adminTakunda Maodza Harare Bureau
THE MDC-T faces imminent collapse owing to the total breakdown of relations in the Standing Committee and a leadership that now resorts to violence to deal with perceived opponents, the party’s Bulawayo South legislator, Eddie Cross, has said. Interestingly, Cross last Saturday heaped praise on Morgan Tsvangirai calling him “inkosi yami” (my king) yet secretly he condemns and denounces him.
In an e-mail to one Kerry about developments in the MDC-T leaked to our Harare Bureau, Cross suggests that drastic measures be urgently taken to save the opposition party from imminent demise.
Kerry is suspected to be wife to Ian Kay.
Reads the e-mail dated March 10, 2014: “I think that the survival of the MDC is now at risk. Drastic measures are called for and immediately. To highlight that there is a total breakdown of relationships in the standing committee, the increasing use of violence to intimidate leadership at variance with president and the attempt to restructure the party leadership at provincial level. In the latter we now have a totally dysfunctional leadership in Matabeleland North and South, Bulawayo and Manicaland. Nelson Chamisa and (Abednico) Bhebhe seem to be responsible.”
Chamisa is the MDC-T national organising secretary and is deputised by Bhebhe.
“This situation is serious that Gordon Moyo has withdrawn himself from the party for three months. I want the national executive convened as soon as possible to take a grip on things and make decisions that will be binding to all leadership. This cannot be achieved at council and we simply cannot call a congress. For me the critical issues are: resolving the conflict in the senior leadership, resolving the Mangoma issue without recourse to a legal tribunal, resolving the situation in the provinces, agreement on the all stakeholders conference in May 2014,” adds Cross.
He proposes a congress in March 2015 and wants an agreement that “we will start conducting party structure pre-congress elections in July, concluding in December”.
Cross is against the restructuring of the party demanding that the present ones remain in place and be captured on a computer data base held at Harvest House.
“The new leadership structures elected in 2014 will be recorded on the data base that will then be used to provide the attendance register for the 2015 congress. The database of existing structures will be used to conduct the elections in 2014 at branch, ward, district and province,” he said.
Cross reveals that the MDC-T is broke and must rely on members’ contributions for survival.
“Agreement to raise a target of $200,000 a month from the membership with a target for each province. A special committee to be formed to give oversight of the fund raising exercise and the resultant expenditures on party business. The committee to be charged with raising $3 million for the cost of congress. What do others think?” he said.
In her response, Kerry had no kind words for Tsvangirai.
“Resolve conflict in senior leadership – this could have been done at the onset when EM (Elton Mangoma) first gave MT (Morgan Tsvangirai) his letter. However MT as we know from his attitude and actions was incensed at his leadership (lack thereof) being put to question that he dug his heels in and shared the letter with the standing committee. The letter apparently leaked to the Press by NC (Nelson Chamisa),” Kerry said.
She accused Tsvangirai and some Standing Committee members of having “whipped up so much negative or violent emotions against Elton Mangoma, Tendai Biti and others”.
“This violent energy permeated out at national council, with people shouting ‘Bennett’ when Brian James spoke, not to mention Hlatshwayo calling him a “mubhunu”. The way LM (Lovemore Moyo) presented the charges at council was totally partisan, relishing and embellishing every word, then TM (Theresa Makone) leaping to her feet ululating when the women “voted”. Yes, shocking,” Kerry said.
She said it was impossible to resolve the situation in the provinces accusing Chamisa, Theresa Makone and Morgan Komichi of imposing candidates, inciting violence, vote rigging and buying.
“It would expose the sacred cows that MT is protecting. I agree to call a congress in 2015 all very well but all contentious issues including succession need to be addressed well before. Congress always bring the worst out in most cases of our leadership and a congress in only a year will be disastrous and without doubt the campaigning and congress itself will again be fraught with violence.”
She dismissed a suggestion to raise money from the membership as a joke.
“Our party could not even sell membership cards without all the money going missing and the whole exercise fell apart. Eddie’s ideas are good but theoretical and idealistic. Sorry Eddie, but we have passed a point of no return. This is evidenced by the appalling and unconstitutional way that the council and previous district chair meetings were convened and carried out.”
Kerry said Tsvangirai was provided with information, with proof, of perpetrators of violence, vote buying, rigging, corruption, theft of party funds but ignored it.
“Sadly, the MDC that we have all committed to 100 percent for 14 years, many of us losing all we ever had, not to mention those who died terrible deaths, will never be the same. As I said at NEC last week, it is a cancer that has insidiously grown and been allowed to spread, with MT refusing any treatments. Kerry.”
Cross yesterday confirmed to our Harare Bureau that he generated the e-mail to Kerry.
“Of course, that is my e-mail,” he said.
Kerry was unavailable for a comment.
Online Reporter