Jacob Zuma must dump Mutambara: MDC

There has been another twist in the leadership saga of the smaller faction of the MDC led by Welshman Ncube.

The party is reportedly pleading with South African President Jacob Zuma not to recognize their former President Arthur Mutambara, who refuses to accept that he is no longer leader of the party.
 
Earlier this month Mutambara is understood to have also written a letter to Zuma, asking him not to recognise Ncube and threatening to 'withdraw' the two negotiators appointed by party to the Global Political Agreement (GPA) talks, if they continued to 'abuse their positions.' Zuma heads the GPA facilitation team on Zimbabwe.

In the run up to the party's congress in January, Mutambara stepped down as president, paving way for Ncube to take over. Mutambara then made a u-turn and refused to accept this. But the party went ahead and obtained a court interdict, barring him from claiming to be party president. A splinter group made up of Mutambara's backers has also filed a High Court application to nullify the congress where Ncube was elected as party resident.
 
With this bickering in the background, the GPA talks have gone ahead, and Mutambara has been attending crucial talks in his capacity as Deputy Prime Minister and Principal.

The MDC-N is now understood to have written a letter to Zuma, saying both Robert Mugabe and Morgan Tsvangirai are interfering in their party politics and condemned their backing of Mutambara's presence in the GPA meetings. They say that because of this their party does not have a principal representing them.

"Once again supported by President Mugabe and Prime Minister Tsvangirai, he [Mutambara] now claims that there is a distinction between the President of the MDC and its principal in the inclusive government and indeed outside government. This position is self-evident nonsense because it is plain that President Mugabe is a principal because he is the leader of ZANU PF while Tsvangirai is a principal because he is the leader of MDC-T and therefore Mutambara cannot be principal unless he is also the leader of the MDC," the letter read.

Political analyst John Makumbe has also said Mutambara's conduct is confusing people and doesn't help the nation.

Meanwhile it's been reported that the Ncube MDC has again ruled out a unity deal with the MDC-T, saying their differences are 'too deep and strongly felt.' Ncube is understood to have also said he does not believe the MDC-T will accept unity under equal terms. The two factions split in 2005 over differences around the party's participation in Senate elections.