MDC edges closer to fresh split

MDC edges closer to fresh split

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By Torby Chimhashu

ZIMBABWE’S main opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) edged closer to another split over the weekend after the deposed leader of the women’s wing held parallel elections to those called by the party’s leader Morgan Tsvangirai.

The MDC split in October 2005 when half the party’s MPs hit out at Tsvangirai for defying the party’s national council in refusing to field candidates for senate elections held later that year.

The other MDC faction is led by former NASA rocket scientist, Arthur Mutambara.

Lucia Matibenga, who headed the women’s wing in Tsvangirai’s faction, was driven out of the party last week. She accused Tsvangirai of breaching the party’s constitution and approached the High Court, which directed that the matter should be resolved by a party congress.

The MDC called a women’s congress in Bulawayo over the weekend, but Matibenga and dozens of her supporters also converged in the city and held their own elections.

The “official” MDC meeting was disrupted midway through when a gang of violent youths, thought to be loyal to Matibenga, forced their way into the meeting and sent delegates scurrying for cover.

The delegates later reconvened at a restaurant owned by Tsvangirai’s deputy, Thokozani Khupe, where Theresa Makone – the wife of Tsvangirai’s advisor and funder, Ian Makone -- was elected as the new head of the faction’s women’s wing.

Grace Kwinjeh, one of Matibenga’s supporters, said: “Is the story not in the fact that Tsvangirai failed to hold a women's assembly congress? There were protests of structures; more people came to support Lucia than his handful who then hid in Khupe’s restaurant.”

The fresh infighting in the MDC has severely weakened Tsvangirai’s authority, already coming under scrutiny after a series of gaffes since failing to dislodge President Robert Mugabe.

Tendai Biti, the wavering secretary general of the faction, is thought to have been approached on leading another breakaway faction of the MDC, sources said.

The sources revealed that a group that includes party spokesman Nelson Chamisa, youth leader Thamsanqa Mahlangu, Elias Mudzuri, Gift Chimanikire, Tapiwa Mashakada, Matibenga and Biti himself, were planning to move away from Tsvangirai and form another party that would include National Constitutional Assembly (NCA) chairman Lovemore Madhuku in its ranks.

Insiders said the group was irked by repeated constitutional violations by Tsvangirai and Matibenga’s case was the “final straw”.

However, Biti said he would not break away from Tsvangirai and instead called for Zimbabweans “to ignore CIO and Zanu PF tactics”.

Said Biti: “What is happening in the party is a reflection of a mature democracy. We have no big name mentality and everyone is allowed to exercise their right. This is a long struggle and it has been too long for many people. We are in a transition, a transition to a new Zimbabwe. We therefore become greedy and want to be in the gravy train and not want to miss it.

“But every historical epoch produces its own unmistakable leader. There will be leaders and The leader. Tsvangirai is The Leader. Zanu PF knows that and that’s why it sees red in him.”

Biti, who is said to have originally broken away with Mutambara’s group before being persuaded to stay in 2005, claimed to our correspondent that the problems in the party were being engineered by Mugabe’s intelligence services.

“Many people have been in the struggle for wrong reasons. This is not a sprint but a marathon. Don’t ignore the evil ingenuity of Zanu PF in all this. Since 2000 Zanu PF has tried everything at the MDC. We must understand that we are dealing with a unique case of fascism that can make Hitler proud.”

Analysts warn that Tsvangirai stands no chance against Mugabe in next year’s general elections unless the MDC can become part of a broader coalition.
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