Tsvangirai must 'come to terms'

Tsvangirai must 'come to terms' - Nyathi

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• Msekiwa Makwanya: the MDC, the senate and boycott politics

• Morgan Tsvangirai: The senate, what's in it for the people?

• Grace Kwinjeh: No to senate elections!

• Kwinjeh attacks MDC senate poll participation

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• Prof Jonathan Moyo: New amendments should face battle royal

• New constitutional moves 'will not fly'

• Chinamasa slammed over 'exit visa' threat

• Innocent C Sithole: The MDC and culture of prevarication

• MDC wants to give senate a miss

• Prof Welshman Ncube: Constitutional reforms recipe for disaster

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• Dr Alex Magaisa: Constitution without Constitutionalism

• Lucas Nkomo: The right to revolt against tyranny

• Tawanda Hove: Constitutional reforms and MDC mess

• US says Zim moves 'a sad step backwards'

• Rights groups condemn constitutional moves

• Paul Themba Nyathi: Dark day for democracy

• Parliament passes amendment bill

• Prof Jonathan Moyo: Constitutional madness will not save Zanu PF

• MDC ambush Zanu PF with draft constitution

• Zim tables bill to amend constitution

• Lawyers condemn constitutional amendment

• Aspiring Zanu PF senator dies of poisoning

• Alex Magaisa: Constitutional amendment spells doom for economy

• Chinamasa admits Zanu PF has no two thirds

• Zimbabwe senate will last only 5 years

By Staff Reporter

ZIMBABWE'S opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) last night appeared unable to solve its internal crisis sparked by leader, Morgan Tsvangirai's refusal to accept the results of an internal vote on whether the party should participate in senatorial elections later next month.

The two wrangling sides stuck by their positions on Thursday, with the party's pro-senate spokesman Paul Themba Nyathi insisting senior officials were working to help Tsvangirai "come to terms" with a majority vote supporting participation in the senate.

Tsvangirai's spokesman William Bango told the BBC last night that the fall-out from the 66-member national council meeting on Wednesday was "the most serious crisis the party has faced internally."

The MDC galloped into an international public relations disaster when Tsvangirai rejected a 33-31 defeat for the senate boycott lobby in a secret ballot.

Tsvangirai then addressed reporters at his house and claimed that the party was divided 50:50 on the senate issue and he had cast the deciding vote in opposition to contesting in the senate elections.

Hours later, Nyathi contradicted Tsvangirai in a statement which showed that 33 members of the MDC council had supported participation to 31 against. There were two spoilt ballots.

On Thursday, Nyathi showed no shift: "The president of the party says he is not happy with the outcome of the secret ballot, and we in the party are currently working with him to help him deal with the democratic outcome of that secret ballot.

"We are aware of the magnitude of his disenchantment with what happened, but the national council - which is the supreme decision making body of the party - took a specific decision."

Analysts were warning of a major split between Tsvangirai and his supporters, and another faction loyal to the party's secretary general Welshman Ncube which has advocated participation in the senate.

Ncube rejects he has presidential ambitions. The claims are "palpably false", he told reporters.

Ncube's camp which draws its support from the two Matabeleland provinces, the Midlands, Bulawayo and Manicaland says it would be an administrative nightmare if MDC MPs had to work with Zanu PF senators in their constituencies.

However, Tsvangirai's supporters maintain that the senate is a "warehouse of geriatrics" designed to advance the interests of Robert Mugabe's loyalists who could not make it to parliament.

Nyathi, who has mostly been in the background in the MDC, said the talks with Tsvangirai could yield only two outcomes: "Negotiations with Tsvangirai can yield one or two things: either the endorsement of the council decision, or the rescinding of that decision."

One of Tsvangirai's loyalists Tendai Biti weighed in, insisting the spokesman for the national council was Tsvangirai, and not Nyathi.

"So what Tsvangirai says is binding," Biti said.

However, members of the MDC council who voted to participate said they were going full speed to prepare for the elections.

The MDC's Matabeleland North provincial spokesman, Abednico Bhebhe said: "We will follow what the national council resolved. We are not over-riding anyone's decision, we are merely following what the constitution says."

Analyst, Dr Lovemore Madhuku told IRIN: "Tsvangirai has a very serious problem of bending the party to his will. He has two options: try to reverse the decision of the national council or try to get the other faction to agree with him as president of the party. If that does not happen, then they should declare a split."
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