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Tsvangirai faces UK rebellion
By Staff
Reporter
MORGAN Tsvangirai faced an open rebellion from members of the Movement
for Democratic Change (MDC) UK branch this week, confidential e-mails
obtained by New Zimbabwe.com reveal.
Tsvangirai, leader of one of the two MDC factions, instructed officials from the UK branch to stop “unauthorised” meetings with British government and European Union officials.
But defiant MDC officials in the UK told Professor Elphas Mukonoweshuro, Tsvangirai’s emissary: “We will not listen to you, not by the left ear, not by the right ear, not today, not tomorrow but forever.”
The fiery exchanges threaten to spark further divisions in the feuding MDC which split into two groups in October last year – one led by Tsvangirai and the other by Professor Arthur Mutambara, a former NASA rocket scientist.
The e-mail exchanges obtained by New Zimbabwe.com reveal concerns by Tsvangirai and senior leaders in Harare that the UK officials were “virtually operating like dangerous loose canons” and organising diplomatic meetings without approval from Harare.
In an e-mail dated Decembber 18, 2006, and addressed to Ephraim Tapa, the chairman of the faction’s MDC UK, Mukonoweshuro said Tsvangirai was “painfully aware of the irregular and unsanctioned activities that you have continued to perpetrate in spite of the advice and clarifications given to you.”
Mukonoweshuro, the secretary for international affairs in the Tsvangirai faction, told the UK officials that diplomatic activities in the UK were solely the prerogative of Hebson Makuvise and Emily Madamombe, chief representative and deputy chief representative respectively.
He said: “The President (Tsvangirai) has now directed me to formally instruct you to stop meddling in diplomatic activities, which are clearly outside the scope of your responsibilities
“We are also aware that you have now arrogated to yourself the responsibility of representing the party in mainland Europe without authority from anybody whatsoever. You are not to meddle in the party's affairs in mainland Europe, diplomatic or otherwise, without authority.
“We are aware that you are currently making frantic efforts to visit the Home Office as an MDC representative, without any mandate, authorisation or sanction from either the President, the Department of International Affairs or the Chief Representative and Deputy Chief Representative.
“I need not remind you that you are the Chairman of the UK MDC Province and your remit totally excludes the areas you are incrementally encroaching on by stealth."
Mukonoweshuro accused Tapa and his colleagues in the UK branch of “virtually operating like dangerous loose canons”, warning: “This is not going to be tolerated anymore and must stop forthwith, right now!”
Julius Mutyambizi-Dewa, the secretary of the MDC UK branch immediately hit back at Mukonoweshuro, saying they would only taking instructions from the faction’s national chairman, Isaac Matongo.
In an e-mail also dated December 16, 2006, Dewa said it was in fact him, and not Tapa, who had organised a meeting with officials from the UK Commonwealth and Foreign Office.
Dewa also told Mukonoweshuro that the MDC UK branch did not recognise Makuvise, the man identified by Tsvangirai to represent the party in the UK.
“Professor (Mukonoweshuro) if you are truly MDC you should know that the party at the moment is reeling from the cover of accusations such as “kitchen cabinets” and by blowing the trumpet without even pausing to think, you are confirming what has been said before; that there is a very wide propensity in MDC to disregard the elected in favour of the appointed,” Dewa said in the e-mail.
“As a person you have brought shame unto yourself because you did not care to get the facts for yourself. You accuse us of going to the FCO. Well it is not Tapa who arranged that, it’s me, Julius Sai Mutyambizi-Dewa who arranged it, and I will be going again not once, not twice but whenever I want to.
“We will also go to the Home Office, where we will be representing MDC UK and Ireland and the many people who are here whom you do not know but who are living lives of destitution because they do not have (immigration) papers. They are the people who are financing the party by their subscriptions, and no volume of words will ever stop me from representing them.”
He added: “We were elected to represent, and that’s what we are doing and please stop the nonsense that you write because we are not going to surrender that to anyone who was not elected.”
MDC sources say the UK officials, thought to be backed by Matongo, could now face disciplinary procedures.
“There is certainly this view in Harare that the foreign branches only cause chaos and contribute little to the struggle, which is partly why Tsvangirai had to appoint representatives outside the UK structures,” an MDC official said from Harare.
The MDC, once seen as a potential next government, has split into two camps following disagreements among senior leaders, including the claim that Tsvangirai was listening to an unelected “kitchen cabinet”.
Tsvangirai was also accused of dictatorship after going against a vote of the national council to participate in senate elections. He rejects the accusations and accuses his former colleagues of disloyalty.
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