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Saturday’s party dubbed “MDC@13, the last mile towards real transformation,” was marred by protests against party president Mr Morgan Tsvangirai and party provincial chairman for Bulawayo, Mr Gorden Moyo.
The bash came in the context of Mr Tsvangirai’s scandals over women, dwindling public ratings of the party, factionalism in some structures particularly in Bulawayo province and corruption in MDC-T-led councils. Two MDC-T-aligned organisations — Freedom House and Zimbabwe Vigil — have carried a survey each in recent months. Both studies concluded that the party is losing support, while its main rival, Zanu-PF was gaining.
Dr Lawton Hikwa, a university lecturer, said he expected the party to conduct a candid review of its work and conduct of the party as well as its leaders.
“One would have expected them to review a lot of issues that have bedevilled the party of late,” he said.
“There is the issue of corruption at local government level, abuse of CDF (Constituency Development Fund), issues of factionalism and what I would say efforts to manage the crisis emanating from the indiscretions ascribed to their president. I don’t think they managed to do that.”
Results released late last month by the Mass Public Opinion Institute, after a research sponsored by US-based Freedom House, showed President Mugabe as the favourite to win the next poll on a 31 percent popularity rating, up from 12 percent in 2009.
President Mugabe’s latest score is far higher than Mr Tsvangirai’s 19 percent, a sharp decline from 55 percent in 2009.
Forty seven percent of the people surveyed by Freedom House did not state their preference.
Professor Susan Booysen, author of the interim report “Change and ‘New’ Politics in Zimbabwe” for Freedom House, told the media after the survey that she had encountered people with complaints that the MDC-T had lost touch with the grassroots, whereas Zanu-PF was still visible and active.
“I’ve heard people saying MDC is just not doing work in the constituencies and is spending too much time in the palace,” Prof Booysen said.
“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.”
Shortly after Freedom House’s negative ranking for MDC-T, UK-based Zimbabwe Vigil said MDC-T is likely to lose the next election due to corruption by some office bearers. MDC-T is also losing popularity, said Zimbabwe Vigil because it has lost the trust of people whose support they have taken for granted.
“There are many reasons for this, of course, not least the prospect of Zanu-PF skullduggery, but speakers felt that the MDC has lost the trust of many people whose support it had taken for granted partly because its leaders were tainted by corruption,” said Zimbabwe Vigil.
“There was puzzlement why the MDC had simply given up on what it had said were key issues three-and-a-half years ago: the positions of Gono and Tomana and Mugabe’s refusal to swear in Roy Bennett and MDC governors. Their main interest now seemed to be how much money they could make.”
On Saturday, Mr Tsvangirai suffered humiliation after a splinter group of Women of Zimbabwe Arise (Woza) demonstrated against him over his womanising. Mr Moyo, who won the chairpersonship of Bulawayo province in controversial, violent circumstances in April last year, was booed by his audience which also refused to respond to his sloganeering. Fliers were also distributed during the party demanding him to “return to Zapu” and accusing him of dividing the province. Party vice-president, Thokozani Khupe, seen as the real power behind Mr Moyo in the factional fighting in the party, was also heckled.
“Only a few people responded to their (Khupe and Moyo) slogans,” said a senior MDC-T source. It is because of the demonstration against Tsvangirai by a faction of Woza that, during his address, he apologised for his scandals involving women.”
MDC-T’s national council met in Bulawayo a day prior to the celebrations and made some resolutions on the constitution-making process, the 13th anniversary, public media scrutiny of Mr Tsvangirai’s love life and the continued detention of 29 MDC-T activists accused of murdering a policeman in Harare.
“The party congratulates itself for attaining 13 years under a hostile environment characterised by murder, terror, and dictatorship. Further, the party congratulates itself for attaining 13 years without resorting to violence or any illegitimate process,” one of the resolutions read.
Before addressing his supporters, Mr Tsvangirai released 13 white doves, saying this demonstrated his party’s commitment to peace. Also 12 palm trees were given to all the party’s provincial chairpersons as another gesture for peace.
His second wife, Ms Elizabeth Macheka, made an appearance at the event where she was introduced to the audience.
Mr Tsvangirai led the party in the bash about two weeks after an embarrassing love triangle that some analysts argue could further weaken his electoral chances. A few weeks ago, he announced his intention to wed Ms Macheka but Ms Locardia Karimatsenga Tembo for whom he paid lobola last November, approached the courts seeking an order barring the wedding. She argued that she was customarily married to Mr Tsvangirai, so he could, in terms of the law, not wed another woman. Sitting in Harare on the eve of the planned wedding, the court was convinced by her argument and cancelled a marriage licence it had granted him earlier. In the end, Mr Tsvangirai and Ms Macheka were only customarily united, not wed.
As this happened, a South African woman, Ms Nosipho Regina Shilubane, emerged with an appeal at the court, seeking to bar Mr Tsvangirai from wedding Ms Macheka, saying he had previously promised to marry her. She divulged intimate details about her love affair with Mr Tsvangirai that started with a meeting at a Johannesburg hotel and took them to Singapore and Seychelles among other exotic destinations.
Mr Tsvangirai apologised for his messy love life and apparent abuse of women, but analyst, Mr Goodson Nguni, said the apology is not enough to cleanse his tainted reputation.
“It has been 13 years of hell for the people of Zimbabwe,” said Mr Nguni.
“In those 13 years, Tsvangirai has called for sanctions on Zimbabwe; they were imposed and are causing the closure of the industry in Bulawayo. During the 13 years, he told Zimbabweans to leave their country for Europe, America and other places claiming Zanu-PF was persecuting them. This is propaganda as everyone knows. The last three years have been worse. MDC has done nothing for Zimbabwe, but showed their corrupt nature, and continue to tell their funders to intensify sanctions on Zimbabwe. They had a theme which talked about the so-called last mile, transformation and so forth, but Zimbabweans will not allow MDC to transform Zimbabwe back into Rhodesia. So I don’t see anything they were celebrating apart from the extreme pain they caused Zimbabwe.”
Londile Moyo
Online Reporter