Mutasa endorses Tsvangirai

Despite angling to mend relations with President Robert Mugabe and possibly return to Zanu-PF, Didymus Mutasa still has a lot to say about the mooted grand coalition.

The veteran Zimbabwe People First (ZPF) elder has, not for the first time, put his full weight behind MDC president Morgan Tsvangirai in his bid to lead the proposed electoral alliance.

Mutasa told the Daily News in an exclusive interview that Tsvangirai must be given an opportunity to "complete the project he started" and was deserving of leading the coalition.

"The confusion that is going on about the leadership of the coalition shows that all these people who purport to be in the opposition ranks are not ready to take Mugabe head-on except for Tsvangirai, the only one I respect because of the effort he has been putting since he launched his political career several years back.

"People should thus be humble to say let's help Tsvangirai complete this project he started not to say he is not capable of leading a coalition when it's him who started the whole thing.

"That is why some of us will always say if we want to get there as a country, Tsvangirai should be left to do things that he knows best not to say he must now take a back seat when he is the one who has a proven track record," said Mutasa.

Mutasa said former Vice President Joice Mujuru must be prepared to accept that Tsvangirai is more acceptable to the people.

"I regret that I supported her even when Mugabe himself did not because when I asked him why he was seemingly taking (Emmerson) Mnangagwa's side in 2014, he said he did not think that she had capacity and now with the benefit of hindsight, I think the old man was right after all.

"To be quite honest, it was I who drew Mai Mujuru closer to Tsvangirai and I went personally to him and told him that we wanted to work together.

"When I came back, I briefed Mujuru and Gumbo that Tsvangirai had expressed his happiness and willingness to work with us but I realised she was not keen and that is when I began to question her integrity to say how does this woman deny such a fact that Tsvangirai is the real opposition deal as if us who were working with her have shut minds," added Mutasa.

He warned opposition leaders that "when there are others who have joined the opposition ranks saying they want to go it alone, people like Nkosana Moyo have spoiled the game for others."

"When you do it as a coalition, you field a single presidential candidate to avoid vote splitting but the moment there is more than one, it becomes difficult," warned Mutasa.

The proposed coalition has hit headwinds as opposition leaders haggle over who should lead the electoral alliance.

Mujuru, on numerous occasions has punted herself to lead the coalition while on the other hand, Tsvangirai has acted in a manner that suggests him and the MDC hold sway to who should be in the alliance.

The announcement by the former Industry and International Trade minister that he would be contesting in the 2018 elections as one of the presidential candidates has further complicated matters for the opposition.

Analysts have consistently said a united opposition stands a chance of finally defeating Mugabe and Zanu-PF in the eagerly-anticipated polls.