FORMER commercial farmer Darryl Collet has been unveiled as interim president of a new opposition party, The Patriotic Front (TPF) that preaches empowerment of the masses. Collet was unveiled as interim president of the party at the Bulawayo Media Centre on Wednesday. BY NQOBANI NDLOVU The new opposition party joins many others that have been formed in recent years, particularly towards the elections only to disappear after the polls. Collet said deep-seated poverty faced by long-suffering Zimbabweans forced members of the TPF to come together to offer solutions to the country’s challenges. “These are issues that need to be addressed and it is for this reason that The Patriotic Front has been founded in order to bring together the great minds of the country in an all-out effort to bring in the change that is needed,” Collet said. “Not to recognise and correct the erroneous decisions that we have made in order to achieve the change that the freedom was to bring and that was fought for, will continue the slippery slide into non-existent social services and inadequate health services, admitted to by our leaders every time one of them is ill and rushed off to China for the medical attention they need, which should be offered here to all, if our doctors and nurses were given everything they need to care for the health of all.” Collet, who said he was forced off his farm during the fast-track land reform programme, said Zimbabweans had the right to demonstrate against the government on July 31 as the crisis they faced was unbearable. “Most painful in all this is that the cry of the people is apparently not heard which results in anti-government forces easily amassing the crowds for intended marches and demonstrations such as those planned for July 31,” he said, adding that the TPF believed in empowerment of the masses regardless of race or tribe. “We believe that Zimbabwean citizens must own and determine the distribution of these resources and opportunities. We believe this should be done in a manner blind to race, ethnic extraction or creed.”