Tsvangirai going it alone as Mutambara-Makoni join forces

Tichaona Sibanda
11 January 2008

The founding President of the MDC, Morgan Tsvangirai, has said his faction will fight next month’s election alone, effectively dismissing reports of an impending alliance with Simba Makoni.
A close confidante of Tsvangirai, Hebson Makuvise, told us the MDC leader briefed his party’s parliamentary and senatorial candidates at a meeting in Harare on Sunday, saying that it was impossible to work with someone who has declared publicly that he’s still Zanu-PF.

‘Tsvangirai and the rest of the MDC are clear they are fighting Robert Mugabe and his Zanu-PF. Makoni is saying he’s contesting the elections with support from many people in Zanu-PF, so there is no way the MDC could join such an alliance because it’s the same as joining forces with Mugabe,’ Makuvise said.
But the Mutambara faction of the MDC has said it will join forces with Makoni after officials revealed on Monday that they were in talks with the former finance minister to create a united front.

The secretary-general of the Mutambara faction, Welshman Ncube, explained their proposed alliance with Makoni by saying their national council had mandated the party’s management committee to remain engaged with all ‘progressive opposition formations’ that wish to form a united front against Mugabe.
NewZimbabwe.com reported Monday that Mutambara would not contest the presidential elections, in the event of a deal being reached with Makoni. The Zanu-PF politburo member declared his intention to challenge Mugabe last week after talks aimed at reuniting the two MDC factions collapsed in a dispute over parliamentary seat allocations.

Analysts are surprised at the amount of venom aimed towards the Tsvangirai camp for allegedly scuttling the unity talks, when in fact the Mutambara faction should also shoulder the blame for creating the divisions by splitting from Tsvangirai in 2005.

‘The unity deal is off, and it was always going to be a marriage of convenience so both factions should concentrate on winning the elections rather than cry foul for something that was created within the system,’ said one analyst.