MDC-T coffers dry as power struggle rages on

The MDC-T's acrimonious power struggle, which has seen party leader Morgan Tsvangirai battling a revolt engineered by senior party officials seeking leadership renewal after the party's dismal July 31 elections loss, has spilled over into the donor community putting the party in a precarious position as it seeks to regroup to challenge Zanu-PF.

Officials demanding leadership renewal have been responsible for sourcing donors to fund all party activities but they have since stopped doing so because of Tsvangirai's refusal to step down.

There are reports that Treasurer Roy Bennett is allegedly refusing to release $4 million until the party takes a rigorous audit on its shambolic finances.

Investigations have revealed that the MDC-T finances are in shambles with fears that if auditors are called in, there could be depressing findings that could rip apart, a party that came into the political arena promising a new era for most Zimbabweans disillusioned by Zanu-PF government corruption.

It has since come to light that cince the formation of the MDC, no professional audit has ever been conducted despite receiving millions of United States dollars from foreign and local donors. Several high ranking MDC-T officials close to Tsvangirai and Tsvangirai himself own paid-up houses in South Africa's expensive suburbs

Roy Bennett is withholding $4 million he raised from donors, giving a condition of auditing first.

Tsvangirai has decided to overturn the party's new constitution that disbanded external assemblies. His intention is to raise money. That Tsvangirai wants external assemblies run by his cronies so that they would send the money directly to him.

While efforts to talk to Bennett were futile as he is reported to be in South Africa after a stint in England, senior party officials at Harvest House in Harare confirmed that the party was in financial distress.

"This is the reason why Tsvangirai is trying to resurrect external assemblies, he thinks he will re-open his financial veins again despite the constitution in adopted after Bulawayo Congress stated disbanded all external assemblies," a senior source who declined identity in fear of reprisals said.

The source said Tsvangirai's fight to remain in power was not a political conviction, but was driven by economic reasons.

"It is a fight to feed his families than anything else. Surely, going by initial principles of the MDC, Tsvangira should have given someone a chance. The talk that Tsvangirai was a face of democracy is crap talk, instead his face represent disrespect of women"

A former MDC-UK and Ireland who claimed to have consistently sent £20 000 to Harvest House in every six months, told The ZimDiaspora that he still had records of £10 000 he directly sent to Tsvangirai for his personal shopping while on holiday in South Africa.

"I received a call from him in South Africa. He ordered me to transfer £10 000 into his wife's account which I did. There is nothing I could have done as by that time any disagreement with Tsvangirai was not the best thing to do," the ex-chairman said.

During our investigations we discovered that the MDC-T has never conducted any professional financial audit despite having received millions of United States dollars from foreign supporters.

"We have never had any professional audit, and I don't think that will ever happen. If by sheer lucky that happens, I can tell you that the MDC-T as a political institution will collapse. I foresee a revelation of plunder and grabbing of resources meant to benefit the party."

A highly placed source at Harvest House, who is usually reliable, claimed that some of the most senior party officials have paid-up houses in South Africa's posh suburbs.

"The party has lost direction, I can tell you that we lost the elections not because of rigging but because most of our leaders became too big-headed. They took voters for a granted, they thought they were always guaranteed of votes hence they took the eye off the ball while ZANU-PF took advantage of that,," another senior official who lost the election said.

"We all support Bennett's approach to refuse to release the $4 million. He knows most of us are supporting the idea because once the money is released they all feast on it like wolves," the source added.

Bennet is one of the few senior party officials who have come out in public calling for Tsvangirai to step down after his dramatic loss during the harmonised election.

Disgruntled MDC-T MPs argue that Tsvangirai's conduct especial his playboy behaviour has affected his public political image. They claim that his recklessness on women after the death of his wife Susan, has angered the electorate rendering him an unelectable leader.

"The truth is that the MDC-T as you call it is in a crisis. It is run on factionalism, you have people like Nelson Chamisa who are siding with Tsvangirai no matter whether he wins or not, just for the selfish reasons."

Most MPs interviewed say blind loyalty was the main weakness of the party. They claim that it was clear that Tsvangirai has failed to administer, let alone conduct himself profressional, yet he still want supporters to believe that he lost elections due to rigging.

"I hear people talk about Nikuv rigging, in fact that is bull…. Nikuv has always been there in Zimbabwe. We have to admit that we were outmanoeuvred. Our leader Tsvangirai has become unelectable.

"What is happening behind the scenes is a shame. We run a party that is supposed to rule Zimbabwe like a personal entity. It's so crazy especially thinking of how Zimbabweans have tried to give us a chance to rule the country," he said.

Our sources said they were convinced that the first preparation for the 2018 elections was to replace Tsvangirai.

"If that does not happen, I can tell you we are heading for another shameful defeat. Leadership is just not in Tsvangirai's hands. I feel he has played his role, he has even achieved his dreams for being Prime Minister it's time for him to pass it over to someone else like Nelson Mandela," he said.

Sources said what makes it difficult to replace Tsvangirai is that he had surrounded himself with relatives, cronies and "yes" men.

"There are people who think that if Tsvangirai goes that would be the end of their political careers," the source said.

This claim may be true in particular from the perspective that the Sipepa-Nkomo Commission that investigated implicated some of Tsvangirai's relatives who were based in England. The report that has not been made public for four years now is still gathering dust in Tsvangirai's office.