Nigeria, Ghana sucked into MDC crisis

Nigeria, Ghana sucked into MDC crisis

• Prof J Moyo: 'All Zanu PF want is geriatrics to be senators'

• Stanford Mukasa: Rejoinder to PT Nyathi

• Bloody Monday for MDC

• 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

• Lawyers condemn constitutional amendment

• Aspiring Zanu PF senator dies of poisoning

• Alex Magaisa: Constitutional amendment spells doom for economy

• Zimbabwe senate will last only 5 years

By Staff Reporter

ZIMBABWE'S main opposition party -- riven by internal divisions over whether or not to take part in senatorial elections next month -- faced a new crisis Sunday when one of its MPs claimed senior officials were battling for a share of a US$500 000 donation allegedly made by the Nigerian and Ghanaian governments.

The Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) St Mary's MP Job Sikhala's claims made at a press conference in his constituency could now spark an investigation by the government. The Political Parties (Finance) Act makes it illegal for Zimbabwean political parties to receive funding from outside the country's borders.

Sikhala's shock claims appeared aimed at the MDC's embattled leader, Morgan Tsvangirai -- the only senior MDC leader to have flown to Ghana and meet President John Kuffour. The two have previously clashed.

Interestingly, the Sunday Mirror, a weekly paper owned by Zimbabwe's intelligence services ran an article under the speculative headline: "Obasanjo paid Tsvangirai to boycott senate polls?"

MDC officials last night said there had always been rumours in the party that Tsvangirai got money from Kuffour, claimed to be $250 000 by Sikhala, which his camp was using to drum-up support for a senate boycott. Sikhala claimed another US$250 000 was a donation from Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo.

In statements that will further infuriate Tsvangirai, Sikhala blasted the MDC's so-called "Top Six" as “primitive factional warlords...busy throwing bags of money at each other."

Said Sikhala: "The whole quarrel in the MDC hinges on funds released by Presidents John Kuffour and Olusegun Obasanjo (Nigeria). One of them (factions) became greedy.

"It is that money which angered some of them. The people of Zimbabwe are being enmeshed in a quarrel that has nothing to do with them."

Sikhala further claimed that the MDC was rocked by similar internal wrangles in 2002 over a US$2 million donation from the government of Taiwan.

MDC spokesman Paul Themba Nyathi said he could only give a reaction to Sikhala's claims after he had spoken to the outspoken legislator late Sunday night.

Sikhala would not give his position on whether he would support a boycott of the senate, or participation, although he was keen to stress that the senate dispute was just the trigger to already simmering tensions within the MDC.

"Basically this is not about the senate. The issue is the control of the party's resources,” said Sikhala, a fiery former student leader and former head of the MDC's security department.

Sikhala twisted the knife on the MDC leadership, telling journalists: “The people in the ‘Top Six’ are serious cowards who run away from their own shadows. The people of Zimbabwe must know that there is not one revolutionary (in the Top Six). Some are talking of courage now. They are cowards."

The political calculations that sparked Sikhala's intervention were not immediately clear, but a senior MDC official who spoke to New Zimbabwe.com said last night: "The only senior MDC official who saw Kuffour was Morgan Tsvangirai. On that particular trip he was accompanied by Isaac Maphosa (MDC official based in South Africa). So if ever the money was paid out, those two would know about it."
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