No end in sight to Tsvangirai's woes

Confusion continued to dog the opposition MDC-T factional fight with two conflicting processes yesterday taking place at the same time to determine a case in which party president Morgan Tsvangirai is facing disciplinary action.

Around mid-morning, High Court judge, Justice Happious Zhou, granted Tsvangirai an interim relief, apparently stopping the implementation of resolutions made at a national council meeting in April that suspended Tsvangirai and six other party leaders.

However, a  tribunal instituted by the MDC Renewal-Team fronted by Tendai Biti sat at the same time and tried Tsvangirai as well as party national chairperson Lovemore Moyo in absentia.

In  his ruling, Justice Zhou granted  an interim relief to Tsvangirai's MDC-T faction and interdicted the group agitating for "leadership change" from carrying out any disciplinary proceedings against the ex-premier and his five other colleagues.

"What is common cause is that a meeting was held on the 26th of April 2014 at a place referred to in the court papers as Mandel Training Centre, the meeting was called by three respondents and a resolution was passed," said the judge. "The legality of the meeting and the validity of the resolution passed at that meeting are the subject of this litigation in case number HC4955/14 all the three applicants before me are parties to that matter."

Zhou said he was granting the interim relief pending resolution of the "legality" case.

"Interim relief is thereby granted; pending determination of this matter. The respondents or any person claiming through them or acting on their instruction be and are hereby interdicted from proceeding with any disciplinary proceedings against the third applicant or any other office bearer of the second respondent on 27 June 2014 or some other day pursuant to resolutions of a meeting held at Mandel Training Centre on 26 April, 2014," adjudged Zhou.

However, the tribunal's chairperson Gift Nyandoro told The Zimbabwe Mail in an interview late yesterday that his committee had sat and would announce its verdict before Monday next week.

"We sat as tribunal and called out Tsvangirai and Moyo's names. They did not attend and we proceeded to hear the prosecution's case. After asking the necessary questions and requesting all information, we are now considering the case in order to come up with a judgment which should be ready by next week," said Nyandoro.

Asked if he was aware of the High Court interdict, Nyandoro professed ignorance.

"I am not aware of any interdict and if there is any, then we could be sitting at a situation in which the border has been overtaken by events. In any case, I am not aware of papers served on us as a tribunal to stop any process," he said.

The Renewal-Team spokesperson Jacob Mafume told journalists at a press briefing that the Tsvangirai group had belatedly realised their folly and sought assistance from the courts, but made the mistake of not citing the right respondents.

"Biti, (deputy treasurer general Elton) Mangoma, Sekai Holland and Samuel Sipepa-Nkomo did not, in their individual capacities, make the resolutions at Mandel on April 26.

"If they (Tsvangirai group) had chosen to individualise the case, they were supposed to cite all the people who attended the meeting. The applicants did not also cite the MDC, the party  that made the resolution or the tribunal that was supposed to hear the case," said Mafume.

Problems for the MDC-T began last year after the opposition party's humiliating electoral loss to Zanu PF. Following the loss, calls for Tsvangirai's resignation grew.

First to call on Tsvangirai to step-down was exiled treasurer general, Roy Bennett, before former Marondera legislator Ian Kay characterised Tsvangirai as a "rust bolt that needed to be removed". However, the tipping point came in January this year when Mangoma emerged as the face of the "Renewal Agenda", asking Tsvangirai to leave office and call for an elective congress.

His letter was followed by mayhem, with Tsvangirai calling for a meeting of the party's 210 district chairpersons that turned violent after rowdy youths turned on Mangoma and attacked him outside the party's offices in central Harare.

Mangoma was suspended before he teamed up with Biti to call for a national council vote that suspended Tsvangirai. The two are now fronting the MDC-Renewal-Team that effectively signaled another split within the opposition movement.

The Tsvangirai faction spokesperson, Douglas Mwonzora, reacted angrily calling the Renewal group a "bunch of losers.

Tsvangirai was set to appear before the tribunal facing, among other counts, violence, causing division and outright dictatorship as well as usurping the party's constitution and organs.