Maravi

(TALKZIMBABWE) MDC-T admits losing support

MDC-T admits losing support
This article was written by Our reporter
on 28 August, at 03 : 33 AM

THE Movement for Democratic Change (MDC-T0 party has finally admitted that Freedom House survey which claimed it had been upstaged by Zanu-PF in terms of support was credible. The MDC-T has privately admitted the survey was true and attributed this to its blunders while in government.

President Mugabe would command the support of 31% of voters in a presidential election, ahead of rival Morgan Tsvangirai on 19%, according to research for the US-based pro-democracy group Freedom House.

Tsvangirai’s MDC-T initially dismissed the results, arguing that President Mugabe’s supporters were outnumbered by voters who refused to declare their intentions.

The MDC-T party held its national executive council meeting on Friday which was chaired by party leader Tsvangirai.

A senior party official and member of the MDC-T national executive told Radio VOP on Saturday that the party spent time introspecting about its blunders while in the inclusive Government.

“Members were frank with each other that we have made a lot of blunders during our time in government,” said the source.

“It made sense to think that the public had lost confidence with the MDC since most issues that affect the general public fall under our ministries.”

The MDC-T member further said corruption that has been witnessed among its councillors has also dented the image of the party.

Another senior MDC-T official said party leader Tsvangirai was not amused by the party’s information chiefs denied the genuineness of the report instead of spinning the contents of the outcome to the party’s advantage.

“Tsvangirai took Mwonzora to task for opposing the contents of the report when in the past the party has never had problems with reports by the same institution which came in the party’s favour.

“Tsvangirai feels Mwonzora ran into shooting the messenger who was delivering bad news to the party,” said the source in reference to the survey.

According to the survey made by the highly respected institution, the MDC-T’s support base dwindled from 38% to 20% in the last 18 months, while support for Zanu-PF went up from 17% to 31% in the same period,” said the source.

Asked who they would support in parliamentary elections, 47% of respondents said they would not vote, or refused to indicate who they would vote for. Some 20% said they would support the MDC-T (down from 38% in 2010) and 31% would back Zanu-PF (up from 17% in 2010).

Party deputy spokesperson Joel Gabuza admitted the party discussed the matter but insisted they were still questioning some of the issues in the document.

“What we were saying basically is that we were not involved in the survey and we do not know the methods used and the sample size,” said Gabuza.

“Given this scenario, we told ourselves that we would not want to kill the messenger who comes with bad news.

“Yes, we don’t want to give 100 percent to the survey but we resolved to analyse findings and where possible improve.”

He said during the deliberations, the party found itself at crossroads on whether to accept the survey outcome in its totality as it was apparent that claims that the generality of Zimbabweans displayed confidence in the country’s abusive security organs.

Susan Booysen, author of the interim report Change and ‘New’ Politics in Zimbabwe for Freedom House, said she encountered complaints that the MDC-T had lost touch with grassroots constituencies, whereas Zanu-PF was still visible and fighting party political battles there.

“I’ve heard people saying MDC is just not doing work in the constituencies and is spending too much time in the palace,” Booysen added.

“They’re taking for granted they’re the crown princes. They are not capturing the desire for change. And there is still a desire for change among people.”

The MDC-T party has also lost support in the diaspora with many party structures disbanded or simply dysfunctional.

The MDC-T structures in the United Kingdom and Ireland were riddled with corruption and the National Executive earlier this year decided to reduce the external structure to an associate as amended in the latest MDC-T Constitution.

VOP/TZG

Labels: FREEDOM HOUSE, MDC

posted by MrK @ 2:33 PM