Tsvangirai publicly insults, denigrate own MP

THE beleaguered MDC-T leader Morgan Tsvangirai has angered party supporters in Britain when he allegedly publicly insulted and denigrated his Bulawayo East election-winner MP Thabitha Khumalo.

Party supporters in Britain this week demanded that the embattled party leader apologises for his insults to an MP who represents a section of the society.

Supporters who attended Tsvangirai's London meeting said the MDC leader branded Khumalo a "drunkard" after a supporter only identified as Chikowore stood up from the gallery and mistakenly claimed that Khumalo had earlier told supporters not to buy party cards after reports of the unaccounted £57 000 that vanished under his nose.

Khumalo was part of the Sipepa-Nkomo high powered delegation that investigated the missing £57 000 and authored a report that figure-pointed two of Tsvangirai's close relatives who were in the MDC-UK.

Tsvangirai refused to make public findings of the Sipepa-Nkomo Commission into the missing £57 000.

However, a senior official argued that there was a misunderstanding as to who exactly told supporters not to buy party cards in the UK.

"It was the National Organasing Secretary Nelson Chamisa who told supporters in Leeds in responding to questions after complaints that MDC-UK and Ireland party cards were too expensive compared to cards sold in Zimbabwe.

"It was on that context that Chamisa said it was up to individuals to buy a $1 MDC card in Zimbabwe or buy a £5 one in the UK. Now for someone to tell Tsvangirai that Khumalo said 'don't buy cards' is totally unfair and worsetill for Tsvangirai to go on and insult a woman who has won an election at a time when most MDC people lost to ZANU-PF is very serious,"

"The impression is that the party is against winners. For MDC to go forward Tsvangirai must be held accountable to what he said in public about Khumalo," an official who declined to be named said.

The latest MDC-T insult saga throws the party that is reeling from a dramatic election loss to great political division and turmoil. It is more worrying to see Tsvangirai reducing himself to a public slur on his lieutenants - Khumalo is most likely to throw personal insults back though we could not contact her at the time of going on Press.

However, supporters who are already calling for Tsvangirai's retirement describe him as the assassin of the MDC democracy who has the charisma of a damp rag while showing the appearance of a low-grade political leader.