'Jonathan Moyo not invited to SA meeting'

THE Joice Mujuru-led People's Rainbow Coalition (PRC) has refuted reports that exiled G40 members were invited or organised a workshop held in Cape Town, South Africa, where opposition parties met to forge a broad-based alliance to contest elections.

Reports said exiled G40 members who allegedly now front the New Patriotic Front (NPF) wanted to rope in Mujuru, disgruntled MDC-T members and PDP officials among other parties in their bid to challenge Zanu-PF in the elections due in a few months.

PRC secretary for administration and People's Democratic Party (PDP) secretary-general, Gorden Moyo, however, accused elements in the MDC Alliance of condescending arrogance and spreading lies to sabotage any efforts to forge a broad alliance.

Mujuru, MDC-T deputy presidents Thokozani Khupe and Elias Mudzuri, PDP officials and Coalition of Democrats (CODE) among other small parties attended the Cape Town event.

MDC Alliance spokesperson Welshman Ncube dismissed the event as a meeting "of every Tom, Dick and Harry", but Moyo said the statements were unfortunate and exposed the former and his allies as divisive characters bent on sabotaging any talk of a broad-based alliance to topple Zanu-PF.

"For the record, the so-called G40 was never invited to the experience-sharing workshop nor was it part of organising the same. The concerted and choreographed disinformation campaign mounted by Zanu-PF leadership and elements of the MDC Alliance can only be noted as an unfortunate, but revealing confluence of interests opposed to broad-based political dialogue and coalition building," Moyo said in a statement.

Analysts have argued only an all-inclusive opposition party alliance stands can unseat Zanu-PF in the elections, but differences over its composition have collapsed any such initiatives.

"As a principle, the organisers could never acquiesce to the condescending characterisation of other Coalitions in Zimbabwe as meaningless 'Toms, Dicks and Harrys' as implied in Professor Ncube's unfortunate statement of February 8.

"At a practical level we were unaware on what basis we were being asked to exclude the other invitees. Were we to use actual votes obtained by party principals since 2008? Or is it parliamentary seats won by a party? In the organisers' view, a democratic movement should ideally be an inclusive platform not one in which condescension, empty arrogance reign supreme."