Sipepa Nkomo resigns from Mutambara camp

By Violet Gonda
13 April 2006

The former CEO of the Associated Newspapers of Zimbabwe (ANZ) Sam Sipepa Nkomo has resigned from the Mutambara led MDC faction. But he said he has not joined the executive led by Morgan Tsvangirai saying; “For the simple reason that you don’t simply walk across. If they don’t approach you, you actually cannot be there. And as such they have not approached me and so I have not defected to them.”

Nkomo, who was the deputy national director of elections for the Mutambara MDC, becomes the second senior official to resign from the group this week.

On Monday their parliamentary chief whip and director of elections Blessing Chebundo tendered his resignation saying it was in respect of the wishes of the people of Kwekwe.

On Wednesday several executive members in the MDC UK splinter group also announced they had broken ties with the group.

Reacting to the resignations on Wednesday, the spokesperson of the Mutambara faction Paul Temba Nyathi said, “It is always distressing when colleagues decide to break ranks but people are free to take decisions they believe suit them.”

Political commentator Dr Stanford Mukasa said there are likely to be more resignations especially from Members of Parliament, who he says are feeling the pressure from their own electorate. He said, “ The mass gatherings at Tsvangirai’s rallies have had a massive psychological impact on them (MPs) and although it will be difficult for some of the MPs to cross the floor because of some of the extreme statements they have made about Tsvangirai, they will have to consider the wishes of their constituencies.”

Another leading commentator Dr John Makumbe believes those who are resigning miscalculated by going with the pro-senate faction in the fist place. He said, “They thought they were following the law and that it was a constitutional thing… but the constitution is made for the people and it’s sometimes necessary to violate a party’s constitution in order to stay in conformity and the interests of the majority.” Makumbe added that Tsvangirai’s move was different from that of Robert Mugabe who he said, “Is always changing the constitution to wilt away the liberties of the people.”

Sipepa Nkomo admitted that he went with the Mutambara camp because he thought Tsvangirai would not receive support because he went against the National Council, as he felt in the interest of democracy the vote should have been respected. He said he soon found out that, “People are not interested in these things. They don’t understand the differences in the National Council. Their objective is removing Robert Mugabe and Zanu Pf from power and ushering in a new Zimbabwe.”

The former ANZ CEO said he was disappointed that the two groups had shown no signs of regrouping and says in the end his decision was made as a result of gauging the national mood. “I cannot go against the national mood.”

Observers like Dr Makumbe have said the struggle to find the right path out of the Zimbabwean crisis has created many divisions as there is no consensus on the right way forward. He believes most of the people in the opposition camps have their hearts in the right place about getting rid of Robert Mugabe. Dr Makumbe said these people should not be seen as opportunist but people who are seriously trying to find a way of getting rid of the dictator “but got lost in the woods in a battle of this kind.”