MDC Alliance sets ball rolling for campaign without Tsvangirai

PRINCIPALS of the MDC Alliance met in Harare yesterday in the absence of their presidential candidate, Morgan Tsvangirai, and formed several sub-committees to get the ball rolling and hit the campaign trail to publicise the coalition deal ahead of next year's crunch polls.

Yesterday's meeting was chaired by the alliance's spokesperson and MDC leader Welshman Ncube.

Previously the alliance had shelved its, meetings in the absence of Tsvangirai who is currently battling cancer of the colon and is seeking treatment in South Africa.

Concern has been raised over Tsvangirai's fitness to see through the coalition's negotiating meetings before embarking on the campaigning stage.

The meeting also appointed chairpersons of several operational committees set up by the alliance.

"Yes, the meeting was done in the morning. I was chairing the meeting," Ncube said.

"We were basically trying to complete the appointment of members of various operational committees that the alliance set up so the various parties, members of the alliance had nominated people into those committees and those nominated we appointed.

"We also appointed chairpersons of other committees of the alliance."

Some of the committee leaders include PDP leader Tendai Biti (fundraising, research and policy committee), Transform Zimbabwe leader Jacob Ngarivhume (liaison and civil society committee), Multi-Racial Christian Democrats leader Matthias Guchutu (elective committee) and MDC-T secretary-general Douglas Mwonzora (legal and electoral reform committee).

The alliance's security and intelligence committee is chaired by embattled ZimPF leader Agrippa Mutambara, with MDC-T vice-chairman Morgen Komichi heading the mobilising and organising committee while Ncube leads the communications department.

Ncube said leaders for the youth, women's and the international relations and diplomacy committees would be announced in due course.

Concerning Tsvangirai's absence and his capacity to continue leading the coalition group, Ncube said: "President Tsvangirai is our candidate, in fact, the candidate doesn't do the work.

"The people who do work on the ground are the party structures, ourselves of course, so the work of mobilisation we are able to do whether he (Tsvangirai) is in the country or not in the country."

Ncube said Tsvangirai gave the necessary motivation and guidance to the meetings and helped in motivating the electorate to vote for them.