirmed that if everything goes according to plan she is very much prepared to embark on this dangerous political career in Zimbabwe.

“It is very necessary that I give politics a chance and run for presidency. Many problems in Zimbabwe remain unresolved because of bad and selfish leaders who get into politics to make themselves rich instead of making citizens rich. Our political party will therefore do all it can  to give the power to decide to the people of Zimbabwe ”, Said Viomak.

The journey from being a banned protest singer and activist to president of a political party will obviously be a huge and risky task for Viomak considering that she is a banned singer who is also targeted for producing music that is against Zimbabwe‘s repressive law POSA (Public Security Order Act). According to POSA, it is a criminal offence to sing protest songs that despise President Mugabe’s leadership.

However ,in addition to protesting against bad governance ,her music tells a long story of how she wants Zimbabwe to be governed and with that in mind ,her journey into politics will be a dream come true as she will have to make sure  that what she despised in her songs she will not do and what she asked for in her songs she will do. A striking example that immediately comes to mind is a campaign that she spearheaded since 2009 in which VOTO (Voices Of The Oppressed ) and herself campaigned requesting that MDC –GNU leaders declare their personal assets to combat corruption. She later produced a song ‘Chinja Maitiro‘ to help in the campaign.

A voice of the voiceless, the activist who comes from Mutare, Zimbabwe has a long history of despising ZANUPF and Mugabe’s bad governance using music as a tool for socio-political change .In December 2008 she released a controversial music album ‘Zimbabwe Circus’ in which she despised both ZANUPF and MDC leadership and compared the political crisis in the country to a circus in a song ‘6 and 9’ .At that time she mentioned that, “Mugabe is a bad person and bad leader. Tsvangirai is a good person but is not a good leader”.

With 6 albums and one single song under her belt, amounting to 49 protest songs the activist explained that the party motto is,

“A Legacy of Good Leadership and TRUTH (Tolerance –Responsibility-Understanding -Trust –Honesty).

Activism

Viomak started her activism as protest singer and human rights activist in 2005. She continues to be an activist whose work includes campaigning for freedom of expression .In April 2008 she was instrumental in setting up Voices Of The Oppressed (VOTO) Internet radio to promote and offer airplay to banned Zimbabwe protest artists. In January 2007 Viomak got involved in freedom of expression issues and subsequently set up Zimbabwe Institute For Free Expression (ZIFFE) an institute that aims at educating Zimbabweans on their right to freedom of expression. In 2009, the activist came up with an idea of promoting Zimbabwe protest artists and set up Zimbabwe Protest Movement (ZIPROMO) ,to promote Zimbabwe protest artists’ work on the internet.

Charity work

When she set up viomak charity music in 2005, her objectives included singing against bad governance and donating 50% of music profits to the needy. She has since donated to various organisations and individuals in need, making her a unique musician and activist in Zimbabwe who sings for charity causes.

More information about Zimbabwe Development Leaders party will be available on the website www.zimbabwedevelopmentleaders.org as time goes on.