Maravi

Hang on Morgan — theHang on Morgan — the real deal starts after congress real deal starts after congress

Hang on Morgan — the real deal starts after congress
Sunday, 01 May 2011 01:23 Top Stories
Sunday Mail Reporter

THE real fight for the MDC-T presidency will take place after the impending election as the party’s sponsors and donors had agreed last year that the speed at which Zanu-PF was calling for elections would deprive them of time to “invent” a new leader who could match President Mugabe’s stature, it has emerged.

It is understood that the drivers of the MDC-T then came up with a plan to leave Mr Tsvangirai clinging on to the presidency while another powerful faction led by a member of the party’s “top six” gains control of the structures in preparation to take over the British-funded party.

The sponsors and the donors agree that at the moment, Mr Tsvangirai is the face of the MDC-T and Mr Tendai Biti indeed recently told journalists in South Africa that Mr Tsvangirai was synonymous with the party.

Speaking to The Sunday Mail on the sidelines of the congress last Friday, a member of the MDC-T national executive, who refused to be named for fear of victimisation, said this decision by the sponsors and the donors meant that Mr Tsvangirai’s presidency was never an issue at the just-ended congress. The national executive member revealed that when Mr Tsvangirai got wind of the plot, he rushed to Bulawayo to ensure victory for his blue-eyed boy, Mr Gorden Moyo, as provincial chair.

“There were genuine fears that Zanu-PF wanted elections this year and the sponsors decided that for better or for worse, as MDC-T we were to stick with Tsvangirai as our president because there was no time to invent a new leader. That’s why no one challenged him at the congress.

“However, a deal was struck that while Tsvangirai is left with the presidency, the structures should start shifting into the hands of this other faction as groundwork to remove Tsvangirai eventually starts. The real deal will start after these coming elections. The donors, sponsors and top members of this powerful faction are saying if Tsvangirai wins in the elections, well and good for all of us because we will then fight for the leadership while in government.

“If he loses, they are saying we would have used him to fight (President) Mugabe and we will say your time is up now because you have lost to (President) Mugabe many times,” said the member.
The member said this fight for the party’s structures caused all the violence in the provinces because Mr Tsvangirai must have realised at the last minute that he was being weakened.

Mr Tsvangirai suffered a major embarrassment just before the congress when his favoured provincial chair, Mr Gorden Moyo, was trounced by the Mr Matson Hlalo-led faction in a last-minute provincial restructuring exercise held at the party’s Bulawayo offices.
Mr Hlalo’s faction, which is linked to the powerful faction led by the party’s top six members, won eight positions against Mr Moyo’s five out of the 13 posts that were being contested in the main wing.

The MDC-T president suffered more embarrassment when Home Affairs co-Minister Theresa Makone retained the women’s assembly chair. Reports from the party indicate that Mr Tsvangirai’s preferred candidate was Ms Editor Matamisa.

“The issue was not about Tsvangirai retaining the presidency. The issue was about what kind of a president he would be — would he be a full president or a hostage president? Surely, with structures that he can’t control, Tsvangirai will become a hung president.
“He realised this, that’s why he went out of his way to personally take charge of the Bulawayo provincial elections. It’s unprecedented that a leader is directly involved in the selection of his juniors. It’s like he was rigging congress,” said the member.-The Sunday Mail

Labels: MDC, MORGAN TSVANGIRAI

posted by MrK @ 5:11 PM