Welshman's interview with state media

The leader of the smaller MDC faction, Professor Welshman Ncube, has revealed that he was never friends with former US ambassador to Zimbabwe Mr Christopher Dell because, unlike others in the then united MDC, he refused to go to the "classroom" where the diplomat would give the Western-sponsored party lectures on how to run its affairs.

Prof Ncube went on to reveal that he got frustrated during the days when he was the negotiator in the united MDC because Mr Tsvangirai would authorise that they make compromises with Zanu-PF, only to backtrack whenever there was a backlash.

In a wide-ranging interview with the state controlled media, Prof Ncube confirmed the long-held view that the MDC is a project of the West, saying he was not prepared to take orders from any embassy in Harare or from any foreigners.

When he was asked to comment on remarks that were made by Mr Dell, as revealed by WikiLeaks, that he was "a genius who is highly divisive", Prof Ncube said:

"Well, Dell was never one of our friends. I have never been able to figure out what divisive means in that context, but what I know is that there are those of us who refuse throughout the history of the MDC united and divided MDC to be told by any of the embassies here or any foreigner what we should do or what we should not do, what we should say and what we should not say.

"For that reason Dell was never a friend of ours because we refused to go to a class where he was the teacher and I guess the divisive he is referring to is our inability to accept that he had a right to determine our strategies and tell us what position we should take on any particular issue."

When pressed whether there were some in the leadership of the MDC who attended the classes, Prof Ncube added: "Well, I am sure there are others, otherwise some of us we will not be hated by Dell and be so categorised. We were seen as an obstacle because we would not do those things he wanted us to do."

Turning to Mr Tsvangirai, Prof Ncube said the MDC-T leader cannot be trusted by those he gives the responsibility to tackle issues on behalf of the party because even up to now, he changes positions whenever there is a backlash.

Said Prof Ncube: "You recall that in the united MDC I was tasked with the responsibility of negotiating with Zanu-PF . . . We negotiated many of the amendments to Posa, Aippa, all of those things were negotiated.

"When you negotiate, you always have a principal. Your principal is the leader of the party, your president. So, you always negotiate within the parameters of what you are given. Where you cannot agree, you go back and report that you cannot agree; this is what is on the table, what about this? You are then given a mandate, okay, go and try this one. I always did that.

"Among ourselves, with Tsvangirai as the president of the MDC, we were always able to agree to say okay let us do this. But when you went outside that, one never always got the support on things that we would have agreed on … If you have a principal who authorises a compromise and then backtracks on that compromise, that is a problem.

"Let me say, this did not only happen in the past, it is happening even now. I will give the example of why the Electoral Bill was stuck in Parliament for one year over the issue of the polling station-based voters' roll.

"I was still a negotiator at that time. We negotiated and signed. We even signed the draft Bill itself to say there shall be a polling station-base voters' roll . . . We all said given the compromises Zanu-PF has made, we are now prepared to accept the polling station-based voters' roll.

"We all signed, but the MDC-T later says, we are taking all the things you gave, but we are withdrawing support for the polling station-based voters' roll. I am just giving you an example of where negotiators are given authority and it is then withdrawn.

"That is the sort of frustration you would have at that time and I am sure this is the same frustration MDC-T negotiators have even today because they make compromises within mandates, then they are repudiated later on."

He chronicled how Mr Tsvangirai went against all the rules of the party in 2005, disregarded advice from other leaders in the party and even stormed out of one of the meetings after discovering that no one was supporting his position not to participate in the Senatorial elections.