UK-based MDC activists pushing for dialogue between factions

By Tichaona Sibanda
08 January 2006

There is a strong belief among MDC activists in the UK that peace can be brokered between the two splinter groups in the party.

We have been inundated with phone calls this week, many of them from party activists, who said Zimbabwe is in dire straights and needs progressive minded people who aspire beyond the politics of personal enhancement.

Silence Chihuri, treasurer of the MDC UK, told us in a wide ranging interview that it can never be too late to salvage a compromise between the two deeply divided factions, both claiming the use of the party name and symbol.

‘There has been talk of differences in the MDC but I personally think these have always been there and always will be in any democratic institutions. It is more of a question of how such differences should be handled,’ said Chihuri.

He added; ‘Political leadership is about magnanimity and sacrifice, both in terms of personal pride and individual standing.’

In the last month legislators from both camps in the MDC have been criss-crossing the globe, soliciting views from activists in the diaspora about the way forward.

It has emerged that these activists have sent back a clear message of peace and tolerance to the feuding leaders of the splinter groups. There is also hope among party supporters that a more pragmatic and constructive solution could be sought even at this eleventh hour.

The issue of political differences and splitting of parties is not unique to Zimbabwe alone and as such, according to Chihuri, it epitomises African politics and ‘happens everywhere.’

‘…But at the end of the day, there will always emerge a popular position. The truth is Tsvangirai is the MDC leader and all the officials, including Tsvangirai, are still MDC officials until such a time when they are democratically removed,’ said Chihuri.