Masarira out to depolarise mindsets

OPPOSITION party Labour Economists and African Democrats (LEAD ) has embarked on a national drive to depolarise the minds of Zimbabweans.

In an interview with The Herald, LEAD president Linda Masarira-Kaingidze said they were determined to educate everyone in society for the achievement of development and tolerance in the country.

“Zimbabweans have been polarised for a very long time to think along political lines and not to think according to service delivery or into their best interests,” she said.

“We are going to every province where we are seeking to teach people their civic rights and to depolarise their mindsets. We are trying to sell to them the ideology that it is okay to support any party as long as there is water coming out of your tap, as long there is service delivery and as long as you are able to survive in a decent manner in your community.”

Mrs Masarira-Kaingidze said her party was vying for the emancipation of women as well as their inclusion in issues of governance.

“We are also trying to teach women to be able to stand out and speak out on governance issues cognisant of the fact that women remain under-represented and continue to be used for patriarchal gatekeeping in some political parties,” she said.

“We are trying to promote women participation in all Government issues, whether it is the workplace, political circles, in churches and everywhere else.”

Mrs Masarira-Kaingidze urged the youth to be innovative and become self-employed.

“We are actually selling the LEAD ideology to the youth as well pertaining to the socio-economic rights, that they also have to be innovative and to try and work to be entrepreneurs to go down farming, to look for land and go into mining,” she said.

“It is one thing to be crying foul that there are no jobs and another thing to try and be innovative to sustain livelihoods. That is the stance of our party, to ensure that we build national cohesion in our quest for nation building, and to ensure that we have one common shared national vision as Zimbabweans.”