News / National
Infighting rocks Tsvangirai party
25 Feb 2014 at 00:50hrs | Views
The violent confrontations that have characterised MDC-T infighting have spread outside Harare, amid growing indications that party leader Morgan Tsvangirai is fast losing support in official structures.
In Masvingo, party youths allededly told the state media Herald that almost the entire provincial leadership is anti-Tsvangirai and they reportedly seized a car from executive members believed to be aligned to MDC-T deputy treasurer Mr Elton Mangoma, who has become the face of the leadership renewal calls in the opposition.
Mr Mangoma and youth leader Mr Promise Mkwananzi were two weeks ago assaulted outside MDC-T headquarters in Harare as Mr Tsvangirai watched, while another youth leader, Mr Solomon Madzore, had to flee into the building to escape the mob.
Party secretary-general Mr Tendai Biti survived by scrambling into Mr Tsvangirai's car.
Mr Tsvangirai's support in party structures is waning, and in Masvingo - a province in which they fared particularly badly in the 2013 elections - the executive has reportedly moved to delete the "T" from the party's name. The "T" appendage is in reference to "Tsvangirai".
The provincial executive - led by Mr Wilstaf Sitemere - allegedly also agreed to erase Mr Tsvangirai's face from the party logo. On Friday, a mob allegedly seized a party Isuzu truck bearing a logo without Mr Tsvangirai's face from Masvingo provincial youth chair Mr Oliver Chirume and provincial administrator Mr Aleck Tabe, whom they accused of sympathising with Mr Mangoma.
A camp aligned to Mr Tsvangirai, and led by district chair Mr Murangwanwa Chanyau and his spokesperson Mr Gibson Murinye, is using the car.
"The youths accuse the entire provincial executive of being behind Mangoma but what angered them even more was the removal of Tsvangirai's face from the party logo on the vehicle and the changing of the party's name by deleting the 'T'," said an MDC-T official in Masvingo.
An anti-Tsvangirai group recently met at Nyika Growth Point and plotted Mr Tsvangirai's ouster.
MDC-T provincial secretary Mr Tongai Matutu accused the party members who seized the vehicle of being "attention seekers".
"I am not sure whether the youths have returned the vehicle or not but I have not seen it yet so maybe they still have it. In any case the issue of what happened, where and by who should have been left to the party's security department," Mr Matutu said.
In Masvingo, party youths allededly told the state media Herald that almost the entire provincial leadership is anti-Tsvangirai and they reportedly seized a car from executive members believed to be aligned to MDC-T deputy treasurer Mr Elton Mangoma, who has become the face of the leadership renewal calls in the opposition.
Mr Mangoma and youth leader Mr Promise Mkwananzi were two weeks ago assaulted outside MDC-T headquarters in Harare as Mr Tsvangirai watched, while another youth leader, Mr Solomon Madzore, had to flee into the building to escape the mob.
Party secretary-general Mr Tendai Biti survived by scrambling into Mr Tsvangirai's car.
Mr Tsvangirai's support in party structures is waning, and in Masvingo - a province in which they fared particularly badly in the 2013 elections - the executive has reportedly moved to delete the "T" from the party's name. The "T" appendage is in reference to "Tsvangirai".
A camp aligned to Mr Tsvangirai, and led by district chair Mr Murangwanwa Chanyau and his spokesperson Mr Gibson Murinye, is using the car.
"The youths accuse the entire provincial executive of being behind Mangoma but what angered them even more was the removal of Tsvangirai's face from the party logo on the vehicle and the changing of the party's name by deleting the 'T'," said an MDC-T official in Masvingo.
An anti-Tsvangirai group recently met at Nyika Growth Point and plotted Mr Tsvangirai's ouster.
MDC-T provincial secretary Mr Tongai Matutu accused the party members who seized the vehicle of being "attention seekers".
"I am not sure whether the youths have returned the vehicle or not but I have not seen it yet so maybe they still have it. In any case the issue of what happened, where and by who should have been left to the party's security department," Mr Matutu said.
Source - Herald
