Bloody Monday for Zimbabwe opposition

Bloody Monday for Zimbabwe opposition

• Paul T Nyathi: Tribal slurs easy to make, but extremely dangerous

• Brilliant Mhlanga: MDC no longer an alternative

• Patrick Mlambo: Tsvangirai has lost plot

• Nyathi hits back at Tsvangirai bribery claims

• Bekithemba Mhlanga: Tsvangirai fell for Zanu PF bait

• Alex Magaisa: Handling a fledging democracy

• Elliot Pfebve: Tsvangirai and Mugabe, larvae and butterfly scenario

• MDC moves to impeach Tsvangirai

• Gibson Sibanda: Tsvangirai in breach of constitution

• Tsvangirai accuses officials of vote-buying

• Itai Zimunya: MDC split good for Zimbabwe

• Tsvangirai bid to heal rifts

• Chenjerai Hove: The MDC and a very Zimbabwean disease

• Tsvangirai must 'come to terms' - Nyathi

• Msekiwa Makwanya: Tsvangirai, lessons in democratic process

• Heads must roll

• MDC splits widen after senate vote

• Tsvangirai: We are out

• Nyathi: We are in

• MDC to boycott senate - Tsvangirai

• Melusi Nyathi: MDC must reconnect with people

• Mugabe sets November 26 Senate poll date

• Tsvangirai plays down rift with Ncube

• Oscar Nkala: MDC should snub senate

• Mugabe calls senate poll for November, MDC undecided

• 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

• MDC to contest for senate seats

• 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

• Zim denies plot to curtail critics' travel

• 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 Reporters

ZIMBABWE'S main opposition leader faces a tough test today when party members must decide whether to support him and boycott registration for next month's senate election, or sign up and risk breaking up the party.

Morgan Tsvangirai, leader of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) has vowed his party will not contest the November 26 poll, which he says is part of a drive by President Robert Mugabe to tighten his grip on power.

But his stance has been rejected by his top lieutenants and has plunged the party - that came closest to unseating Mugabe's Zanu PF from power in 2000 - into its worst crisis.

"This is a critical moment for Tsvangirai, it will decide to what extent he has influence in the party. It could decide whether the party breaks up or not, but which ever way, it is a messy affair that will leave them weaker," Heneri Dzinotyiwei, a political commentator, said.

David Coltart, the MDC legal secretary and MP for Bulawayo South said the resolution of the national council carried by a 33:31 majority was binding until and unless it was reversed.

"The council voted for participation and it is binding until it is reversed by the same council," Coltart said.

MDC spokesman, Paul Themba Nyathi told New Zimbabwe.com on Sunday night that the national council's vote had not been rescinded by any higher authority, and there had not been a shift.

"People are mixing two distinct issues. The debate on whether the MDC should take part (or not) in the senate is a separate debate from whether the party leader, Morgan Tsvangirai, has a constitutional right to reverse the national council's decision," Nyathi said.

"The tendency in democratic parties when a majority goes against the leader is for the leader to resign, at which point it will be up to the party, not the leader, to overturn the constitutional decision or maintain it.

"It's the constitution that is being tested here. Next time when Tsvangirai is at State House and does the same, we'll have no-one to blame for having condoned this abuse of the constitution. There is some merit in the call to boycott the senate but that's outside the debate."

Tsvangirai said Saturday the party's national executive, which runs its daily affairs, backed his boycott and pledged action to demand a more just constitution, but the party's secretary general said local groups might not fall into line.

Secretary general, Welshman Ncube, said: "The last time I checked, a meeting of the national executive was supposed to be called by the secretary general or his deputy and we have not called such a meeting."

Ncube boycotted the meeting alongside his deputy, Gift Chimanikire, Fletcher Dulini and Tsvangirai's deputy, Gibson Sibanda.

Senior party officials have played out their differences in the media, defending their positions, while emphasising that the party would survive the crisis. But analysts said the bickering risked a total break-up, which would severely weaken the MDC.

Tsvangirai wrote to the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission last week in an unsuccessful bid to block MDC members from filing papers.

Tsvangirai says the poll will allow Mugabe's ruling Zanu PF party to boost its control of the country, but other MDC leaders fear that if the opposition does not take part, it will be further edged out of national politics.

"If the other faction goes ahead and fields candidates and is accepted by the nomination courts then that will be a sure split for the party," Lovemore Madhuku, the chairman of the political pressure group National Constitutional Assembly, which opposes the senate polls, said.

"It is a real test for Tsvangirai's leadership and how he manages this crisis could determine the future of the party and his position as MDC president," he said.
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