News / National
Tsvangirai's face causes a stir
15 Dec 2014 at 02:14hrs | Views
Former Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai's MDC-T party is once again gripped by another tussle, this time relating to the party leader's face that appears on the opposition political outfit's symbol.
Hit hard by a crushing poll defeat last year, followed by a damaging split early this year, the second inside a decade under Tsvangirai's watch, the former parliamentary majority party is now in the throes of another fight as top officials heckle over his face.
A senior official who spoke on condition of anonymity said a group of hawks in the party have demanded that Tsvangirai's face be removed from the party's open palm symbol on which it was superimposed in 2011.
"It should be removed because it forms part of an undemocratic plot to personalise the struggle and the party. It was one of the reasons the party split early this year. Tsvangirai is not the MDC-T and the party is not Tsvangirai. We cannot be seen to be institutionalising personalities or creating personalities out of leaders. They come and go but the party as an institution must endure forever," The Zimbabwe Mail heard.
It is also believed that there was a push by the group to have the national council that sat at the weekend to take a position on the matter.
"The move suffered a still-birth but it does not mean they will not continue with their efforts. We will fight them to the wire though," another source said.
As if to confirm the new front for the continuing internecine struggles within the opposition political outfit, deputy treasurer general Charlton Hwende used his social networking site Facebook page to show his side.
"This logo with the face of our president defines our struggle for democratic change and those dreaming of changing this logo will have to face the people!" said Hwende.
Spokesperson Obert Gutu, while denying the existence of a group agitating for the party leader's face to be removed, said Tsvangirai's face was not part of the "MDC''s registered official symbol"
"It (official party symbol) has been patented and if you go to the Trademarks and Patents office you will see the truth. The inserting of the president's face was done to reduce confusion during elections, given the fact that there was another MDC the one led by Welshman Ncube that was using the same symbol and slogan. It was strategic during elections and indeed very important in order not to confuse voters to put the face of our president because this would have cost us heavily,"said Gutu.
"The patented symbol does not have the face of the president, the official party symbol is as registered with the trademarks and patents office and does not have anybody's face on it."
However, the faction's secretary-general Douglas Mwonzora gave a different response from Gutu.
"The symbol (with Tsvangirai's face on it) was officially adopted at a party national council meeting held in Bulawayo in 20111 ahead of congress that year," Mwonzora said.
"It was subsequently adopted by congress. As a party, we are not going to be listening to little distractions, if anybody wanted the face of the president removed they should have raised the issue at congress.
"There are no compelling reasons to remove it now or in the future, once it was adopted at congress or by the national council as happened in 2011, it will remain the official party symbol and require the same process to be removed," Mwonzora said.
Tsvangirai gathered his lieutenants at the end of October for an elective congress following the split with a group fronted by former guardians council head Sekai Holland, secretary-general Tendai Biti and deputy treasurer-general Elton Mangoma at which the ex-premier's push to curtail the powers of the secretary-general was adopted.
A group of party members close to Tsvangirai and known as the "Kitchen cabinet" believed the secretary-general's office was too powerful and, as such, the party had "two centres of power" in what became known derisively as the "Zanufication of the MDC-T".
"Congress resolved to amend the constitution to allow the president to be the custodian of the party name, custodian of all party assets, to supervise all in the leadership, to be the party's chief fundraiser and to suspend national standing committee members through the national council for breach of the party constitution," part of the congress resolutions read.
Hit hard by a crushing poll defeat last year, followed by a damaging split early this year, the second inside a decade under Tsvangirai's watch, the former parliamentary majority party is now in the throes of another fight as top officials heckle over his face.
A senior official who spoke on condition of anonymity said a group of hawks in the party have demanded that Tsvangirai's face be removed from the party's open palm symbol on which it was superimposed in 2011.
"It should be removed because it forms part of an undemocratic plot to personalise the struggle and the party. It was one of the reasons the party split early this year. Tsvangirai is not the MDC-T and the party is not Tsvangirai. We cannot be seen to be institutionalising personalities or creating personalities out of leaders. They come and go but the party as an institution must endure forever," The Zimbabwe Mail heard.
It is also believed that there was a push by the group to have the national council that sat at the weekend to take a position on the matter.
"The move suffered a still-birth but it does not mean they will not continue with their efforts. We will fight them to the wire though," another source said.
As if to confirm the new front for the continuing internecine struggles within the opposition political outfit, deputy treasurer general Charlton Hwende used his social networking site Facebook page to show his side.
"This logo with the face of our president defines our struggle for democratic change and those dreaming of changing this logo will have to face the people!" said Hwende.
Spokesperson Obert Gutu, while denying the existence of a group agitating for the party leader's face to be removed, said Tsvangirai's face was not part of the "MDC''s registered official symbol"
"It (official party symbol) has been patented and if you go to the Trademarks and Patents office you will see the truth. The inserting of the president's face was done to reduce confusion during elections, given the fact that there was another MDC the one led by Welshman Ncube that was using the same symbol and slogan. It was strategic during elections and indeed very important in order not to confuse voters to put the face of our president because this would have cost us heavily,"said Gutu.
"The patented symbol does not have the face of the president, the official party symbol is as registered with the trademarks and patents office and does not have anybody's face on it."
However, the faction's secretary-general Douglas Mwonzora gave a different response from Gutu.
"The symbol (with Tsvangirai's face on it) was officially adopted at a party national council meeting held in Bulawayo in 20111 ahead of congress that year," Mwonzora said.
"It was subsequently adopted by congress. As a party, we are not going to be listening to little distractions, if anybody wanted the face of the president removed they should have raised the issue at congress.
"There are no compelling reasons to remove it now or in the future, once it was adopted at congress or by the national council as happened in 2011, it will remain the official party symbol and require the same process to be removed," Mwonzora said.
Tsvangirai gathered his lieutenants at the end of October for an elective congress following the split with a group fronted by former guardians council head Sekai Holland, secretary-general Tendai Biti and deputy treasurer-general Elton Mangoma at which the ex-premier's push to curtail the powers of the secretary-general was adopted.
A group of party members close to Tsvangirai and known as the "Kitchen cabinet" believed the secretary-general's office was too powerful and, as such, the party had "two centres of power" in what became known derisively as the "Zanufication of the MDC-T".
"Congress resolved to amend the constitution to allow the president to be the custodian of the party name, custodian of all party assets, to supervise all in the leadership, to be the party's chief fundraiser and to suspend national standing committee members through the national council for breach of the party constitution," part of the congress resolutions read.
Source - Zim Mail
