MDC e-mails: Mukonoweshuro and Dewa

MDC e-mails: Mukonoweshuro and Dewa

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The following are copies of confidential e-mails between Professor Elphas Mukonoweshuro, the secretary for international affairs in the MDC faction led by Morgan Tsvangirai, Ephraim Tapa, the chairman of the MDC UK branch and Julius Dewa, the secretary of the MDC's UK branch:

(Dated December 18, 2006)

Mr. Tapa,

The MDC Head Office is painfully aware of the irregular and unsanctioned activities that you have continued to perpetrate in spite of the advice and clarifications given to you.

The President 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 aware that you have made contacts with and physical visits to the British Foreign and Commonwealth Office ostensibly as an MDC representative, without reference to or authorisation from either the President, myself as Portfolio Secretary for International Affairs or Mr. Hebson Makuvise and Ms. Emily Madamombe, Chief Representative and Deputy Chief Representative respectively.

In the same vein, 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.

You and a few of your colleagues are virtually operating like dangerous loose canons. This is not going to be tolerated anymore and must stop forthwith, right now! Diplomatic activities of whatever kind in the UK are the prerogative of the Chief Representative and the Deputy Chief Representative, and the UK Provincial structures have to work through and with the office of the Chief Representative.

Those in the leadership of the structures, at whatever level, who find this rational arrangement problematic, are better advised to search their consciences and reconsider their positions.

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 no to meddle in the party's affairs in mainland Europe, diplomatic or otherwise, without authority.

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. I have advised you against this unstructured adventurism and indicated to you the proper channels of communication and protocol to follow but you have totally ignored this. The party cannot continue to tolerate this chaos and upmanship.

I must remind you that diplomatic affairs in the party are the President's prerogative, which he executes through the Department of International Affairs (DoIA) or through any other channel that he deems appropriate. To meddle, as you are doing, in the execution of an aspect of the Presidential mandate is clearly gross insubordination verging on outright rebellion.

The party cannot countenance an iota of that. I now must communicate to you officially, that I am under direct orders from the President to inform you, without any equivocation, that you must immediately stop meddling in diplomatic activities of the party as they are outside your province of competence or terms of reference.

I am further under Presidential harness to communicate to you that failure to stop will result in swift, stern and effective disciplinary action against you.
These instructions are simple enough and therefore ought to be clear to you. I neither have the time nor the inclination to tolerate any idle exchanges with you, which do not add value to the orderliness that the President seeks to achieve.

We have heard that you made threats of blackmailing and sabotaging the party should these standard arrangements fail to bend to the whims of your temper. A word of advice: Don't try it!

must further tell you that there is a clear and unwavering determination by the President and the leadership that reckless actions and insubordination, must result in hard consequences, or we shall have chaos.

Sincerely,

Professor E.G. Mukonoweshuro.
Secretary for International Affairs, DoIA.

Dear Professor Mukonoweshuro,

It is very much surprising that you have decided to write a letter that full of venom and embarrass yourself in the process.

You of all the people must now know that each time you do so, you continue to achieve nothing. Of course all what you said, with the underlined emphasis will definitely count to nothing because it will fall on deaf ears.

You seem to be very interested in starting a fire that you can not extinguish. More so you start a fight and do not want anyone hitting you back.

“Zvatanga paandidzosera, heya? Zvokwadi?”

Before you write all the rubbish that you write Professor, you must learn to pause a moment and reflect; that you do not need MDC, you are a Professor, with or without the Party your life is okay. The death of MDC does not mean anything to you. But it means something to the oppressed masses of Zimbabwe who pin their last hopes on the Party for their very survival.

It is unfortunate that you want to play games with the same people whom we derive power from; that’s a concept of leadership that is very decadent! It is something Zimbabweans have learnt to do without; you want to allocate yourself power and try in the process the mischief of naming the President just to soil him.

Professor 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.

Of course that will not work; and you will not do it to people like me and those who want to see this democracy being yielded and delivered to Zimbabwe as a package. The rules of democracy are the same; there is no democracy for Zanu PF and the emerging Zimbabwe and another democracy for those who oppose Zanu PF. Plus I am not convinced at all that you are doing this for the Party.

“Makambobva kupiko imi vanaMukonoweshuro, mava kuzvitutumadza manziwonayiwo nebandiko iri mobva mada kutonga napasi penyu?”
The name Mukonoweshuro Zimbabweans knew was that of Sharai who used to write very good books about mothers-in-law being rude to daughters-in-law and then at the end realising that the proper way was co-existence. I am surprised you talk of insurbodination as if you do not know what the word really means!

Professor, you and Tapa and Julius and the Provincial Organising Secretary are all members of the national council…you are equals and simple rules of natural justice say that equals do not have power over other equals! So if you meant you were insurbodinated, I do not know what you mean. Or you meant that the “Chief Representative” and the “Deputy Chief Representative”?

Professor at best those two posts are members of the MDC secretariat, therefore on our use at our peril and managed not by you but by the Secretary General. But in reality they are to be found nowhere in the Constitution so they are created by no legal instrument and thus they legally do not exist.

Legally there is nothing called “Chief Representative” or “Deputy Chief Representative”. So if the insubordination is in reference to those two again, you are very wrong. YOU CAN NOT INSURBODINATE THE NON-EXISTENT!

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 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. 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.

I will be stopped by the person we take orders from, the National Chairperson of the MDC and the people who put us in power, our constituency. No amount of intimidation, elbowing or inference will ever stop us from doing what is right for those who have put us in power, Professor.

We will not listen to you, not by the left ear, not by the right ear, not today, not tomorrow but forever! If you had bothered to know the facts you would have established that in fact Hebson Makuvise was very wrong. In fact if there is a person who is being disruptive it’s him. To me he behaved like a member of Zanu PF.

On the 15th of November we went to the FCO. When I wrote a report which was circulated among members of the Executive, someone in the Executive leaked the Report to Makuvise. Despite the fact that I and Makuvise have always talked, I am a Moyo and he is a Moyo and I thought we enjoyed a very cordial relationship (sic). But he chose not to, he phoned John Smith of the FCO lying that the report had been uploaded on a website. John Smith was naturally furious and he telephoned me asking why I had done that. I explained to John that I had given the report to members of the Executive as I owe a duty to be transparent to the management committee and said if one of them had done so it would be irresponsible.

I then told him that I would immediately check where the Report had been uploaded. I checked Change Zimbabwe, there was no report, I checked the Zimbabwejournalists website; no such report, I checked the MDC website; again no report. I then phoned John again and diplomatically asked him where he had seen the report.

The answer was “Julius Hebson said the Report is on the MDC website!” Of course it was not there. The “Chief Representative” of the MDC in the UK had lied to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office so that he retained personal glory! Now is this fair? Are we equal in the MDC or there are some who are more equal? Of course, I love MDC and I could not tell John that Hebson was lying. I was embarrassed for him. I only managed to be diplomatic again and just told him that I had tried the same websites but did not find the report and that perhaps he could try as well and tell me what the Report actually said so that we could jointly correct whatever misleading statements that might have been there.

Up to now I am waiting for John’s call. Of course, this has not happened because there was no report on any websites. You kind of wonder why this was done. Now this is what is called disruptiveness Professor. Your “Chief Representative” did not consider the repercussion personal glory at all cost has to the Party. But it does not surprise though. The first time that your Chief Representative ever entered an MDC branch was when he went to announce to very astonished Party cadres that “he and he alone has the power to represent Tsvangirai and write them support letters to take to the Home Office!”

And people have been shocked how a person who does not know them should be the only one to represent them. Put in context, Mr Makuvise has always said he is a member of Central London Branch but not even a single person from that branch can say they have seen him at a single meeting, Vigil, Forum or anything. He just bulldozed as the untouchable man who is the “sole power to represent them at (the) Home Office and to represent their President”.

Professor that’s not going to work, this will be fought left, right and centre, you will not take people fore-granted (sic) You will not do that in the UK, you will not do that anywhere. When MDC was formed there were political parties in Zimbabwe. But MDC was formed as a party that had offered complete difference as in the slogan “Chinja Maitiro, Guqula Izenzo!” To me that is a philosophy not an empty statement. It means we will be against everything that ZANU PF stands for, we are against the usurping of the democratically elected, we are against the replacement of the elected and we are against what you are trying to do Professor, give yourself power over us when we have the National Chairperson to report to.

You cannot do that. You will never kill the people’s Party because you are a Professor. Well even me, I will be a Professor soon but I am different. I am different because I came from the people, I do not try to marginalise their choice by imposing my will over their democratic choice. At the UZ I will be like Dr Lovemore Madhuku, Dr John Makumbe, Professor Nyazema and others we have known from the UZ who have always been in this struggle. We are aware that some of you may be positioning yourselves to succeed Morgan Tsvangirai at the top there, but why can’t we just wait for the time and not destroy what we are all trying to build?

This is an election year and we want to be seen as a Party that fights together, a party with strong democratic foundations, don’t you feel that you will destroy that by trying to do what you are doing?

In wishing you and your family a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year, I encourage you to redirect your energies towards Zanu PF. We haven’t heard you for a long time; we haven’t seen the fruits of your international forays into Africa where the Party has a bad name. By the way Professor, when we were with the President at Gatwick Airport in May, two young men and a young woman came and requested to have a picture taken with him. They were speaking Luganda, a language I can speak and understand and they confirmed that they were Ugandans. I asked them if they knew the person they wanted to pause for a picture with and to our amazement; on the money “Morgan Tsvangirai, the leader of Zimbabwe!”

Please Professor that man is known in Africa contrary to Zanu PF propaganda. Those were ordinary Ugandans calling him the Leader of Zimbabwe. We are simply not doing our work especially you and can we please help him get the position he deserves and the Party and Zimbabweans the democracy which has been so elusive?

Julius Sai Mutyambizi-Dewa
Secretary MDC UK and Ireland
“CHINJA MAITIRO, GUQULA IZENZO!”

P/s Distribute as widely as possible among MDC UK and Ireland members.
cc. The President, Mr. Morgan Tsvsngirai.
The National Chairman, Mr. Isaac Matongo.
The Secretary General, Mr. Tendai Biti.
The National Organising Secretary, Eng, Elias Mudzuri.
Mr. H.H.Makuvise, Chief Representative, UK.
Ms. Emily Madamombe, Deputy Chief Representative, UK.

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