Biti's allies shoot down attempts to impose Tsvangirai coalition president

A TOP official in Tendai Biti's People's Democratic Party (PDP) has shot down attempts by MDC-T officials to impose former Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai as an "automatic leader" of the proposed coalition by labelling him the first-born of opposition politics.

Bekithemba Nyathi, the former Mpopoma Member of Parliament, made the remarks during a National Electoral Reform Agenda rally in Bulawayo at the weekend after MDC-T organising secretary Abednico Bhebhe, labelled Tsvangirai as the "first born of the opposition movement" a statement viewed as suggesting that the former Prime Minister automatically qualifies to lead the proposed coalition pact.

"If a man has five children, there is a first born and there is a last born. The last born and the first born will never be equal in responsibility," Bhebhe said.

"If we have five children, the first born is Morgan (Tsvangirai - MDC-T), the second born is Joice (Mujuru - NPP), the third born is Welshman (Ncube - MDC), fourth born is (Joelson) Mugari for TZ led by (Jacob Ngarivhume) and fifth born is Tendai (Biti PDP)."

Addressing the same rally, MDC national organising secretary, Rita Ndlovu warned opposition leaders to guard against jostling for top posts in the proposed grand coalition, but focus on strategies to unseat Zanu-PF in the upcoming general elections.

"At the moment we must not start talking about positions. We do not want people who talk about positions. The first thing is that we must agree to work together and whoever we will see fit to lead us will come from us all when the time comes. At the moment we must concentrate on working together without any one of us telling the other that he or she is not important. This is because even a single or two votes are important because you can lose with such votes," Ndlovu said.

Nyathi said Bhebhe's sentiments were meant to impose Tsvangirai as coalition leader.

"We are disturbed by the likening of Zimbabwean opposition to a mythical family and to reduce politics to issues of inheritance where there is a first born to inherit everything," he said.

"The issue of who leads the coalition should be based on processes where people will make that decision. For his sentiments, we believe that he (Bhebhe) is an anti-coalition element in the MDC-T."

Nyathi, said Bhebhe was confusing issues to start speaking about "prodigal sons" in the context of coalition politics.

"At the moment the discourse in Zimbabwean politics is around the coalition. It doesn't mean we have changed our thinking that the MDC-T is a fascist organisation, it is still a fascist party. We are doing this for the people of Zimbabwe. Otherwise for Bhebhe to think like that, he is worse than (Kudzanai) Chipanga (Zanu-PF youth leader). We have no intention of joining the MDC-T. Otherwise this "big tent" mentality is going to be the biggest undoing of the coalition."