‘MDC-T headed for defeat’

Temba Dube Senior Reporter
MDC-T leader Mr Morgan Tsvangirai should wake up from his slumber and fix internal squabbles within his party or Zanu-PF will romp to a landslide victory in the harmonised elections, his party members predicted yesterday. Scores of the party’s members have decided to run as independent candidates in the 31 July election, citing lack of democracy and blatant disregard of the party’s ethics and founding principles by influential individuals.

Party officials yesterday accused Mr Tsvangirai of taking “an armchair, wait-and-see attitude” as factions within his party battled, to the detriment of the MDC-T.

“The truth is that the party is on auto-pilot. Tsvangirai seems to think the party is still as popular as it used to be when it was formed. The truth is that Zanu-PF and the other MDC have made inroads into its strongholds, aided by multitudes of disgruntled MDC-T members,” said an official who declined to be named.

The official said Mr Tsvangirai’s lieutenants in the provinces had become so drunk with power; they had become intolerant to anyone expressing views that differed from theirs.

“Democracy has died in the MDC-T. We used to think Zanu-PF was being run under a tight-fisted dictatorship, but they beat us hands down in terms of democracy when it came to conducting primary elections,” said the official.

Mr Felix Mafa, who was announced as the winner of the MDC-T National Assembly primary election for Magwegwe in Bulawayo recently, only to be told three days later that he had actually lost to Mr Anele Ndebele, said disregard of the will of the people by provincial leadership had resulted in the MDC-T being the only party whose members decided to go it alone in the elections in the city.

“There is unbelievable disillusion within the party. In Bulawayo, Mr Gorden Moyo and his friends are dividing the party by always playing the tribal card. Regionalism and ethnicity has been used to decide candidates and the results of the primaries have been ignored and candidates of their choice put in their place,” said Mr Mafa.

He said he had decided to contest as an independent candidate in the hope that Mr Tsvangirai would notice and act to save the party.
“I have not abandoned the party. I am one of its founding members. Sifuna uTsvangirai avuke ebuthongweni alungise i-party. I will still campaign for him to win the presidential election, but it will be difficult if he does not move to address growing discontent in the party,” said Mr Mafa.

“Internal democracy has been shattered. This has resulted in four MPs and two councillors running as independents in Bulawayo. In Matabeleland South, 19 councillors and an MP have also rebelled and are running independently, because of imposition of people who defected from the MDC. I hear that in Harare 16 people have also decided to run as independents. Tsvangirai should act now to save the party,” he said.

Mr Samuel Sandla Khumalo, who says he lost under controversial circumstances to the party’s provincial youth chairperson, Mr Bekithemba Nyathi in the Pelandaba-Mpopoma primaries, also said the MDC-T was headed for collapse.

He blamed MDC-T deputy president, Ms Thokozani Khupe for his ouster.
“She bankrolled Bekithemba. He had limitless funds. I tried to be patient hoping things would change. However, corruption has escalated in the party in recent years. I won the election despite a doctored electoral college; but Bekithemba was still declared the winner. I urge Tsvangirai to work with us to revive our party,” said Mr Khumalo.

Opinion polls by some of MDC-T’s strongest supporters, all funded by Britain, America and the European Union, have predicted a resounding Zanu-PF victory. The pollsters including Freedom House, Mass Public Opinion Institute and Afrobarometer have all concluded in recent opinion polls that the MDC-T was losing ground to Zanu-PF.

MDC-T organising secretary for Bulawayo, Mr Albert Mhlanga described party members who left the party to contest independently as “good riddance.”

He admitted that some had been denied the chance to represent MDC-T as independents after winning, saying it was a disciplinary measure.
“They have effectively fired themselves from the party. They are entitled to their own opinions and are free to leave the party. They can re-apply for admission to the party when they come to their senses. They may complain that we have disqualified them after they had won. The truth is that as leaders, we have made a decision. If someone does not listen to the leadership and ignores repeated warnings, this can be the result,” said Mr Mhlanga.

He said the party could not lose the election because of “a few misguided individuals.”