The senate election stand-off
‘Is it true’, is the question I’ve heard most about the so-called looming split in the MDC. ‘Dashed-dreams’ was the way someone else described the debacle. And another said, ‘we no longer talk about MDC vs Zanu-PF, we talk about pro-participation vs anti-participation’. I just hope the sorry situation is resolved soon.
It strikes me as less of a split and more of a subborn stand-off. The media yesterday carried reports that the 26 MDC (opposition) politicians who had registered to stand as candidates in the forthcoming senate elections had been expelled from the party and today the BBC reported that the 26 candidates have responded by saying that the expulsion is unconstitutional:
Mr Nyathi told the BBC ’s Network Africa programme that the 26 had not been thrown out of the MDC as the group backing Mr Tsvangirai had no authority to act in this way.
“Their statement is null and void,” he said, adding that they will still stand in the polls.
I guess we’ll have to wait a bit longer to see what happens next…
Huge issues are emerging which could influence whether or not the party does finally split and Morgan Tsvangirai in particular (the opposition leader), clearly has some explaining to do to the people of our country. Shari Eppel, writing for The Standard, points to a “growing element of thuggery within the MDC, with its President, Morgan Tsvangirai, failing to condemn intra-party violence against certain members of his own leadership”:
In the wake of the 2005 elections, this violence escalated, with several senior MDC office bearers being stripped naked and sjamboked by MDC youths, inside MDC party headquarters.
Two officials had bones broken by these party youths. A decision of the National Council to fire the youth – who are facing criminal charges – was subverted by the President of the MDC; a few days after their dismissal, he insisted on re-employing them as his bodyguards. When there was a call for a further internal inquiry into the violence, Tsvangirai tried to sack his fellow top five officials.
It was pointed out that this was unconstitutional – that the President did not have the sole power to dismiss his senior colleagues, and the dismissals did not take effect.
In September 2005, Tsvangirai showed contempt for the MDC constitution and the outcome of a democratic vote by the National Council of MDC: the council voted by a narrow margin in favour of participation in the Senate elections. In defiance of both this outcome and the constitution, Tsvangirai publicly announced the intention of MDC to boycott the November senatorial elections.
Tsvangirai emerged not as the benovelent savior Zimbabweans had begun to look to him as, but as just another victim of that dreadful pandemic that has claimed hindered the continent’s prosperity and progress: a dictator, another tyrant in the making.
Shari Eppel challenges civil society to respond to the skulduggery:
Civics is currently facing a key challenge: will civil society speak out against those elements in the MDC that now believe themselves above the constitution of their own party, in the same way that they have condemned Zanu PF for lawless, unethical behaviour?
So far, civil society has failed to condemn or even reprimand Tsvangirai in any convincing way. Human rights NGOs risk being severely compromised if they continue to remain publicly silent on this issue – and Zimbabwe risks one dictator being replaced by another.
People are desperate not to see the MDC disintegrate at this stage, after so many have invested so much – even their lives – in the struggle for democracy in the last five years. Yet civics must decide – is it enough to say “Mugabe must go”, regardless of what or who replaces him, or is now the time to make a stand and to state unequivocally, that whatever the cost, Zimbabwe will not tolerate leaders who will not publicly condemn political violence by elements in their own party, who do not abide by the will of the majority and who do not abide by the rules?
Sokwanele responded to the crisis in the MDC last week. On the issue of the senate elections, we said this:
If he could not persuade his party, represented by its highest policy-making body, to accept his counsel as leader, and if Morgan Tsvangirai could not bring himself to accept the democratic decision of the party, then he should have done the only honourable thing and resigned his leadership. We find Tsvangirai’s conduct then and subsequently, totally unacceptable – and would expect that others committed to democracy and the rule of law would take a similar view [my emphasis].
And on the issue of violence within the MDC, we said this:
Which brings us back squarely to the question of violence and suggests to us that the real issue facing the country today is not whether the opposition should participate in the Senatorial elections but rather whether we, collectively, will resort to the ZANU PF tactics of intimidation and violence in order to ensure that our view prevails. As we have already made the point, the Senate is of no consequence. It is a non-issue. What matters is whether the opposition can remain united around a non-violent policy and programme.
[...]
For, make no mistake, the MDC as a party of violence would offer no threat to ZANU PF at all. Indeed it would offer ZANU PF just the pretext it wants to destroy the party once and for all. Only as a party resolved to follow the path of open dialogue, of consensual decision making, of tolerance, and above all of non-violence, does the MDC offer a radical alternative and therefore a real threat to the party of intolerance that is ruled by fear, violence and personal greed.
I hope that the party that the country has pinned its hopes on wakes up and refocuses on the real enemy – namely, the corrupt thugs who have stolen our future and intimidate and terrorise our people. This entire shambolic mess is extremely depressing, and it will take strong moral leadership to resolve it in a way that enables Zimbabweans to have the uncorrupt, free, peaceful country that we all yearn for.
November 15th, 2005 11:42
I guess God has just been on our side. the walk is going to be longer but worth it. It would have taken much more energy to remove Tsvangirai out of power, like it happened in Zambia. Its high time the man resigns if he is prodemocracy as He has masqueraded as. Mugabe and most of His cronies do not have much time in power.
Zimbabweans tjis is the time we should come together and be more vigilant in change in our country. This time we will be more careful, more rational, more critical and less of objects who are just swept to and from by any wind of doctrine
For those of us who prayed during the 2000 elections, God answered our prayers although we thought he hjad abondoned us.
MDC shape up or move out because you are now a stumbling block towards change. We are tired of thugs ruling Africa and we shall not allow the same to happen in the only place we call home.
enough is enoug!
From the diaspora
November 15th, 2005 12:55
The MDC has trashed any hope or respect that it has managed to engender over recent years. Neither faction now holds any moral high ground and sadly it is time to place our future into more reliable hands.
Initially my sentiments were entirely for Tsvangirai, as it is patently obvious that there is no good reason for a senate and participation in the elections is a stupid and immoral waste of resources. The arguments put forward by the pro-election camp are absurd.
Mugabe has, however, done the Opposition a huge favour in showing up our MDC leaders for what they are. Tsvangirai evidently has uncouth dictatorial inclinations, utilising violence despite all the anti-violence rhetoric over the years, and trampling on the MDC constitution. The pro-senate lot are aven worse: not only are they misguided, but also very sinister – in the same intellectual way that Professor Moyo was so evil.
As a passionately interested observer, this whole problem (which now manifests itself as multiple splits along ethnic/regional/etc lines) stems from the so-called council vote. Even from this distance (“Harare North”) it stinks. Whilst the vote may have been a close win for the pro-senate gang, were their votes really representative of their constituents? I don’t think so! The overwhelming impression is that pro-participation votes were cast primarily in greed for a chance to get snouts into the senate trough, irrespective of majority sentiments.
So there we have it. The MDC no longer has our respect or can carry our hopes for a better future. In my opinion, a much better prospect would be a new political party created by those who have done excellent work for Zimbabwe’s democracy – particularly the NCA and WOZA. These are the brave and principled ‘doers’ who have the best interests of the majority at heart. There are also still plenty of wonderful MDC party members, with huge courage, ability, expertise and commitment, whom I’d like to see support the new party as well: all those who are embarrassed by recent events and who haven’t discredited themselves by aligning themselves to either faction. They could be assisted by the brains behind Zvakwana and other able activists who have all the right ideas but keep a low profile politically.
Come on Zim! It was great to have hope while it lasted, but now it’s time to try another route. Thankfully we’ve been saved a ‘repeat of history’, with one tyrant (supported by evil, smooth-talking intellectuals) being replaced by another, so we still have a chance. I know it’s easy for me to say, from the safety of the diaspora, but concerted civil disobedience under a new banner is actually the only way. As taking to the streets is so dangerous, stopping tax and rate payments would soon bring the ZANU (PF) gravy train to a halt. Difficult to coordinate, but it could be done with a well-publicised list of demands (all the usual: new constitution, fresh above-board elections, repealed restrictive legislation, etc) and a clear – and sufficiently distant – deadline for there to be a real build-up and national awareness. If the deadline is not met, then WHAM! All tax payments stop. PAYE, corporate, NSSA, everything.
At one stage I thought Morgan’s ‘walk to work’ might escalate into something great, but it just fizzled out . . . it would be wonderful if something would work. There are lots of us who want to come home!