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MDC unity talks break down
By Lebo
Nkatazo
THE two feuding factions of Zimbabwe’s opposition Movement for
Democratic Change (MDC) are no closer to reuniting than they were when
they split, officials said Wednesday.
Talks aimed at reuniting the two groups – one led by Morgan Tsvangirai and the other by Arthur Mutambara – broke down two weeks ago.
Officials from both factions tied themselves to a strict code not to make statements to the media, but in separate interviews this week, senior officials from both factions privately told of their exasperation at the stalemate.
“We are as far apart as the North Pole to the South Pole,” an official aligned with the Mutambara faction said.
Mutambara has led calls for the reunification of the MDC, and is said to have been prepared to take a lesser position in the united party to leave Tsvangirai as the sole MDC candidate in presidential elections set for the first half of 2008.
The unity envisaged was to take the shape of a loose coalition of the two factions, possibly leading to the total re-integration of both factions.
The MDC split in October 2005, a result of escalating internal tensions which saw Tsvangirai differ sharply with some of his senior colleagues on various policy issues, including election participation.
After Tsvangirai lost a vote of his party on boycotting senate elections that year, he rejected the outcome. Some of his senior colleagues who favoured taking part in elections – including Gibson Sibanda, Welshman Ncube and Fletcher Dulini – accused Tsvangirai of being a dictator, and claimed to have suspended him.
Tsvangirai rejects the charges and has insisted in interviews that his former colleagues were dissidents, while portraying his faction as the genuine MDC.
There have been signals of a thawing of relations between the two groups after they jointly undertook to take part in SADC-brokered talks with the ruling Zanu PF.
The two groups have been under pressure from their international backers and some of their domestic supporters who say only a united front can challenge President Robert Mugabe’s fresh bid for office.
Foreign diplomats are known to be nudging the two groups towards forming a coalition or reaching agreement on outright unity, warning that a failure to do this will be a surrender to Mugabe.
But the efforts have been hampered by at times intense opposition from elements within both factions. Observers have also warned that without corrective measures to some of the issues that led to the split – including the use of violence and Tsvangirai’s alleged unilateralism – such a coalition will crumble.
Sources in Tsvangirai’s group insisted this week that while a coalition remained a possibility, there was strong feeling within the faction that they should go it alone.
Said one official: “We have consulted our supporters up and down the country. The clear verdict is that they oppose reuniting with the other group.
“The senior leadership however is leaning towards a political solution, which is the practical step in the face of concerns by some of our influential international and domestic partners.”
Sources revealed talks had reached an advanced stage, and a document had been prepared by the two sides’ legal teams waiting for the signatures of the two leaders, but Tsvangirai’s group balked at the last minute.
Tsvangirai’s negotiation team, led by Tendai Biti, had insisted that there could be no compromise unless Tsvangirai was accepted as the sole candidate to lead the party in presidential elections next year. Mutambara’s group then made a concession on that point.
The two groups also discussed candidate selection for senate, council and parliamentary elections, with Mutambara’s group insisting on a 50:50 representation. Tsvangirai’s group was uncomfortable with this arrangement, and officials offered a system which allows both factions to hold primaries, and then select 50 officials each who will vote on the final candidate.
A source privy to the talks said: “It was a strange suggestion by Tsvangirai’s group, and Mutambara’s people warned that having 50 officials each deciding on a candidate was most certainly going to result in a deadlock, unless someone had bribed officials from the other group.
“It also raised the question whether the two groups wanted to go through a six-month primary elections exercise with all the attendant problems instead of campaigning against Zanu PF.
“It was finally decided that where either faction of the MDC has a sitting elected official, they would be left to contest the next election should they be selected by their respective faction.”
Officials said the remaining seats, which are currently held by Zanu PF or independents, were divided into three groups: winnable seats, potentially winnable seats and unwinnable seats. The classifications were based on parliamentary election results from March 2005.
Said one official: “The first category deals with seats where the MDC lost but got more than 38 percent of the vote. The second category, which recognises that if we work hard a seat can be won, relates to seats where we got 28-38 percent of the vote. Then the final category is where we had less than 28 percent of the vote, which we consider safe Zanu PF seats.
“Agreement was reached that we would divide those seats equally, making sure both groups participated in roughly the same number of elections.”
In the talks, Mutambara’s group also insisted on being given the right to choose the single vice president.
It had also been agreed that both groups would campaign as a single entity, to eliminate internal squabbles.
A source revealed: “When agreement had been reached on all those points and concessions made, the two groups’ legal teams were dispatched to draw up a legal document and within days, they came back with the document ready for signing.
“When the time came for the signing of the agreement, Tsvangirai’s people came back and challenged every concession except the element on Tsvangirai being leader.
“Tsvangirai’s officials said he had come under pressure, particularly from (his deputy Thokozani) Khupe who refused to step down as vice president to accommodate someone from Mutambara’s group. It was suggested that there be two vice presidents, but Mutambara’s group rejected that.”
An official in Mutambara’s group said: “It appears Tsvangirai’s group wanted us to concede the vice presidency, concede the presidency and concede to the illusion that they are the real MDC. The coalition they wanted is one that de-recognises us, and we told them to go to hell.
“Tsvangirai then gave an interview to the Zimbabwe Independent claiming that talks were ongoing, but as far as we know, there are no talks. We passed that stage, there is a document waiting to be signed if they are genuinely for a coalition, and until then, we are preparing to enter the next elections separately from the other group.”
Sources said the top three officials from both factions will have one final chance to work out a coalition plan in Ghana in the next few days where they are set to brief African Union president, John Agyekum Kufuor, on the situation in Zimbabwe.
Tsvangirai, Khupe
and Biti will travel with Mutambara, Ncube and Sibanda for an audience
with Kufuor, and officials are saying the opportunity could be the last
chance saloon for the feuding factions to reach a compromise.
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