Mutambara 'not for turning'

Mutambara 'not for turning'

• Mutambara set to be new MDC leader

• Tsvangirai fights for control of Parliament

• Tsvangirai seeks unlimited term as MDC leader

• MDC faction gains control of parliamentary party

• MDC MPs set to declare allegiances

• Zambia says deported Tsvangirai lied

• MDC factions to battle for Chegutu

• Chamisa: Independent on warpath with MDC

• Vincent Kahiya: 'Grow up Chamisa!'

• 'Tsvangirai held secret meetings with Mujuru'

• Sikhala, 7 others released on bail

• Kagoro: Tsvangirai, Sibanda must bury hatchet

• Bafana Mpofu: MDC hullabaloo has roots in Zimbabwe's past

• Zanu PF routs MDC in Chitungwiza

• MDC faction sets conditions for reuniting party

• MP arrested during Zimbabwe elections

• Trudy Stevenson: what really happened at October 12 meeting

• Two faces of feuding MDC in UK

• Tsvangirai hit with $50bln defamation suit

• MDC supporters head for UK split

• Msekiwa Makwanya: We will not die if we do not make war

• MDC to have new leader in February - Ncube

• Full text of MDC disciplinary committee letter expelling Matongo

• Full text of MDC disciplinary committee letter expelling Tsvangirai

• Tsvangirai expelled - officials

• Tsvangirai to ride storm, but party weak

• Tsvangirai addresses foreign diplomats

• Tsvangirai suspends deputy

• MDC members in fresh push to oust leader

• Court hands Tsvangirai MDC control

• Alex Magaisa: MDC leaders dying of thirst as palm trees appear

• Mduduzi Mathuthu: Voters must demand better leadership

By Lebo Nkatazo

SUPPORTERS of Zimbabwe's main opposition leader, Morgan Tsvangirai, have made attempts to dissuade Professor Arthur Mutambara from joining another faction seeking to wrest control of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) party.

Mutambara, a scientist and Professor of Robotics and Mechatronics, held talks with MDC secretary general Professor Welshman Ncube in Harare on Sunday, and was set to hold further talks with the party's national executive later on Monday.

His coronation as MDC leader, and possibly President Robert Mugabe's main challenger, will be completed at the weekend when Tsvangirai's opponents hold their congress in Bulawayo to elect new leadership.

Mutambara's only challenger is likely to be Gift Chimanikire, the party's deputy secretary general.

Sources close to Mutambara told New Zimbabwe.com Sunday that the former student leader had fought off attempts to block him from running for leadership.

Former Chimanimani MP, Roy Bennett, Harare lawyer Selby Hwacha and losing Makoni North parliamentary candidate Elton Mangoma had all privately tried to talk Mutambara out of entering the race, the sources said.

"I think there is now an acceptance from them and their principals that Mutambara is not for turning," said a source.

Late on Saturday, officials from the faction currently led by Tsvangirai's deputy, Gibson Sibanda, trumpeted their catch, suggesting Tsvangirai's leadership of the MDC was nearing a close.

"They (Tsvangirai's group) are in a state of complete, total panic," said one official.

Tsvangirai's spokesman, William Bango, has declined to offer his opinion about Mutambara's arrival in Zimbabwe and possible take-over as MDC leader.

The state-run Sunday Mail newspaper, noticing a possible power shift, immediately went on the attack Sunday, accusing Mutambara of circulating "subversive documents" as leader of the University of Zimbabwe student representative council in 1989.

The Sunday Mail said Mutambara "was involved in a spate of student unrests at the higher learning institution which saw him clashing with authorities."

The paper added: "His union was responsible for secretly circulating a series of documents deemed subversive which did not address the concerns of students' freedom. In one of the publications, the union expressed sentiments that were said to have been grossly critical of the government."
JOIN THE DEBATE ON THIS ARTICLE ON THE NEWZIMBABWE.COM FORUMS
newsdesk@newzimbabwe.com