Tsvangirai faces fresh problems

Former VP and leader of the fledging NPP Joice Mujuru and other opposition chiefs who stayed away on Saturday from launch of an electoral alliance which chose MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai as its main man, say the grand coalition is not yet a done deal.

Mujuru yesterday claimed that she failed to attend the opposition parties' alliance signing ceremony in Harare on Saturday because she was not invited to the event.

'We could not invite ourselves to a dinner we were not invited… that seven political parties launched their coalition at Zimbabwe Grounds in our absence denotes their democratic right and that does not affect our coalition talks with the MDC-T.'

There was mayhem at MDC-T's Bulawayo provincial headquarters yesterday when a group of youths allegedly linked to the opposition party's leader Mr Morgan Tsvangirai attacked top party officials accused of convening an unsanctioned meeting.

The officials include one of the party's three deputy presidents Ms Thokozani Khupe, and other senior officials. Sources said about 20 shona speaking youths linked to Mr Tsvangirai stormed the offices after sneaking in through the backyard.

Ms Khupe and other top officials did not attend the event following her earlier confrontation with Mr Tsvangirai over the alliance. Mr Tsvangirai's second deputy, Mr Nelson Chamisa, reportedly left midway through the ceremony where MDC-T supporters jeered Mr Biti for being a "traitor".

It is understood Ms Khupe confronted her principal last Friday, accusing him of dictatorship.

This was after Mr Tsvangirai had secretly agreed with other "coalition" members on the distribution of council and parliamentary constituencies they will contest in come 2018.

The splinter MDC parties reunited yesterday in a historic move that is likely to boost former Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai's chances of defeating President Robert Mugabe in next year's elections.

Tsvangirai, already endorsed by a string of opposition parties as the flag bearer of an alliance that is seeking to topple the 93-year-old ruler in the 2018 make-or-break polls, smoked the peace pipe with MDC founding secretary-general Welshman Ncube and his successor Tendai Biti.  

The three leaders, representing their individual parties, signed an agreement to form the MDC Alliance that will face Mugabe and his ruling Zanu PF in the elections at an event held at Harare's Zimbabwe Grounds.