Mujuru, Tsvangirai clash over land reform and Indeginisation

Former vice president, Joice Mujuru and ex- premier Morgan Tsvangirai's planned political coalition, against President Robert Mugabe's ruling Zanu PF in the 2018 presidential ballot, is taking a delay due to lack of a common position on the two key contentious national policies of land reform and black empowerment or Indeginisation, Spotlight Zimbabwe reported.

Senior party officials in both Mujuru's Zimbabwe People First (Zim PF) and Tsvangirai's MDC-T confirmed this week that their party leaders are clashing over the policies, which Zanu PF invented after sensing electoral threats of losing power. They say Mujuru and Tsvangirai do not have consensus on the way forward in implementation of the twin legislation, should they assume power as is now increasingly expected in just one and a half years time. The former is said to be in favour of a complete reversal of the policies, while the latter prefers keeping the policies framework and allowing for amendments.

So serious is the rift that the MDC-T has ended up suffering funding problems from its International supporters, while Zim PF's financial chest is getting well oiled, as foreign investors are said to be more comfortable with the party's stance. Mujuru has not spoken much about economic empowerment and nationalisation, but has vowed to parcel out land "to anybody calling Zimbabwe home", thereby inviting scorn from her opponents who accuse her of exposing Harare to "recolonisation" by the West. One such fierce critic, is First Lady Grace Mugabe, who has openly accused Mujuru of wanting to bring back British and American domination to the country.

Tsvangirai on the other hand wants to take a second look at the Indeginisation policy, and he has categorically stated that he will not reverse Mugabe's controversial land policy, which has been figured for causing agricultural collapse and decimation of food security.

"The criticism we have is that government has not trained people to fully utilise the farms," Tsvangirai told local media last week. " It has also not equipped them adequately. I want to emphasise to Zimbabweans and anyone who believes that the MDC is going to reverse the land reform programme that this is mere Zanu PF propaganda which has no basis whatsoever. We were the first to say land to the people, not the politicians because we were opposed to the status quo. At the time, Zanu PF had gone for years without dealing with this and when they finally dealt with it, all Zimbabweans agree that the manner in which this was conducted was problematic. It was both partisan and violent and did not ensure production. There was seemingly no appreciation that agriculture is the backbone of the economy and that if you destroy it you are therefore destroying the country."

Spotlight Zimbabwe editor, Itai Mushekwe, was among the first journalists to report about Mugabe's Indeginisation policy and plans way before it was introduced into law as early as 2004.

A Zim PF official close to Mujuru said their party was in a deadlock with the MDC-T on land and Indeginisation, and that this has caused a delay in the signing of an electoral pact between the two parties to unseat Zanu PF in 2018. "We are in agreement, but also in agreed disagreement," said the official, a former Zanu PF minister before they were chased away from government in 2014. "This is going to cause big problems if we are to form the next government, because policy conflict and inconsistencies will only give Zanu PF political ammunition to shorten the life of such a government. Yes the land issue is an emotive one, but we cannot leave productive land idle, when someone whether they are black or white can put it to maximum economic use. It's the same with indeginisation, let us not just indeginise for the fun of it, while collapsing the economy in the process."

Another MDC-T legislator in the capital recently promoted to a more senior position in the party's organogram, said Zimbabweans are now awake and the MDC-T does not want Zanu PF's tag on them as "puppets to stick". "There is a big awakening taking place in our country, and we cannot afford to take people for granted anymore. Look at what just happened in the U.S elections in November? That is why the President (Tsvangirai) has made it clear that he is not going to reverse the land reform policy, and will take a holistic approach to economic empowerment for the benefit of the economy. I'm confident that despite a few hiccups with Zim PF, we shall be signing a coaltion treaty early next year."

This publication reported on 21 March 2016, that Mujuru and Tsvangirai are going to share power in 2018. Although there appear to be political skirmishing between MDC-T and Zim PF over a candidate to lead the grand coalition, our sources have revealed that Tsvangirai will eventually get it and Mujuru will assume the role of deputy.

Tsvangirai this week all but laid down conditions for the coalition with other parties, which his party clearly wants him to lead as presidential candidate. However it is also coming to light that two Western powers are secretly pushing for Mujuru to be the presidential candidate and leader of the coalition, but she lacks the critical mass and grassroots reach enjoyed by the former PM our diplomatic sources said.

Spotlight Zimbabwe, also has it on good authority that former Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) governor, Gideon Gono, now seemingly in political hibernation, is being prepared for a future presidency by the intelligence establishment to thwart Mujuru and Tsvangirai's policies.