Tsvangirai haunts Zimbabwe's grand coalition

DEEP-SEATED animosity between MDC-T and breakaway factions is threatening to derail the creation of a grand coalition to fight President Robert Mugabe and his ruling Zanu-PF party.

A public meeting organised by Bulawayo Agenda last Thursday laid bare the divisions within the opposition forces with some officials trading insults and barbs.

MDC-T leader Morgan Tsvangirai appeared to be the source of the chasms as opposition leaders took turns to attack him at the meeting convened to discuss the prospect of the coalition ahead of the 2018 polls.

MDC-T represantative Abednico Bhebhe and the MDC-T renewal team representative Samuel Sipepa Nkomo tore into each other over issues of violence in the party.

Bhebhe dismissed criticism of Tsvangirai's love life saying his party leader had lost a wife and was in a process of finding another partner when he got involved with a string of women.

"We have people who have more than three children out of wedlock. We have Christians who belong to denominations that do not allow second marriages, but they are in a second marriage, nothing is said about that," he said.

Bhebhe said officials against Tsvangirai's leadership were taking a cue from Mugabe.

"Many people are now mimicking Mugabe, but like I said before, the people of Zimbabwe are intelligent," he said.

"If you talk about a grand coalition with little parties and little support, we are saying let them grow, at some point they will grow. Real competition is between Zanu-PF and MDC-T."

MDC national spokesperson Nhlanhla Dube said after introspection they did not want to propagate the belief that a shadowy Israeli company Nikuv was entirely responsible for Zanu-PF's landslide victory in last year's election.

"It is important to start having a convention of democrats that includes political parties, civil society and the church," he said.

Dube said the convention needed to go beyond the coming together of parties under the leadership of a bigger party.

Zapu alternate secretary Strike Mnkandla said while some coalitions were preoccupied with removing Mugabe, they were open to anyone who subscribed to the party's preconditions like putting devolution of power on the agenda.

He said his party worked for the far reaching definition of devolution of power and not the "begrudged devolution" in the Constitution.

"We need proportional representation that will ensure that votes are not lost and the entrenchment of human rights," Mnkandla said.

Sipepa Nkomo said the numbers that the MDC-T recorded at rallies did not necessarily translate to votes as some people attended just to listen.

"These numbers are not delivering the required result, we must not be fooled by numbers," he said.

"This tent (Tsvangirai's party) is leaking and will continue to leak," he said. Sipepa Nkomo said MDC-T members would continue to abandon Tsvangirai because of violence and the violation of democratic principles in the party.

Attempts at forging a united front against Zanu-PF during previous elections had failed because the MDC- T demanded to have a bigger say during negotiations.

MDC leader Welsman Ncube recently told Southern Eye that his party would never work with Tsvangirai because of his alleged undemocratic tendencies.

The MDC-T faction led by "axed" secretary-general Tendai Biti is reportedly pushing for a coalition of democratic forces to fight Mugabe.

Tsvangirai and Biti had a nasty fallout last month after the long serving opposition leader was hit with a suspension alongside other top lieutenants.

The former Prime Minister retaliated by announcing that he had fired Biti and attempted to recall about 11 legislators aligned to the renewal camp.

However, the Speaker of Parliament, Jacob Mudenda, advised Tsvangirai's faction to take the case to the courts.