Heart of the Matter, Thursday 20 August

Mutambara party followers must rejoin the original group
 
Tanonoka Joseph Whande
 
One thing that has always bothered me is the propensity of Zimbabweans to marrying a leader to a political party.

You say ZUM, and people will jump up and say “Tekere!” So is ZANU-PF and Mugabe.
We all believe that the MDC is neither without Morgan Tsvangirai. True to form, Tsvangirai ignored the constitution of his own party and refused the imperatives demanded. He had to hang on to the leadership, with or without the party constitution, giving a good excuse to those who were waiting for an opportunity to destroy the party.

It is my hope that never again will Mr Tsvangirai disregard the constitution that binds everyone within an agreed organisation or government. We have had enough of that arrogance from Robert Mugabe and that silly practice must stop forthwith.

Be that as it may, things are not going well within all the political parties that form the so-called government of national unity; the struggle is now of personal survival.
I am wondering when these people have the time to deal with government issues.
It is clear to me that unity of purpose remains as elusive as it has always been. In Zimbabwe, members of another party are enemies, not opponents.

The turmoil and factionalism that are simmering in all the participating political parties have diverted attention from the running of the country to individuals fighting for survival and fighting tooth and nail to save their political parties from being overwhelmed and vanquished.
Two weeks ago, Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai flew to South Africa to report Robert Mugabe to South African President Jacob Zuma.

Tsvangirai and his MDC colleagues want Zuma to ask SADC to pressure Mugabe into behaving himself and dealing with outstanding issues of the so-called Global Political Agreement.
Meanwhile, ZANU-PF is accusing the MDC of failing to hold up their end of the deal by not successfully campaigning for the removal of sanctions against ZANU-PF people.

Mugabe and his ZANU-PF continue to harass, assault and arrest MDC supporters and parliamentarians on trumped up charges, diverting the elected officials’ attention from parliamentary and government duties to fighting for legal survival and avoiding being sent to jail.

While ZANU-PF is mudding the waters, there are increasing plumes of smoke emanating from its own belly as the succession battle picks up some urgency.

One faction is led by my home-boy, Defence minister Emerson Mnangagwa and the other faction is led by Solomon Mujuru, husband to the vice president. Solomon, the once powerful and influential army supremo, wants his wife, not Mnangagwa, to succeed Mugabe.

The death of Vice president Joseph Msika stroked the embers of the succession wars again.
At this time, it is considered a faiti accompli  that ZANU-PF National Chairman, John Nkomo, will most likely get the vice presidency.

And Nkomo is from the Mnangagwa faction.
Mnangagwa himself is not interested in the party chairmanship but is backing his people so that they can pave a smoother way for him; Mnangagwa wants the top prize of succeeding Mugabe.
The Mnangagwa camp is also campaigning heavily for one of their man, Simon Khaya Moyo, Zimbabwe’s Ambassador to South Africa, to take over the party chair after Nkomo is elevated to the vice presidency.
The battle is in progress.

Meanwhile, there is a war raging within the smaller faction of the Movement for Democratic Change.
Mutambara’s faction now also has factions but David Coltart continues tightening blindfolds over his eyes. I can’t believe that the articulate Coltart is so naïve but there he is, always trying to justify the existence of his misguided faction all the time as if they have an ideology to speak of.

Mutambara and all his followers that he took into government and parliament had all lost in parliamentary elections and had to enter through the back door as Non-Constituency MPs.

Those of their faction who did win parliamentary seats were not only sidelined and left out of government but were expelled from the party for allegedly criticizing Mutambara.

Suddenly, former MP Job Sikhala, a founding member of the MDC in 1999, who lost his seat after backing the Mutambara-led breakaway faction and was also fired from the same faction, popped up and declared himself the new president of the Mutambara MDC faction.

He said he was announcing the seizure and total control of what he called “the people’s party” until they held their next extra-ordinary congress in April next year.
Sikhala told journalists on Friday afternoon.“At the moment, I have taken over. Mutambara only remains president of the MDC in the Herald and on ZBC.”

As I see it, the problem here is that Mutambara, his deputy Sibanda, their Secretary General Welshman Ncube and his deputy, Priscilla Mushonga, all lost in elections but bulldozed their way into parliament as non-constituency members. They ended up occupying all cabinet posts allocated to their faction.
Now they are battling not only to stay in government but to justify and remain in parliament at the expense of the people who won constituencies but whom they have now fired from the party to open the door for by-elections, a development which strongly favours ZANU-PF, given its propensity to rigging elections, and one which many believe is a premeditated move to save ZANU-PF.

Sikhala believes that Mutambara and Ncube are working for Mugabe.
And just two days ago, another group said they had dumped Mutambara as leader of the MDC faction.
The group, said to be under the interim leadership of one Edwin Dzambara, a Mashonaland Central-based member of the national executive of the party, said that they had taken over the Secretary Generalship of the party, replacing Welshman Ncube.

In this week’s broadcast on SWRadioAfrica, one of the expelled parliamentarians from the Mutambara-led faction, Abednico Bhebhe, said that the problem within the breakaway faction started soon after the split in 2005 because most of them wanted to rejoin the mainstream MDC led by Tsvangirai. Why then didn’t they do so?

Bhebhe conceded that the people on the ground did not understand what the cause of the split was and why they failed to solve differences and merge the party together.
When Tsvangirai announced his cabinet line-up after the formation of the unity government, Bhebhe was one of the ministers in Tsvangirai’s line-up. But because unelected and unpopular people like Welshman Ncube and others objected, Bhebhe was dropped from Tsvangirai’s line up.
The heart of the matter is that MPs Njabuliso Mguni, Norman Mpofu and you, Abednico Bhebhe, must return to the original MDC and stop attempting to justify your absence from the mainstream party. It does not appear to me as if there is much ideological differences between these factions yet the Mutambara/Ncube faction of the MDC does not stand for anything but to assist ZANU-PF to confuse the situation.
Bhebhe had wanted to serve along other Tsvangirai ministers. He had no problem with that yet he gave it up and chooses to bad mouth Mutambara and Ncube instead of just quitting and going back to his roots.
What benefit is he to the nation as he withholds his services because he sticks with a political party that he admits is not very welcome among the people.

These people must learn to put national interest before personal gain. Bhebhe has been offered plenty of opportunities to serve the country but remains trapped in self-seeking and selfish motives.

What do you think?

Send me your comments on tano@swradioafrica.com Bhebhe and his MDC-Mutambara MPs should just cross the flow and rejoin the MDC proper not to take people for fools, pretending they are standing for non-existent principles.

Bhebhe, Mguni and Mpofu, please go back to the people. The people are waiting to welcome you. Stop wasting your time with Ncube and Mutambara. They are not our elected leaders but you are and we expect you to show maturity. We know that mistakes are just part of trying to do right.
This thing or faction called MDC-Mutambara is a lie. It was badly conceived.

The Mutambara MDC is fraudulent in intent, in design and in execution. I am Tanonoka Joseph Whande and that, my fellow Zimbabweans, is the way it is today, Thursday August 20, 2009.