Democracy is overdue in MDC-Tsvangirai

MDC-T once boasted as being the champion of democracy, but as for now that opposition party has shown its real true colours that democracy has died a natural death.

Most people used to admire that opposition party to the extent that they referred it as the main opposition party in Zimbabwe. All these are now tales, especially after taking a close look on how events are unfolding in MDC-T.

After realizing that his medical status was not treating him too good, MDC-T leader, Morgan Tsvangirai thought it was wiser for his party to have three deputy presidents. According to him, this decision was aboveboard.

What is now surprising is that most of his officials are against this decision, meaning there were not consulted when this decision was made. It was reported in a local private weekly press that last Wednesday, eleven standing committee members who had attended a party meeting in Harare were shocked with appointment of Nelson Chamisa and Elias Mudzuri hence, further questioned on how the two were elevated to the posts of deputy presidents. It was noted that these standing committee members were also calling for the reversal of the decision made by their boss as it was ultra vires.

Surely, in any party that is democratic, decisions should be made after a consensus is reached by every member of the decision making board. People should be able to say out their views openly without fear. It's actually a surprise that Chalton Hwende, a close buddy of Tsvangirai discourages other people from airing their views. Just because eleven people are against Tsvangirai's resolution, Hwende orders that they should be fired. As I see it that is not democracy.

Recent reports have it that MDC-T national council will hold an emergency meeting this week (Wednesday) to try and resolve the internal fissures generated by the appointment of the additional two deputies.

MDC-T is on record of criticizing ZANU-PF for holding indabas in trying to resolve party issues. Now that the tables have turned upside down, it is now MDC-T's turn to hold a series of these meetings. If Mr Tsvangirai fails to cautiously handle and justify the issue of appointment of the two vice presidents, an imminent split is likely to happen.

People believe in democracy not in Tsvangirai's dictatorial leadership. Meanwhile, MDC-T youth league, which is understood to be that party's vanguard is prescribing for the removal of Obert Gutu from his post as the party spokesperson. The MDC-T youth league wants to remove Gutu from his current post primarily because he noted that he was not privy to the latest development regarding the appoint of Chamisa and Mudzuri hence directed the questions to his boss, Tsvangirai.

Considering that the appointment of the two deputies were done at Tsvangirai's home in the presence of only two people, his wife Elizabeth and his spokesperson, Luke Tamborinyoka, Gutu sentiments were spot on. Gutu's absenteeism from that event means that he was not aware of what had actually transpired. Was he supposed to tell a lie on the issue that he wasn't sure of?

MDC-T youths have no valid point in calling for Gutu's ouster as party's spokesperson. The fact that MDC-T is now divided into factions is purely the reason why the youths want Gutu to be removed from his post. It is believed that there are two factions within MDC-T, the one aligned to Tsvangirai and the other one linked to Tsvangirai's long serving deputy president, Thokozane Khupe.

From the look of things, all is not well within MDC-T. There is a lot of misunderstandings surrounding the idea of the appointment of Chamisa and Mudzuri as vice presidents.

Last month two MDC-T members, namely, Partson Murimoga and George Rice, have since filed a High Court application seeking nullification of the appointments. This is an indication that most of the party members including Tsvangirai are either not versed with party's constitution or are ignorant of its contains.