News / National
Tsvangirai backs Mashakada to succeed Biti
25 Sep 2014 at 09:35hrs | Views
MDC-T president Morgan Tsvangirai is battling to control fissures within his party after trusted lieutenants successfully lobbied against proposals to entrench his powers through constitutional amendments, the Financial Gazette can report.
MDC-T insiders said party vice president, Thokozani Khupe, organising secretary, Nelson Chamisa, and spokesman, Douglas Mwonzora, had masterminded the rejection of the proposals, triggering consternation among Tsvangirai loyalists who are now reportedly planning to thwart the trio's bid for top leadership positions at congress earmarked for next month.
Mwonzora and Chamisa are eyeing the position of party secretary general, left vacant after a split that led to a breakaway MDC party led by former secretary general Tendai Biti. Khupe is hoping to be retained in her current position. Now, following the fiasco over the proposed constitutional amendments, which were being spearheaded by his loyalists, Tsvangirai is understood to have withdrawn his backing for both Chamisa and Mwonzora in any of the top leadership positions.
Sources said the MDC-T leader now preferred Tapiwa Mashakada, who is currently the acting secretary general, to contest for the position at congress. MDC-T deputy national chairman, Morgen Komichi, another of Tsvangirai's lieutenants, could be allowed to go after Khupe's position, one source indicated, although another source said Khupe was safe.
The party's two highest decision making organs, the national executive and the national council, met respectively to decide whether or not to adopt the proposed constitutional amendments tabled by the party's constitutional review committee headed by Komichi. Only a few proposals were adopted with adjustments while the rest were discarded. The build up to last week's meetings was characterised by backstabbing and shadowboxing as party members took hard-line positions on the controversial constitutional amendments.
There had been reports that some members of the party close to Tsvangirai who hoped to benefit from his benevolence were pushing for the constitutional changes that would see the former prime minister assume full control of the party by appointing national executive members the same way President Mugabe appoints politburo members.
Tsvangirai presided over the stormy meetings, in which he came against open defiance from the party's top brass who had been prepared to face the troubled leader. Khupe led the fight against the creation of the second vice presidency, while Chamisa and Mwonzora were opposed to the proposal which watered down powers of the secretary general, a position both are fighting for.
The rationale for the proposed amendments was that the secretary general had become too powerful, and that the two party splits in the nascent history of the party had been spearheaded by secretary generals. Former secretary general Welshman Ncube led an anti-Tsvangirai rebellion in 2005 that triggered a split. This was followed by the split this year led by another secretary general, Biti.
Komichi's constitutional review committee had proposed diminishing the secretary general's powers, effectively reducing the position to a ceremonial post. This did not go down well with Chamisa and Mwonzora who joined hands to thwart the proposal, which sources said had been supported by Tsvangirai.
Tsvangirai had to stomach the reality that the majority of his inner circle was opposed to the idea of concentration of powers in his hands. Under the proposed constitutional amendments, Tsvangirai was set to have the prerogative of appointing MDC-T national executive members, but both organs threw the proposal out with sources saying Mwonzora and Chamisa were instrumental in their rejection. Sources said Chamisa and Mwonzora had vigorously opposed the idea of giving Tsvangirai appointing powers.
The Financial Gazette is reliably informed that Tsvangirai's advisors had warned him to look beyond the duo that is seen as a source of future anti-Tsvangirai rebellion as happened with Ncube and Biti. "The failure to change the constitution has led to the president being highly suspicious of Chamisa and Mwonzora. He is particularly concerned with Chamisa. Now, he does not want both of them to win the position of secretary general," said an MDC-T official close to Tsvangirai.
Information gathered by this paper suggests that some of Tsvangirai's advisors also had the opinion that he should prevent lawyers from getting to that position as leaders of the previous rebellions were from the legal fraternity. Mwonzora is a renowned lawyer while Chamisa recently graduated from the University of Zimbabwe's law school. "Because of this, Tsvangirai now prefers Mashakada for the position of secretary general. He would trust Mashakada because they came together from the labour unions and he is not a lawyer although what could complicate matters is the fact that he has since enrolled to study law with UNISA (University of South Africa)," said a source with close links to Tsvangirai.
Mwonzora played down the gravity of the matter, when contacted for comment. "Those reports cannot be true. The president (Tsvangirai) is happy with the outcome of those meetings. He clearly indicated that he wanted the desire of the majority to prevail. He wanted to go along with the majority and this is what is happening," said Mwonzora.
"This was not a process to change the constitution but a constitutional review and certain amendments were made which are beneficial to the party," he added. Chamisa was not reachable. The few amendments adopted by the national council, the highest decision making organ in the MDC-T in between congresses, are to the effect that:
-The secretary-general now directly reports to the president, national executive and national council.
-Meetings will now be convened under the authority of the executive.
-The president authorises the convening of meetings.
-The current constitution generated debate on whether the secretary-general could convene a meeting without the authority of the president or national executive.
-The powers of the secretary-general remain the same, but have been specified.
-The president had a bigger say in the finances of the party.
To avoid a possible split emanating from the failure to push the amendments through, the party has decided to increase the number of standing committee members from the current 13 to 15 to accommodate the disgruntled members. Meanwhile, the party has since started its provincial congresses for nomination of people for positions to be contested at its congress. The nominations, which are done at provincial level, have become the new centre for running battles as supporters of key figures clash. In Harare, the process was aborted after supporters traded blows at the party's national headquarters at Harvest House.
MDC-T insiders said party vice president, Thokozani Khupe, organising secretary, Nelson Chamisa, and spokesman, Douglas Mwonzora, had masterminded the rejection of the proposals, triggering consternation among Tsvangirai loyalists who are now reportedly planning to thwart the trio's bid for top leadership positions at congress earmarked for next month.
Mwonzora and Chamisa are eyeing the position of party secretary general, left vacant after a split that led to a breakaway MDC party led by former secretary general Tendai Biti. Khupe is hoping to be retained in her current position. Now, following the fiasco over the proposed constitutional amendments, which were being spearheaded by his loyalists, Tsvangirai is understood to have withdrawn his backing for both Chamisa and Mwonzora in any of the top leadership positions.
Sources said the MDC-T leader now preferred Tapiwa Mashakada, who is currently the acting secretary general, to contest for the position at congress. MDC-T deputy national chairman, Morgen Komichi, another of Tsvangirai's lieutenants, could be allowed to go after Khupe's position, one source indicated, although another source said Khupe was safe.
The party's two highest decision making organs, the national executive and the national council, met respectively to decide whether or not to adopt the proposed constitutional amendments tabled by the party's constitutional review committee headed by Komichi. Only a few proposals were adopted with adjustments while the rest were discarded. The build up to last week's meetings was characterised by backstabbing and shadowboxing as party members took hard-line positions on the controversial constitutional amendments.
There had been reports that some members of the party close to Tsvangirai who hoped to benefit from his benevolence were pushing for the constitutional changes that would see the former prime minister assume full control of the party by appointing national executive members the same way President Mugabe appoints politburo members.
Tsvangirai presided over the stormy meetings, in which he came against open defiance from the party's top brass who had been prepared to face the troubled leader. Khupe led the fight against the creation of the second vice presidency, while Chamisa and Mwonzora were opposed to the proposal which watered down powers of the secretary general, a position both are fighting for.
The rationale for the proposed amendments was that the secretary general had become too powerful, and that the two party splits in the nascent history of the party had been spearheaded by secretary generals. Former secretary general Welshman Ncube led an anti-Tsvangirai rebellion in 2005 that triggered a split. This was followed by the split this year led by another secretary general, Biti.
Komichi's constitutional review committee had proposed diminishing the secretary general's powers, effectively reducing the position to a ceremonial post. This did not go down well with Chamisa and Mwonzora who joined hands to thwart the proposal, which sources said had been supported by Tsvangirai.
Tsvangirai had to stomach the reality that the majority of his inner circle was opposed to the idea of concentration of powers in his hands. Under the proposed constitutional amendments, Tsvangirai was set to have the prerogative of appointing MDC-T national executive members, but both organs threw the proposal out with sources saying Mwonzora and Chamisa were instrumental in their rejection. Sources said Chamisa and Mwonzora had vigorously opposed the idea of giving Tsvangirai appointing powers.
The Financial Gazette is reliably informed that Tsvangirai's advisors had warned him to look beyond the duo that is seen as a source of future anti-Tsvangirai rebellion as happened with Ncube and Biti. "The failure to change the constitution has led to the president being highly suspicious of Chamisa and Mwonzora. He is particularly concerned with Chamisa. Now, he does not want both of them to win the position of secretary general," said an MDC-T official close to Tsvangirai.
Information gathered by this paper suggests that some of Tsvangirai's advisors also had the opinion that he should prevent lawyers from getting to that position as leaders of the previous rebellions were from the legal fraternity. Mwonzora is a renowned lawyer while Chamisa recently graduated from the University of Zimbabwe's law school. "Because of this, Tsvangirai now prefers Mashakada for the position of secretary general. He would trust Mashakada because they came together from the labour unions and he is not a lawyer although what could complicate matters is the fact that he has since enrolled to study law with UNISA (University of South Africa)," said a source with close links to Tsvangirai.
Mwonzora played down the gravity of the matter, when contacted for comment. "Those reports cannot be true. The president (Tsvangirai) is happy with the outcome of those meetings. He clearly indicated that he wanted the desire of the majority to prevail. He wanted to go along with the majority and this is what is happening," said Mwonzora.
"This was not a process to change the constitution but a constitutional review and certain amendments were made which are beneficial to the party," he added. Chamisa was not reachable. The few amendments adopted by the national council, the highest decision making organ in the MDC-T in between congresses, are to the effect that:
-The secretary-general now directly reports to the president, national executive and national council.
-Meetings will now be convened under the authority of the executive.
-The president authorises the convening of meetings.
-The current constitution generated debate on whether the secretary-general could convene a meeting without the authority of the president or national executive.
-The powers of the secretary-general remain the same, but have been specified.
-The president had a bigger say in the finances of the party.
To avoid a possible split emanating from the failure to push the amendments through, the party has decided to increase the number of standing committee members from the current 13 to 15 to accommodate the disgruntled members. Meanwhile, the party has since started its provincial congresses for nomination of people for positions to be contested at its congress. The nominations, which are done at provincial level, have become the new centre for running battles as supporters of key figures clash. In Harare, the process was aborted after supporters traded blows at the party's national headquarters at Harvest House.
Source - fingaz
