Maravi

(HERALD) Tsvangirai an imposed candidate

Tsvangirai an imposed candidate
Tuesday, 26 April 2011 22:52
By Isdore Guvamombe

THE MDC-T party congress that begins tomorrow in Bulawayo has reportedly been stage-managed by the party's wealthy foreign handlers in Britain and America to ensure party president Mr Morgan Tsvangirai retains his post uncontested.
However, some disgruntled party members have made sure that they control the bulk of the party's structures.

At the end of the congress, Mr Tsvangirai is expected to remain at the helm of the party, but without power in national and district structures.

An insider within the party yesterday told The Herald that while there was no dispute on Mr Tsvangirai being regarded as the so-called "face of the democratic struggle" his loyalists had been muscled out of grassroots structures.

"The election of Mr Tsvangirai was concluded as far back as last year.

"MDC-T is owned by Britain through moneyed people. It is these handlers who took Mr Tsvangirai as the brand for MDC-T and made sure that he is not contested. They threatened to withdraw funding if he was contested.

"But a whole lot of ambitious party members know that they cannot go against the handlers for now and have come up with this grand strategy to win as many provincial and district elections as possible.

"They have done that and at the end of the congress Tsvangirai will be a shepherd without sheep. He will be perched up there, dangling his feet in the air, without a power base,'' said the insider.

Impeccable party sources also said in the long term, Mr Tsvangirai would be sidelined for an "intellectual" leader in the mould of secretary-general Mr Tendai Biti or ousted UK branch leader Mr Ephraim Tapa.

These revelations dovetail with the recommendations of former US Ambassador to Zimbabwe, Mr Christopher Dell made public in a leaked cable by whistleblower wesbite WikiLeaks early this year.

The re-emergence of Mr Tapa's name seems to confirm the WikiLeaks version that the next leadership of the party lies in the legion of Diaspora supporters.

Said a source: "There is another complex political dimension in that there are some donors who want to keep Tsvangirai for now and groom another leader who is more educated, more flexible and sharper.

"Biti does not actually wield the power he is alleged to have but he is also being handled by some donors.

"It is these donors who have helped him grab about three-quarters of the provincial chairpersons against Tsvangirai.

"Another factor which many of you have failed to read is that no one among these guys wants to stand against President Mugabe and lose. They want that burden on Tsvangirai and later use it against him, when the time becomes ripe.

"In short, the handlers are working for both and the future leadership of that party will eventually be decided on which donor has a better strategy although the handlers are all from Europe and America,'' said another analyst who declined to be named.

Party insiders say out of the nine provincial elections that had been concluded by yesterday morning, the Biti faction had taken Harare, Masvingo, Chitungwiza, Matabeleland North and South, Manicaland and Mashonaland Central and West. The faction led by Tsvangirai had taken Mashonaland East and Bulawayo.

Both Mr Biti and Mr Tsvangirai were not available for comment yesterday as they were locked up in meetings in Bulawayo trying to quell fissures ahead of tomorrow's meeting.

There are serious divisions in the host province, pitting one faction led by losing candidate for the provincial chairmanship post, Mr Martson Hlalo and the winner Mr Gorden Moyo.

Throughout the election period up to grassroots levels, the two factions' supporters were engaged in violence that has left many people injured and several others arrested.

Labels: MDC, MORGAN TSVANGIRAI, NEOCOLONIALISM

posted by MrK @ 12:13 PM