'Donors have dumped us,' says Tsvangirai

BELEAGUERED MDC-T leader Mr Morgan Tsvangirai has, for the first time, publicly admitted that his Western handlers had dumped him, and repeated calls for the party's supporters to "support their own struggle" by funding the party.

Previously, the MDC-T party had been evasive on the source of its funding, but yesterday Mr Tsvangirai admitted that the opposition party had been relying heavily on external funders, who have since jumped ship.

Addressing a handful party supporters at the Small City Hall in Bulawayo yesterday, where he also outlined the party's election template ahead of congress, Mr Tsvangirai said efforts to engage the party's traditional donors were not yielding results hence the need for supporters to sustain the party's activities.

Mr Tsvangirai's admission comes on the backdrop of similar calls by the deputy treasurer of his faction Mr Tapiwa Mashakada for party supporters to donate $1 each to the party via mobile money transfer platform eco-cash.

"As you know previously we had been relying heavily on donors. They are the ones who had been supporting us in our struggle, but it's no longer the case.

"I have met them and asked them not to stop funding the people's struggle because it was not Tsvangirai's struggle, but that of the people. As it stands right now we need to support our own activities.

"This is the time for people to take it upon themselves to fund their own struggle. This is our struggle and we should support it until we achieve our objective," he said.

MDC-T's financial woes are believed to have been triggered by the departure of Mr Roy Bennet who was the party's treasurer general, and believed to have been acting as the donor pointman for the opposition party.

Mr Bennet who was among the first MDC-T members to call for leadership renewal, is reported to have left the party after being frustrated by Mr Tsvangirai's leadership inadequacies and corrupt tendencies.

Deputy treasurer-general, Mr Elton Mangoma's letter to Mr Tsvangirai calling for the former Prime Minister to hand over power to a new leader, also rocked the MDC-T's boat, threatening to sink it.

The letter triggered a chain of events that saw suspensions and counter suspensions of party members resulting in secretary-general Mr Tendai Biti, Mr Mangoma, and other members branching out to form the Renewal Team.

Mr Mangoma and his group also accused Mr Tsvangirai of leadership failures and misappropriation of party funds, an allegation the former trade unionist vehemently denies.

Yesterday Mr Tsvangirai took on the renewal team, whose members he blamed for the chaos that characterised the party's primary elections in the run-up to the July 31 harmonised elections last year.

He urged party supporters to forget about the chaos and focus on the party's future.

"We all know that things didn't go well in our primary elections last year. There were a lot of issues surrounding those elections, but you will hear someone still talking about those elections today. That is in the past and it should remain there.

"It is not a secret that those in the renewal team are the ones who were causing confusion in the party. Now that they have left the party, we have to move forward towards our goal," he said.

Meanwhile, Mr Tsvangirai held a closed door meeting with members of the Bulawayo provincial executive earlier, which sources say was meant to iron out matters to do with election of a substantial provincial chairperson, to replace Mr Gorden Moyo who unceremoniously stepped down from this position.

The provincial executive members reportedly demanded the meeting after the party's national chairperson, Mr Lovemore Moyo and the national organising secretary, Mr Nelson Chamisa, both gave varying conditions for holding the elections.

"The provincial executive members demanded that Mr Tsvangirai addresses and iron out the confusion surrounding the elections. What came out is that the president gave the province an ultimatum to address the issue as a matter of urgency," said the party source.

Mr Tsvangirai was accompanied by the party's deputy president Ms Thokozani Khupe, Mr Moyo, Mr Chamisa, Mr Mashakada, secretary for local government Mr Sesil Zvidzai and Mr Amos Chibaya.

MDC-T is set to hold its elective congress in October where Mr Tsvangirai is expected to seek re-election as the party's leader.