Tsvangirai blows chance to heal rifts

Tsvangirai blows chance to heal rifts

• Misihairabwi out in shadow cabinet reshuffle

• MDC slams 'out of touch' Bennett

• Slain MDC man's body arrives in Zim

• Tsvangirai, Ncube to defuse SA tensions

• Man dead in MDC South Africa clashes

• 42 MDC supporters arrested in clashes

• MDC rejects calls for Tsvangirai to resign

DAYS after his release from jail, Roy Bennett delivered a devastating critique of the Movement for Democratic Change today.

At the risk of being labelled "mad" by one of Morgan Tsvangirai's aides, the outspoken former Chimanimani MP spoke of "opportunists" and money grabbers hijacking the party.

The MDC came out fighting. Bennett was "out of touch" after spending eight months in jail, opined Tsvangirai's spokesman, William Bango.

It is this cavalier and often dismissive attitude to criticism that has put the MDC on a slippery slope to Amageddon.

Tsvangirai's shadow cabinet reshuffle on Wednesday reenforces this view.

If the reshuffle was designed to end the well documented rifts at the top of the MDC leadership, the outcome would appear to be the opposite.

How, for instance, is Moses Mzila Ndlovu's elevation to foreign affairs spokesman at the expense of Priscilla Misihairabwi likely to heal the divisions within the MDC?

Mzila Ndlovu is a brute and a thug who physically attacked one of Tsvangirai's advisers last year, directly leading to his removal from the same position. So what has changed?

While reshuffles are not isolated to the MDC only, Tsvangirai's obsession with shadow cabinets and positional politics exposes him to criticism. If the suggestion that Mzila's return is because he has President Thabo Mbeki's ear is true, then one has to wonder whether Tsvangirai is in charge at all.

Misihairabwi had done nothing wrong. She was hard working, intelligent and gave an eloquent representation of the MDC's policies. In fact her elevation to the key post of foreign affairs secretary had been hailed as a triumph for women. But with three women ranged against 13 men in the new shadow cabinet, Tsvangirai has unwittingly alienated the female constituency.

So much for healing rifts!
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