Maravi

(TALKZIMBABWE) Tsvangirai out of sync with own party

Tsvangirai out of sync with own party
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Wed, 14 Oct 2009 16:15:00 +0000

THE results of an online poll conducted by the MDC-T party of Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai are in doubt as the top leadership is split on whether or not to remain in the inclusive Government.

The party has in the past month been consulting the rank and file of its supporters across the country on whether or not to pull out of the inclusive Government.

PM Tsvangirai on Tuesday said through an internal consultation process in the MDC, party supporters had voted "overwhelmingly" for him to stay on in the inclusive Government with President Robert Mugabe.

"I want to tell you the evaluation (through the online poll) is overwhelmingly that we should stay in Government and make this the direction the country needs to take," he said on his return from Spain.

The statement by the PM, however, was out of sync with a statement issued by party spokesman, Nelson Chamisa, who said the consultative process was still going on.

"We will soon be giving a comprehensive report after we are through and table it before the party’s national council."

He said PM Tsvangirai's statement was based only on "preliminary" results which could change after a comprehensive assessment.

Last week we reported that the top leadership of the Movement for Democratic Change party led by PM Tsvangirai was divided over whether to remain in the inclusive Government with President Mugabe and Deputy Prime Minister Arthur Mutambara.

It has emerged that there are now two camps within that party; one led by PM Tsvangirai and another led by Finance Minister Tendai Biti.

PM Tsvangirai’s camp, which includes Elton Mangoma and Fidelis Mhashu the ministers of economic planning and investment promotion, and national housing and social amenities respectively, is at loggerheads with the Biti camp which includes the likes of ICT Minister Nelson Chamisa, treasurer and financier Roy Bennett and policy co-ordinator Eddie Cross.

The Tsvangirai camp is under pressure to withdraw from the inclusive Government over what the Biti camp calls “outstanding issues” in the implementation of the Global Political Agreement of Sept 15 2008 which paved the way for the formation of the inclusive Government.

Chamisa said his party last week wrote to the regional Sadc group urging the body to promptly deal with the outstanding matters; although PM Tsvangirai indicated in July that there was no longer any need for Sadc to get involved.

"We have advised SADC to expeditiously deal with the outstanding issues of the GPA," said Chamisa. "It was an appeal to Sadc."

Biti is said to have pressured PM Tsvangirai to engage Sadc at the last summit in the Democratic Republic of Congo to resolve the "outstanding issues". That strategy failed to work.

It is understood that Biti wants to present Bennett as an “outstanding issue” as he is the chief fundraiser for the party and has extensive donor contacts. Biti and Chamisa are reportedly frustrated by their inability to take effective power from President Mugabe.

Chamisa who doubles as ICT Minister and MDC-T spokesperson once remarked, “We are sharing power to grab it’. The parallel government was their way of trying to grab power. Chamisa and Biti are reportedly frustrated by the fact that President Mugabe still wields a lot of executive power as Head of State and Government and Commander-in-Chief of the Defence Forces.

PM Tsvangirai’s camp, however, says the inclusive Government is functional and working. The prime minister told western nations that he had a working relationship with President Mugabe.

PM Tsvangirai is said to have been pushed by Biti's camp to conduct a "Take the GPA to the People" move.

A UK based MDC-T official who spoke to this reporter on condition of anonymity said the party had lost direction and divisions in the high ranks threatened another split in the party.

He added that the Diaspora had been completely left out of discussions about the future of the party.

“We have waited for the party to communicate with us regarding the future but we never heard anything.

“We are not even sure what is going on in Harare. It seems like the MDC-T party has been reduced to a pressure group rather than a party that is looking to get into power at some point,” said the official.

Labels: MDC, MORGAN TSVANGIRAI, TENDAI BITI

posted by MrK @ 5:29 PM