Mangoma vows he will not quit MDC-T

Richard Chidza
MDC-T deputy treasurer-general Elton Mangoma, who was assaulted at Harvest House in the capital on Saturday for calling for president Morgan Tsvangirai to quit, Sunday said he will not be forced out of the party.

The ugly scenes of violence at the party headquarters saw Mangoma, secretary-general Tendai Biti and youth assembly secretary-general Promise Mkwananzi violently attacked and  left the party teetering on the verge of another split, almost 10 years after the 2005 fragmentation.

"This kind of (violent) behaviour is what we have fought against for the past decade and-a-half. We feel for the youths of the party because they are being manipulated by politicians who we know by name," Mangoma said. "It will not help the situation to name them, but we are reviewing the future which I am not ready to talk about now."

He said the MDC-T at its formation was anchored on non-violence and tolerance of divergent views.

"We are aware that the plan is to push us out by hook or crook, but that is not going to happen. I was elected by congress and will only be removed either by congress or resign, and I am not going to resign," he said.

Party spokesperson Douglas Mwonzora in a terse statement said the attack on Mangoma was "unacceptable", but was quick to allege a "third" hand.

"The attack on our deputy treasurer-general Elton Mangoma outside Harvest House yesterday (Saturday) is totally unacceptable to the MDC. That these people would ignore the president's instructions not to engage in acts of violence means that these people were getting their instructions from somewhere else," Mwonzora said.

However, an MDC-T national executive member accused Tsvangirai of shedding crocodile tears.

"The best would be to hear what Tsvangirai has to say about this. He has always hidden behind the victim tag and now he is the perpetrator and does not know how to react," said the insider on condition of anonymity.

The MDC-T has always accused its political foes, Zanu-PF party, of stalking violence and sewing seeds of division in the movement.

Didymus Mutasa,  Zanu-PF's secretary for administration, said his party had no business to meddle in MDC-T affairs.

"If they think we are funding divisions in their party then they must be very foolish to be used by a rival party. We have never set down to talk about them and do not care whether it is Thokozani (Khupe), Mangoma, (Elias) Mudzuri  or any of their leaders who will emerge the party leader," Mutasa said.

Mangoma has been at the centre of a raging succession storm in the MDC-T since last month when he wrote a stinging letter demanding that Tsvangirai steps down and pave way for an early elective congress. Tsvangirai has reacted by activating the party structures and was seeking endorsement in order to side-step the idea of an elective congress.

In his submission, Mangoma said the MDC-T was left in a state of disarray following the poll defeat last year.

"The party is grieving from a crisis of leadership legitimacy, crisis of expectation and above all a crisis of confidence, externally and internally," said Mangoma.

The former Energy Minister questioned how Tsvangirai was going to address the issues of his numerous women and in particular the violence that rocked the party's primary elections ahead of the elections in 2013.

Meanwhile, the party's provincial chairperson for Bulawayo Gordon Moyo yesterday said his executive was fully behind Tsvangirai's leadership.

"The congress that elected the current executive was held here in Bulawayo in 2011. We still recognise that executive. The leadership was elected through the party congress and the executive stands until the next elections."