COMMENT - It looks more and more that Tsvangirai is controlled from both without the party (UK, USA) and from within (Bennett, Cross). I guess it is about land after all, notwithstanding all the MDC lies that this dispute is not. It is also true that the white farmers, including Roy Bennett, want to turn back land reform.
It is interesting to see the likes of Biti are in the same camp as Bennett, Cross, the US and UK, and what they want it to turn back land reform. I think things have officially become very clear now.
Tsvangirai, Biti at war over unity government
Posted to the web: 27/01/2009 13:18:11
SHARP divisions have emerged within Zimbabwe’s main opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) party led by Morgan Tsvangirai following an extraordinary SADC summit in Pretoria which ended early Tuesday.
The party’s secretary general Tendai Biti is at odds with his leader over joining a power sharing government with President Robert Mugabe, which Tsvangirai committed himself and his party to join in marathon discussions with regional leaders at the summit.
SADC chairman and South African President Kgalema Motlanthe emerged from the summit to tell reporters that there had been unanimous agreement among SADC heads of state and the Zimbabwean leaders – Mugabe, Tsvangirai and Professor Welshman Ncube, standing in for Arthur Mutambara – that a government must be in place by mid-February.
Motlanthe’s comments were followed by a SADC communiqué which sets a time-table for the formation of an inclusive government, beginning with the passage of a Constitutional Amendment Bill by February 5; the swearing in of the Prime Minister and his two Deputy Prime Ministers by February 11; and the swearing in of Ministers and Deputy Ministers on February 13 “which will conclude the process of the formation of the inclusive government”.
Sources said Tsvangirai, confident his party had cut out an improved deal, held talks with his accredited delegation made up of his deputy, Thokozani Khupe, Biti, the party’s national spokesman Nelson Chamisa and Elton Mangoma before approving the SADC communique.
“Tsvangirai told his delegation that he had managed to secure concessions from Mugabe around the appointment of governors, permanent secretaries, ambassadors and executive appointments made by Mugabe since September 15. He put the matter to vote among his delegation. All but Tendai Biti were pursuaded,” a source close to the developments said.
It has been known for a long time that Tsvangirai’s MDC has been hit by factionalism, with strong opinions emerging for joining the government and against. Tsvangirai has attempted to market the long-term strategic benefits of joining the government, backed by his allies like Khupe and former Harare mayor, Elias Mudzuri.
But a powerful group which controls the party’s finances and policy led by Biti, with the support of the party’s treasurer Roy Bennett and meddlesome western diplomats, remains opposed to any pact with Mugabe.
MDC sources say although initially keen on the power sharing government as the party’s chief negotiator, Biti made an about turn when Mugabe and Tsvangirai rejected a proposal in the draft agreement drawn up by negotiators from the two MDC factions and Zanu PF, providing for three Deputy Prime Ministers. Biti hoped to occupy one of the posts.
“Mugabe and Tsvangirai said three deputy prime ministers was a ridiculous idea and they struck it out. In terms of seniority, it means therefore that Tsvangirai will be deputised by Khupe, with the other post going to Mutambara. Biti has never really been the same since then, and has been willing to play advocate for other interest groups who have their own selfish reasons for making sure the September agreement collapses,” the source added.
One of the interest groups which has been opposed to the agreement are displaced white farmers who oppose a unity government because the agreement Tsvangirai signed with Mutambara and Mugabe in September states that the controversial land redistribution programme is “irreversible”.
The farmers’ lobby is particularly persuasive to western countries particularly former colonial power Britain and the United States America whose governments say they will not support a unity government which has Mugabe as President.
New Zimbabwe.com understands a statement purportedly issued by the MDC on Tuesday, and circulated by their Johannesburg spokesman Nqobizitha Mlilo, had not been approved by Tsvangirai. The statement said “the conclusions reached as reflected in the SADC communiqué fall far short of our expectations”.
“Tsvangirai did not approve the statement because he had urged all the MDC officials to hold back on making statements until the national council has met on Friday (January 29). But Biti controls the information department and a statement was issued anyway, rubbishing the same things Tsvangirai and SADC leaders unanimously agreed on,” the MDC source said.
During discussions with regional leaders, Tsvangirai is said to have expressed reservations over the allocation of ministerial portfolios. Diplomatic sources say SADC leaders moved to give some assurances that the equitability of the portfolio allocations would be reviewed six months into the life of the 5-year unity government, to which the MDC leader replied that it was “a fair compromise”.
Chamisa, speaking to New Zimbabwe.com from South Africa, said differences between Tsvangirai and Biti had been overstated.
"It is something in the zone of imagination and the province of speculation to suggest there is a split of any sort between Biti and Tsvangirai," Chamisa said, speaking enroute to Botswana.
"It is true there is a debate within the party, over which way to go. That variety of ideas must be celebrated, it is appreciating the differences of opinion that has always been the magic of the excellence of the MDC."
Chamisa acknowledged concessions made by Mugabe at the summit, and said the issues would be presented to the party's national council on Friday to make a final ruling "in the best interests of the party, the people and the democratic struggle".
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