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Mbeki was a central player in the 2005 MDC split: Tsvangirai
24 Oct 2011 at 06:09hrs | Views
Former South African President Thabo Mbeki was a central player in a 2005 split in the MDC, which PM Morgan Tsvangirai says "was a big blow" to him – "far bigger than Mugabe's relentless persecution".
The extraordinary claim is made by Tsvangirai in a new book in which he accuses his former colleagues, the late Gibson Sibanda and Welshman Ncube, of betrayal.
Tsvangirai claims Ncube, the party's founding secretary general, held secret meetings with a Zanu PF faction led by Emmerson Mnangagwa to forge an alliance in a bid to "secure Ndebele interests".
"Numerous reports reached me of secret meetings involving Ncube and a Zanu PF faction aligned to Mnangagwa, a close Mugabe ally and Speaker of Parliament, and headed by Chinamasa.
Ncube had the backing of Sibanda, [Renson] Gasela, [Priscilla] Misihairabwi-Mushonga, Paul Themba Nyathi and others, mainly from the western region," Tsvangirai says in his book, 'At the Deep End'.
The extraordinary claim is made by Tsvangirai in a new book in which he accuses his former colleagues, the late Gibson Sibanda and Welshman Ncube, of betrayal.
"Numerous reports reached me of secret meetings involving Ncube and a Zanu PF faction aligned to Mnangagwa, a close Mugabe ally and Speaker of Parliament, and headed by Chinamasa.
Ncube had the backing of Sibanda, [Renson] Gasela, [Priscilla] Misihairabwi-Mushonga, Paul Themba Nyathi and others, mainly from the western region," Tsvangirai says in his book, 'At the Deep End'.
Source - Daily News on Sunday
