Crushing end for Morgan Tsvangirai

Leader of Zimbabwe's supposedly biggest opposition party Morgan Tsvangirai has all but brought his troubled 15 years in politics to a humiliating crushing end.

Yesterday Tsvangirai called for an urgent party indaba bringing all the various levels of his party's leadership from across the country to his notorious party head quarters at Harvest House in Harare. Tsvangirai called for the big meeting right in the middle of serious rifts within his senior party leadership about his future as the head of the party. The leadership is clearly torn into two factions one for his immediate resignation and one against it.

Logic and simple intelligence and being tactful would have suggested to Tsvangirai that calling for such a meeting when tempers and tension in the party were high was suicidal and uncalled for. Like everyone in authority, it is expected that Tsvangirai wants to consolidate his authority at the top and the best way according to his thinking may have been to seek endorsement of the party grass roots as opposed to top leadership. What Tsvangirai may have, needed to do was to first try and quell his top leadership and bring it to one accord before calling for an all inclusive meeting.

As quite well expected, mob psychology was bound to prevail in the unplanned and uncontrolled and coordinated meeting which Tsvangirai called amidst serious party divisions and tempers. Rightfully so, the result was massive emotional and physical fighting amongst the divided party members. Several senior party leaders and members including Deputy Treasurer General Elton Mangoma, Youth leader Promise Mkhwananzi and Secretary General Tendai Biti were victims of both or one of emotional and physical attacks.

Images of a battered Mangoma and Mkhwananzi have been spreading around the internet and media bringing a very sad image of the party expected to be championing democracy. Several commentaries and analysis have duly compared the images from yesterday's violence to images of Tsvangirai in 2007 similarly brutally attacked by ZANU PF and asking for differentiation of the two political parties.

Tsvangirai is not new to intra party violence as he was involved in exactly the same form of violence in 2005 leading to the split of the MDC into two factions. The major accusation given by those that could not go under the Tsvangirai leadership were pointing to the violent tendencies of a Tsvangirai led youthful militia. Several members of the party were assaulted in exactly the same manner that Mangoma and others have been assaulted, reason being them opposing Tsvangirai's leadership style.

Speaking to the Daily News before last year's elections, former MDC Secretary General and then Tsvangirai's "right hand man" Welshman Ncube, now leader of the splinter MDC faction gave the violence nature of Tsvangirai and his militia as the cause of the split in the once vibrant movement.

"When we formed the MDC there were things that we agreed on, what we called a programme for change. That programme for change bound us to certain values and principles."

"And those values and principles included that it is an affront on anyone to be subjected to violence in order to secure the support of that person. There is no greater affront on the dignity of a human being than to subject a person to violence........If you don't agree with me I then subject you to violence. It is an affront. It is a basic violation of the dignity of every person. And we agreed that we will never do that as a political party", said Ncube.

Tichaona Mudzingwa (late former deputy minister of Transport), Frank Chamunorwa, Priscillia Misihairabwi Mushonga, Welshman Ncube and then party Vice President late Gibson Sibanda were all once exposed to severe Harvest House beatings and embarrassing physical and psychological tortures by Tsvangirai's militia which went unpunished for the violence. Similarly, its 24 hours since the assault of Mangoma and Tsvangirai has not made any official statement condemning the attacks nor apologise on the issue.

Political analysts in the various media all seem to be pointing in the direction that this recent violence in Tsvangirai's hands has all but brought his political career to an end. The analysts see ahead yet another split in the MDC and for exactly the same reasons as highlighted by the leaders of the splinters Welshman Ncube and Job Sikhala. Tsvangirai has indeed justified both Sikhala and Ncube for pulling out of his mainstream MDC and duly so Mangoma and Biti will be justified to also pull out of Tsvangirai who is adamant never to leave the helm of the MDC.

Tsvangirai has been the leader of the MDC since its formation in 1999 out of the glows of the Zimbabwe Chamber of Trade Unions ZCTU which was under the leadership of Tsvangirai and Gibson Sibanda. The party looked quite set to dislodge the ZANU PF before its unfortunate split in 2006 leaving it in total tatters and no longer an organised threat to ZANU PF.