Zimbabwe parliament victory reignites MDCs unification debate

ZANU-PF's failure to capture the coveted post of Speaker of Parliament last week might have unintentionally unified the two camps of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) in future elections. In a dramatic week that also saw the SADC troika reading the riot act to President Robert Mugabe over his insincerity in the full implementation of the Global Political Agreement (GPA) he signed with Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai and Deputy Prime Minister Arthur Mutambara in September 2008, legislators from the MDC factions shrugged-off their sharp differences to wallop ZANU-PF candidate, Simon Khaya-Moyo for the speakership.
The previous week, ZANU-PF had been hoodwinked into believing that the Welshman Ncube-led faction of the MDC, which has seven legislators in the lower chamber, would be abstaining from participating in the polls.
As they say a week is too long in politics, Ncube's formation suddenly had a change of heart and resolved to root for Prime Minister Tsvangirai's Lovemore Moyo in the polls.
Critics point out that it was folly for ZANU-PF to bank on the Ncube faction to do them a favour by abstaining from the polls. Ncube had and still has an axe to grind with President Mugabe for refusing to swear him in as one of the principals to the GPA after the professor of law ousted controversial Deputy Prime Minister Mutambara in a bloodless coup at the party's elective congress in January this year.
You scratch my back, I scratch yours: It was time for Ncube to hit back. And hitting back he did on Tuesday by using his parliamentary vote to swing the tide in MDC-T's favour.
For the first time since the infamous split in October 2005, the two MDC formations out-witted ZANU-PF as a united front, albeit temporarily. The rest is history.
ZANU-PF's failure to recapture the Speakership has inadvertently set the ball-rolling for a possible reunification of the two bitter enemies that severed ties in October 2005 over whether or not the former united party should participate in the senate elections held in November of the same year. Last ditch efforts to forge an alliance in the bloody 2008 polls failed after the two formations found it difficult if not impossible to bury the hatchet and face ZANU-PF as a single entity. 
While there is still no love lost between Prime Minister Tsvangirai and Ncube, the rare show of unity between the two MDC factions last Tuesday has raised prospects for a united front as the country looks likely to hold fresh polls anytime this year as intimated by President Mugabe. Announcing the MDC's change of heart, secretary general Priscilla Misihairabwi-Mushonga, said the events of the past days leading to the parliamentary election, merited a change in position. 
The timing of the re-arrest of Elton Mangoma, the MDC-T Minister of Energy and Power Development  over a second fresh charge of abuse of office, and the alleged threats of further arrests of MDC-T Members of Parliament by the police, influenced the MDC's position to support the candidature of Lovemore Moyo against Khaya-Moyo. 
On his part Ncube said: "I had stated earlier that we as the MDC will only reconsider our position if ZANU-PF subverts the electoral process to secure victory by underhand means or through misuse and abuse of the law through such things as arrests made primarily for the purpose of influencing the outcome of the vote." 
"In that event, they would have lost their moral equivalence with the MDC-T. It is now clear that ZANU-PF have decided to do exactly that.
"On that basis, the MDC standing committee decided to vote against the ZANU-PF candidate and vote for the MDC-T candidate for the position of Speaker of the House of Assembly. This is not an endorsement of the MDC-T candidate but in the interests of serving the people of Zimbabwe we no longer see moral equivalence between ZANU-PF and MDC." 
Reverend Useni Sibanda, the executive director of the Zimbabwe Christian Alliance, said ZANU-PF was probably kicking itself after it unintentionally united its enemies. 
While noting that the Ncube faction had demonstrated the kind of political maturity lacking in Zimbabwe, Sibanda said the two formations should now push and work towards a fully fledged unification.
"First, this is the kind of maturity in politics that we need to see being demonstrated by our politicians. The MDC-Ncube acted correctly; if you find a woman being abused you cannot be neutral about it, you have to intervene on her behalf," said Sibanda. 
"This move should signal a shift towards a more strategic unification of the democratic forces to ensure that this transition towards a more democratic society is completed. There is need to revive broad platforms that unite people and create space for strategic actions that will benefit the people of Zimbabwe," said Sibanda.
Bekithemba Mpofu, another analyst, said it was Prime Minister Tsvangirai's time to now scratch Ncube's back. 
"It was a well calculated move from the MDC. What is interesting are the reasons cited for the reversal of their initial decision, given that ZANU-PF will not change their dirty tactics one is left wondering if the comment will not come back to haunt the MDC as they will be expected to act in line with this comment. We will therefore expect the differences between the parties to narrow and cooperation to increase against ZANU-PF, more so that MDC-T now has to return the favour," said Mpofu.