News / National
'Biti not a threat,' says MDC-T
14 Aug 2014 at 09:12hrs | Views
SINCE the split in the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC-T) in April, between those spoiling for leadership renewal and those who wanted to maintain the status quo of keeping party president Morgan Tsvangirai on, each of the two factions have been agitating for recognition as the main camp.
Strategies and counter strategies have been employed to outmanouvre each other; and disputes have spilled into the courts. While the splinter camp led by the secretary general, Tendai Biti, is planning on a congress to be held early next year, the Tsvangirai-led side has called for an early congress to be held in October.
As plans towards this go into overdrive and strengthening of structures and resource mobilisation have gone in full gear, the Financial Gazette News Editor, Maggie Mzumara (MM) sat down with Theresa Makone (TM) (in the Tsvangirai camp) - who is currently doubling up as the chair of the Women's Assembly and acting treasurer general for the party - to discuss life after the split, preparations for congress, her relationship with the Tsvangirais, advice for the party leader, among other issues.
Below are excerpts from the interview.
MM: Since the split, the filling up of vacated positions, what is the situation in the party right now? How are you faring?
TM: We are going ahead with the congress.
MM: How far are the preparations?
TM: So far we are on course, but you know, it is a monumental task to prepare for an emergency congress. The time is too short but we are doing everything in overdrive to enable us to catch up with the schedule that we were given by the National Council. It is very important that this particular congress goes ahead so that the party can move on. What happened was the last thing we expected to happen. We had expected all differences to be solved internally like all mature politicians should do but it didn't happen like that, but (then again) that is not a train smash. Life goes on. It was meant to be like that and we have accepted it, but we need to put our own house in order. As treasury, we are moving ahead with the plans to make sure that we have a successful congress.
MM: The Renewal Team are people you had been in the trenches with for a long time and had been through some hardships together, how did it feel to part ways with them?
TM: It felt like we had lost close members of the family. We would be lying all of us if we did not admit that there was a sense of loss but you know that we all have different destinies as people and all these things are pre-destined. We have to accept what happened. It's like death in the family – you know that it will happen but when it does happen you still (struggle) to accept it. We have come to terms with their departure and we wish them well wherever they are.
MM: Did you see it coming?
TM: No, actually. Even if you see it coming you don't want to admit that its coming until it has happened. Wherever there are people, everyday there are differences and you hope to solve them one way or another but in this case our colleagues found the differences irreconcilable and left. It is their right to do so.
MM: Do you not believe that there should be renewal of leadership within the party?
TM: It's not a question of believing. I think it is normal in any society, look at how governments change, it is a form of renewal. Even in the party there are not very many people who are still occupying the same positions they did when they first joined. So things do change but they change in an orderly fashion. It should not be something that people are forced into or pushed into and it must not be hostile. We do have a constitution that allows for leadership renewal. I believe that it is normal for change to happen at any level — high or low. Leadership at any level should and must change. When people stay too long this is why people may get to a stage where their ideas become stale. Your ideas are no longer new. Someone else with vigour, with a new vision should take over but it should be done in an orderly and constitutional manner.
MM: Do you believe Tsvangirai still has something to offer the party?
TM: I think he still has a lot to offer. When a leader is difficult to replace like he is at the moment it means that people are measuring certain attributes that he has against all those that are in leadership at that time and I still score him highly. I score him higher than all of us at this stage. I cannot possibly think that today there could be any of us who would be able to command the same kind of support to take the movement forward, I am sure when he is no longer doing it, it would be obvious to all of us that the guy has had his time. I want to be very honest, people can say whatever they want to say, the fact of the matter is that the guy commands respect from the generality of the Zimbabwean public and you cannot take that away from him. That's today. I don't know about next year or the year after. As we stand there is really not much of a challenge against him. That is not to say, he is faultless, because we are all faulty. If he didn't have faults then he would be God. He is not. He is a human being. He has got his faults but with all those faults he is rated higher than all of us today.
MM: Are there any faults that come to mind?
TM: Really, honestly, it is not proper from me to point out anyone's faults out because I would not want anyone to do the same to me.
MM: What position are you vying for at the next congress?
TM: Wherever the people will deploy me I will serve in that capacity. If you earmark yourself for a position and then you don't get it, you will be bitter. I don't need to feel bitter. I never thought I would be the acting treasurer of the party and I am actually surprised that I sit in the Standing Committee as one of the top 12 people leading the party. I ask myself how did I get here? Right now I am doubling up as chair of women and acting treasurer general but if the people say thank you very much it was nice knowing you, I will graciously accept.
MM: There is this term that is often used in reference to you and a few others in your party, perhaps you can explain what it means: kitchen cabinet — you are said to be kitchen cabinet to Tsvangirai —can you shed some light on what that means exactly?
TM: That is a term that was coined during the days of Welshman Ncube which meant anyone who did not want to denigrate the leader publicly. If you do not want to denigrate the leader publicly and you do not want to despise him publicly then you are part of the kitchen cabinet. And the Makones (her and her husband Ian) are said to be the kitchen cabinet. Quite honestly it doesn't faze me not one little bit because it is not in my nature to do that. There is something called respect for leadership. It doesn't mean that when you don't talk ill of your leader in public that you don't tell him in private when he has erred, but I don't think I should air it publicly, that I should be party to it. So if that is being kitchen cabinet then I am good with that.
MM: Have you always been friends with the Tsvangirais?
TM: I was friends with Susan (Tsvangirai) not the husband, and with time our families became friends as well. But we did not meet each other before 2000. We met during the course of our politics and found something common between us. Since Susan's death I am reasonably close to the president (of the party) but I can't call him my friend. My friend is late.
MM: With that kind of relationship between the families, is it true you had a role to play in the former prime minister's relationship with Lorcadia Karimatsenga Tembo?
TM: Unfortunately that is one incident I do not wish to discuss for the simple reason that even though I am an aunt to her I actually had no role to play.
MM: You are Lorcadia's aunt?
TM: Yes, I am an aunt to her but I had no role to play in their relationship.
MM: There is talk that you and your husband have on occasion financially backed the party. Is there any truth to that?
TM: (laughs) No more than any other members of the party do… If you drop a dollar here and a dollar there that does not make you a sponsor.
MM: Is the building used by the party, Harvest House, yours?
TM: No, It has never been. If it were I would be very happy. It has never been and never will be because simply cannot afford it.
MM: Where do people get the idea that it's yours?
TM: People say this and the sponsoring the party thing in order to justify that my husband and I are in the kitchen cabinet. What they don't realise is that they are just giving me more power and strength than I actually have.
MM: Is politics something you always wanted to be in or you stumbled upon it?
TM: I have been in politics since 1970 when I was in high school at St. Ignatius College. Both my husband and I were expelled from the University of Rhodesia and went into exile to the UK in 1973. We returned to the country on the eve of Independence after we were called back as students who had been sponsored by the party, ZANU, to come and fill up positions that had opened up in the private sector when whites were leaving to go to call-ups to the front (of the liberation war). The reason why my husband and I left ZANU-PF is because they started drifting towards one-party state and started talking about the "almighty" one leader and that for us was just not on. So in the early 1990s we stopped being active in the party and concentrated on our businesses. We saw many parties come up – ZUM and others, but we were never convinced until the MDC was formed in September 1999. We watched for three months and in January 2000, we took our CVs to Ncube (party secretary general) and told him we wanted to join the party, this is our background and that we were quite happy to be technical people not necessarily politicians but in due course you get absorbed slowly slowly until you are active.
MM: What is your background?
TM: I am a biochemist and food scientist. I obtained that degree from University of Nottingham in 1976 with a first class.
MM: Back to your preparations for the congress – does the party have money for it?
TM: I don't know of any party that has money. We are not different from any other party. We live from day to day. But with the interest created within the party of going to congress, members have been very forthcoming and stepping up to the plate with their monthly contributions of 50 cents each to support.
MM: How big is your membership?
TM: If all the structures are full, mathematically, we should be 1,5 million. We will also very soon be knocking on government's door to give us the monies they owe us (according to the Political Parties Financing Act).
MM: How much are you owed?
TM: Upwards of US$3 million.
MM: How much do you need for congress?
TM: We are expecting 8000 delegates and I would say with US$1,5 or less we should be able to have a very good congress.
MM: If you were to give any advice to party president Tsvangirai on how to move the party and the country forward what would it be?
TM: I would say it is good that we have a big tent where we can come together as Zimbabweans and look at those things that are affecting families in the country… But we have no business coming to the rescue of ZANU-PF. We did that once before when we joined the government of national unity, but never again. Let them (ZANU-PF) pay the price for rigging an election. They can rig an election but they cannot rig the economy.
MM: Is the renewal team a threat to you?
TM: Not in a million years. Never, ever. I don't even think about them. They are nowhere near my sights. They are just like any other party and I am not threatened by any of them.
Strategies and counter strategies have been employed to outmanouvre each other; and disputes have spilled into the courts. While the splinter camp led by the secretary general, Tendai Biti, is planning on a congress to be held early next year, the Tsvangirai-led side has called for an early congress to be held in October.
As plans towards this go into overdrive and strengthening of structures and resource mobilisation have gone in full gear, the Financial Gazette News Editor, Maggie Mzumara (MM) sat down with Theresa Makone (TM) (in the Tsvangirai camp) - who is currently doubling up as the chair of the Women's Assembly and acting treasurer general for the party - to discuss life after the split, preparations for congress, her relationship with the Tsvangirais, advice for the party leader, among other issues.
Below are excerpts from the interview.
MM: Since the split, the filling up of vacated positions, what is the situation in the party right now? How are you faring?
TM: We are going ahead with the congress.
MM: How far are the preparations?
TM: So far we are on course, but you know, it is a monumental task to prepare for an emergency congress. The time is too short but we are doing everything in overdrive to enable us to catch up with the schedule that we were given by the National Council. It is very important that this particular congress goes ahead so that the party can move on. What happened was the last thing we expected to happen. We had expected all differences to be solved internally like all mature politicians should do but it didn't happen like that, but (then again) that is not a train smash. Life goes on. It was meant to be like that and we have accepted it, but we need to put our own house in order. As treasury, we are moving ahead with the plans to make sure that we have a successful congress.
MM: The Renewal Team are people you had been in the trenches with for a long time and had been through some hardships together, how did it feel to part ways with them?
TM: It felt like we had lost close members of the family. We would be lying all of us if we did not admit that there was a sense of loss but you know that we all have different destinies as people and all these things are pre-destined. We have to accept what happened. It's like death in the family – you know that it will happen but when it does happen you still (struggle) to accept it. We have come to terms with their departure and we wish them well wherever they are.
MM: Did you see it coming?
TM: No, actually. Even if you see it coming you don't want to admit that its coming until it has happened. Wherever there are people, everyday there are differences and you hope to solve them one way or another but in this case our colleagues found the differences irreconcilable and left. It is their right to do so.
MM: Do you not believe that there should be renewal of leadership within the party?
TM: It's not a question of believing. I think it is normal in any society, look at how governments change, it is a form of renewal. Even in the party there are not very many people who are still occupying the same positions they did when they first joined. So things do change but they change in an orderly fashion. It should not be something that people are forced into or pushed into and it must not be hostile. We do have a constitution that allows for leadership renewal. I believe that it is normal for change to happen at any level — high or low. Leadership at any level should and must change. When people stay too long this is why people may get to a stage where their ideas become stale. Your ideas are no longer new. Someone else with vigour, with a new vision should take over but it should be done in an orderly and constitutional manner.
MM: Do you believe Tsvangirai still has something to offer the party?
TM: I think he still has a lot to offer. When a leader is difficult to replace like he is at the moment it means that people are measuring certain attributes that he has against all those that are in leadership at that time and I still score him highly. I score him higher than all of us at this stage. I cannot possibly think that today there could be any of us who would be able to command the same kind of support to take the movement forward, I am sure when he is no longer doing it, it would be obvious to all of us that the guy has had his time. I want to be very honest, people can say whatever they want to say, the fact of the matter is that the guy commands respect from the generality of the Zimbabwean public and you cannot take that away from him. That's today. I don't know about next year or the year after. As we stand there is really not much of a challenge against him. That is not to say, he is faultless, because we are all faulty. If he didn't have faults then he would be God. He is not. He is a human being. He has got his faults but with all those faults he is rated higher than all of us today.
MM: Are there any faults that come to mind?
TM: Really, honestly, it is not proper from me to point out anyone's faults out because I would not want anyone to do the same to me.
MM: What position are you vying for at the next congress?
TM: Wherever the people will deploy me I will serve in that capacity. If you earmark yourself for a position and then you don't get it, you will be bitter. I don't need to feel bitter. I never thought I would be the acting treasurer of the party and I am actually surprised that I sit in the Standing Committee as one of the top 12 people leading the party. I ask myself how did I get here? Right now I am doubling up as chair of women and acting treasurer general but if the people say thank you very much it was nice knowing you, I will graciously accept.
MM: There is this term that is often used in reference to you and a few others in your party, perhaps you can explain what it means: kitchen cabinet — you are said to be kitchen cabinet to Tsvangirai —can you shed some light on what that means exactly?
TM: That is a term that was coined during the days of Welshman Ncube which meant anyone who did not want to denigrate the leader publicly. If you do not want to denigrate the leader publicly and you do not want to despise him publicly then you are part of the kitchen cabinet. And the Makones (her and her husband Ian) are said to be the kitchen cabinet. Quite honestly it doesn't faze me not one little bit because it is not in my nature to do that. There is something called respect for leadership. It doesn't mean that when you don't talk ill of your leader in public that you don't tell him in private when he has erred, but I don't think I should air it publicly, that I should be party to it. So if that is being kitchen cabinet then I am good with that.
MM: Have you always been friends with the Tsvangirais?
TM: I was friends with Susan (Tsvangirai) not the husband, and with time our families became friends as well. But we did not meet each other before 2000. We met during the course of our politics and found something common between us. Since Susan's death I am reasonably close to the president (of the party) but I can't call him my friend. My friend is late.
MM: With that kind of relationship between the families, is it true you had a role to play in the former prime minister's relationship with Lorcadia Karimatsenga Tembo?
MM: You are Lorcadia's aunt?
TM: Yes, I am an aunt to her but I had no role to play in their relationship.
MM: There is talk that you and your husband have on occasion financially backed the party. Is there any truth to that?
TM: (laughs) No more than any other members of the party do… If you drop a dollar here and a dollar there that does not make you a sponsor.
MM: Is the building used by the party, Harvest House, yours?
TM: No, It has never been. If it were I would be very happy. It has never been and never will be because simply cannot afford it.
MM: Where do people get the idea that it's yours?
TM: People say this and the sponsoring the party thing in order to justify that my husband and I are in the kitchen cabinet. What they don't realise is that they are just giving me more power and strength than I actually have.
MM: Is politics something you always wanted to be in or you stumbled upon it?
TM: I have been in politics since 1970 when I was in high school at St. Ignatius College. Both my husband and I were expelled from the University of Rhodesia and went into exile to the UK in 1973. We returned to the country on the eve of Independence after we were called back as students who had been sponsored by the party, ZANU, to come and fill up positions that had opened up in the private sector when whites were leaving to go to call-ups to the front (of the liberation war). The reason why my husband and I left ZANU-PF is because they started drifting towards one-party state and started talking about the "almighty" one leader and that for us was just not on. So in the early 1990s we stopped being active in the party and concentrated on our businesses. We saw many parties come up – ZUM and others, but we were never convinced until the MDC was formed in September 1999. We watched for three months and in January 2000, we took our CVs to Ncube (party secretary general) and told him we wanted to join the party, this is our background and that we were quite happy to be technical people not necessarily politicians but in due course you get absorbed slowly slowly until you are active.
MM: What is your background?
TM: I am a biochemist and food scientist. I obtained that degree from University of Nottingham in 1976 with a first class.
MM: Back to your preparations for the congress – does the party have money for it?
TM: I don't know of any party that has money. We are not different from any other party. We live from day to day. But with the interest created within the party of going to congress, members have been very forthcoming and stepping up to the plate with their monthly contributions of 50 cents each to support.
MM: How big is your membership?
TM: If all the structures are full, mathematically, we should be 1,5 million. We will also very soon be knocking on government's door to give us the monies they owe us (according to the Political Parties Financing Act).
MM: How much are you owed?
TM: Upwards of US$3 million.
MM: How much do you need for congress?
TM: We are expecting 8000 delegates and I would say with US$1,5 or less we should be able to have a very good congress.
MM: If you were to give any advice to party president Tsvangirai on how to move the party and the country forward what would it be?
TM: I would say it is good that we have a big tent where we can come together as Zimbabweans and look at those things that are affecting families in the country… But we have no business coming to the rescue of ZANU-PF. We did that once before when we joined the government of national unity, but never again. Let them (ZANU-PF) pay the price for rigging an election. They can rig an election but they cannot rig the economy.
MM: Is the renewal team a threat to you?
TM: Not in a million years. Never, ever. I don't even think about them. They are nowhere near my sights. They are just like any other party and I am not threatened by any of them.
Source - Financial Gazette
