News / National
Tsvangirai, donors fall out
12 Mar 2015 at 11:58hrs | Views
The Morgan Tsvangirai-led MDC has broken the umbilical cord tying it to most Western donors after its decision to recall more than 20 legislators who are part of what is now referred to as the MDC-renewal team, amid reports Britain was the most infuriated.
Impeccable sources told The Zimbabwe Mail there had been a lot of shuttling between senior MDC-T officials and the British embassy seeking a solution to the 'crisis'.
Party secretary-general Douglas Mwonzora last week met a senior embassy official over the MDC-T decision to recall the MPs who had rebelled against Tsvangirai.
"It is finished, whatever respect the western world had with Tsvangirai is gone. They are angry and a senior diplomat within the British embassy met Mwonzora for lunch last week trying to impress upon him the folly of their decision," one of the sources said. "However, Tsvangirai has stuck to his guns and he would try very hard to push through (the expulsion of the MPs)."
In a terse response to The Zimbabwe Mail questions forwarded to it, the British embassy yesterday said: "The internal affairs of political parties in Zimbabwe are not as issue for the UK government."
In the aftermath of Zanu PF's successful recall of former secretary for administration Didymus Mutasa and his nephew and former Mashonaland West chairperson Temba Mliswa, Mwonzora wrote to the Speaker of the National Assembly, Jacob Mudenda, requesting that he endorses his party's decision to declare over 20 (MDC-T) parliamentary seats vacant.
Mwonzora this week came short of telling the diplomatic community to "go hang" without elaborating on whether indeed, he had met with members of the British establishment in the country.
"The diplomatic community can take any side they want; we will take the side of the law. The right of recall has its genesis in Western democracies," Mwonzora told The Zimbabwe Mail in an interview.
"It is not a Zimbabwean phenomenon, so if we exercise our right in terms of the law there is nothing wrong. What is wrong is for members of a hostile party to purport to represent a competing party. The renewal (team) guys are competing against us, these people no longer come to caucuses to be given policy direction and we are simply saying the law must take its course. On the issue of unity, we do not have to be in parliament to be united; we can talk about that after the by-elections."
While it was difficult to get comment from most members of the diplomatic community, The Zimbabwe Mail is reliably informed that most of them have registered their displeasure at Tsvangirai's move to expel the MPs.
Reports in the past few weeks have indicated a growing disquiet by foreign donors with Tsvangirai, particularly in the face of his continued electoral loses as well as rifts with his top lieutenants. Senior members of party confirmed all was not well.
"While the leadership wants to show pig-headed defiance, things are not well; there is no money and the relationship with the donor community is all, but gone. Tsvangirai wants to be seen as his own man, but it is too late. He has always been connected to foreign capital and trying to wean himself off now is just plain foolish," one of the senior members said.
A few weeks ago Mwonzora confirmed the MDC-T was in the red, but this week he showed a brave face.
"We are not broke. We can still pay salaries and other operational expenses, but of course, like all other political parties in the country we have financial problems. It is a national problem, but we are managing," the former Nyanga North legislator said.
The MDC-T split into two formations following its poor showing in the July 2013 elections before demands for Tsvangirai to step-down reached a crescendo, resulting in the breakaway.
In the ensuing melee Tsvangirai and a host of other top leaders were suspended before the party leader and his national chairperson Lovemore Moyo, were subjected to a tribunal that expelled them.
Tsvangirai and his group initially sought to challenge in the courts the decisions made by a national council meeting convened by Biti on April 26 last year as well as the tribunal, only to withdraw later.
Tendai Biti, secretary-general of the MDC renewal team, this week argued that the Tsvangirai group had sought to challenge both the decisions of the "Mandel national council meeting as well as the tribunal" before withdrawing with costs "showed that they agreed with the outcome".
Biti said recalling MPs would be illegal.
"The Speaker has already made a determination and is now legally functus officio on this matter, he has made his decision on the issues. We have also written to the Speaker just as a reminder that he has already made a ruling on the matter before and after their so called congress in October. Nothing has changed. Our situation is different because Mutasa is disputing the Zanu PF process he was subjected to while we have a dispute of legitimacy that should be settled by the courts if anybody feels aggrieved. The MDC-T (renewal team) has only one secretary-general and that is Tendai Biti, nothing has changed," the ex-treasury chief said.
He described the move by Tsvangirai to recall the legislators as "driven by malice".
"Is it not ironic that the same colleague who is preaching his so-called 'big tent' politics is the same man who is fighting tooth and nail to make sure that Zanu PF ends up with an unchallenged dominance in Parliament?" Biti asked rhetorically.
"The leadership of the MDC-T has not changed since April last year, these people who are claiming to recall legitimately elected MPs were suspended last year and some went through a disciplinary procedure whose judgments still stand. They were expelled and have not sought to challenge that."
Impeccable sources told The Zimbabwe Mail there had been a lot of shuttling between senior MDC-T officials and the British embassy seeking a solution to the 'crisis'.
Party secretary-general Douglas Mwonzora last week met a senior embassy official over the MDC-T decision to recall the MPs who had rebelled against Tsvangirai.
"It is finished, whatever respect the western world had with Tsvangirai is gone. They are angry and a senior diplomat within the British embassy met Mwonzora for lunch last week trying to impress upon him the folly of their decision," one of the sources said. "However, Tsvangirai has stuck to his guns and he would try very hard to push through (the expulsion of the MPs)."
In a terse response to The Zimbabwe Mail questions forwarded to it, the British embassy yesterday said: "The internal affairs of political parties in Zimbabwe are not as issue for the UK government."
In the aftermath of Zanu PF's successful recall of former secretary for administration Didymus Mutasa and his nephew and former Mashonaland West chairperson Temba Mliswa, Mwonzora wrote to the Speaker of the National Assembly, Jacob Mudenda, requesting that he endorses his party's decision to declare over 20 (MDC-T) parliamentary seats vacant.
Mwonzora this week came short of telling the diplomatic community to "go hang" without elaborating on whether indeed, he had met with members of the British establishment in the country.
"The diplomatic community can take any side they want; we will take the side of the law. The right of recall has its genesis in Western democracies," Mwonzora told The Zimbabwe Mail in an interview.
"It is not a Zimbabwean phenomenon, so if we exercise our right in terms of the law there is nothing wrong. What is wrong is for members of a hostile party to purport to represent a competing party. The renewal (team) guys are competing against us, these people no longer come to caucuses to be given policy direction and we are simply saying the law must take its course. On the issue of unity, we do not have to be in parliament to be united; we can talk about that after the by-elections."
While it was difficult to get comment from most members of the diplomatic community, The Zimbabwe Mail is reliably informed that most of them have registered their displeasure at Tsvangirai's move to expel the MPs.
Reports in the past few weeks have indicated a growing disquiet by foreign donors with Tsvangirai, particularly in the face of his continued electoral loses as well as rifts with his top lieutenants. Senior members of party confirmed all was not well.
"While the leadership wants to show pig-headed defiance, things are not well; there is no money and the relationship with the donor community is all, but gone. Tsvangirai wants to be seen as his own man, but it is too late. He has always been connected to foreign capital and trying to wean himself off now is just plain foolish," one of the senior members said.
A few weeks ago Mwonzora confirmed the MDC-T was in the red, but this week he showed a brave face.
"We are not broke. We can still pay salaries and other operational expenses, but of course, like all other political parties in the country we have financial problems. It is a national problem, but we are managing," the former Nyanga North legislator said.
The MDC-T split into two formations following its poor showing in the July 2013 elections before demands for Tsvangirai to step-down reached a crescendo, resulting in the breakaway.
In the ensuing melee Tsvangirai and a host of other top leaders were suspended before the party leader and his national chairperson Lovemore Moyo, were subjected to a tribunal that expelled them.
Tsvangirai and his group initially sought to challenge in the courts the decisions made by a national council meeting convened by Biti on April 26 last year as well as the tribunal, only to withdraw later.
Tendai Biti, secretary-general of the MDC renewal team, this week argued that the Tsvangirai group had sought to challenge both the decisions of the "Mandel national council meeting as well as the tribunal" before withdrawing with costs "showed that they agreed with the outcome".
Biti said recalling MPs would be illegal.
"The Speaker has already made a determination and is now legally functus officio on this matter, he has made his decision on the issues. We have also written to the Speaker just as a reminder that he has already made a ruling on the matter before and after their so called congress in October. Nothing has changed. Our situation is different because Mutasa is disputing the Zanu PF process he was subjected to while we have a dispute of legitimacy that should be settled by the courts if anybody feels aggrieved. The MDC-T (renewal team) has only one secretary-general and that is Tendai Biti, nothing has changed," the ex-treasury chief said.
He described the move by Tsvangirai to recall the legislators as "driven by malice".
"Is it not ironic that the same colleague who is preaching his so-called 'big tent' politics is the same man who is fighting tooth and nail to make sure that Zanu PF ends up with an unchallenged dominance in Parliament?" Biti asked rhetorically.
"The leadership of the MDC-T has not changed since April last year, these people who are claiming to recall legitimately elected MPs were suspended last year and some went through a disciplinary procedure whose judgments still stand. They were expelled and have not sought to challenge that."
Source - Zim Mail