News / National
Mangoma defends new party
05 Jun 2015 at 09:28hrs | Views
FORMER MDC Renewal Team treasurer-general Mr Elton Mangoma says forming a new party. Renewal Democrats of Zimbabwe, was not a knee-jerk reaction to his suspension from the opposition outfit early this week.
Mr Mangoma was suspended from MDC Renewal on Tuesday over allegations that he snatched the wife of a youth leader, Mr Believe Tevera, while the party accused him of having "unbridled ambition" and employing "unorthodox, illegal and uncouth means to fulfil his perhaps child-hood ambition to be a president of something or anything before nature takes him".
The following day, Mr Mangoma announced the formation of RDZ, which he now leads, whose other top members include Messrs Fidelis Mugari, Pishayi Muchauraya, Promise Mukwananzi, Trust Chikobora and Jean Jalif.
In an interview at his offices in Harare yesterday, Mr Mangoma said MDC Renewal was dragging its feet on holding its first congress while he also highlighted the fall-out with secretary-general Tendai Biti.
"Clearly, we were going round and round in circles and, we needed to have a clear direction given what we had said we should able to do and move along that path," said Mr Mangoma.
He explained: "In late February we formed the national working committees and said let's now go to a congress and a resolution was passed. But things started going downhill because there are people who don't want to have a congress and have the people decide what the leadership should be contrary to what we had agreed in Mandel (Training Centre).
"We should have held our congress in April and it has not been held. Yes, there will be reasons put in as to why it wasn't done, but it tells you (that) you're getting further and further from your trajectory. So you basically will be working with colleagues who will not be wanting to move forward."
A breakdown in relationship with Mr Biti did not help matters.
"I think there was less communication between him and myself," said Mr Mangoma.
"That's where I think our relationship didn't work because we were not communicating and therefore we were beginning to make assumptions about each other's intentions."
Mr Mangoma said his party would pursue democracy, pan-Africanism and what he calls "modem nationalism".
Mr Mangoma was suspended from MDC Renewal on Tuesday over allegations that he snatched the wife of a youth leader, Mr Believe Tevera, while the party accused him of having "unbridled ambition" and employing "unorthodox, illegal and uncouth means to fulfil his perhaps child-hood ambition to be a president of something or anything before nature takes him".
The following day, Mr Mangoma announced the formation of RDZ, which he now leads, whose other top members include Messrs Fidelis Mugari, Pishayi Muchauraya, Promise Mukwananzi, Trust Chikobora and Jean Jalif.
In an interview at his offices in Harare yesterday, Mr Mangoma said MDC Renewal was dragging its feet on holding its first congress while he also highlighted the fall-out with secretary-general Tendai Biti.
"Clearly, we were going round and round in circles and, we needed to have a clear direction given what we had said we should able to do and move along that path," said Mr Mangoma.
"We should have held our congress in April and it has not been held. Yes, there will be reasons put in as to why it wasn't done, but it tells you (that) you're getting further and further from your trajectory. So you basically will be working with colleagues who will not be wanting to move forward."
A breakdown in relationship with Mr Biti did not help matters.
"I think there was less communication between him and myself," said Mr Mangoma.
"That's where I think our relationship didn't work because we were not communicating and therefore we were beginning to make assumptions about each other's intentions."
Mr Mangoma said his party would pursue democracy, pan-Africanism and what he calls "modem nationalism".
Source - The Herald
