MDC-T announce a sort-of ‘pull-out’ that’s not really a pull-out
Reuters are reporting that the MDC has said it will be disengaging from the ruling ZANU-PF party in the country’s power-sharing government, until all outstanding issues are fulfilled and a political deal reached. The party has apparently said it is not pulling out of the power-sharing government, but won’t be engaging with Zanu PF.
Does this count as political spin? Is it an announcement that is effectively announcing not very much at all? Is this just the desperate effort of a party that knows it needs to be seen to be doing something but doesn’t actually have a clue what to do? Should I be reassured or utterly dismayed?
The BBC are saying that “Morgan Tsvangirai said the MDC was not “pulling out officially”, but would not continue working with President Robert Mugabe’s Zanu-PF party”. An unoffocial kind-of sort-of pull-out then…?
SW Radio Africa was reporting yesterday that this announcement would probably be forthcoming today. Yesterday the MDC-T Standing Committee convened an emergency meeting and unanimously agreed that they needed to disengage with Zanu PF over all outstanding issues including the relentless perseuction of Roy Bennett. The agreement needed to be put to the party’s National Council, and it appears, by reports breaking the news now, that they must have endorsed the decision.
We haven’t received an MDC-T press release yet so we don’t know exactly how this decision has been articulated by the MDC-T party or how they plan to continue involvement in a power-sharing government … but refuse to share. We’ll post their release up as soon as we get it.
It remains to be seen whether this announcement will have any impact on the Zanu PF heavyweights. I can’t help wondering if Zanu PF might find this new position incredibly amusing rather than worrying – how threatening, really is a pull-out that’s not exactly a pull-out…?
As for Zimbabweans, what will they think? I am a Zimbabwean; what do I think? Well, I don’t know whether to smile or sigh. It is a little amusing – isn’t it – an announcement of a pull-out that’s, well, not really a pull-out. And as a Zimbabwean I know the jokes will be coming thick and fast!
But as an exhausted pro-democracy activist who is more than a little bit tired of prevarication and empty threats, I’ll do my very very best to tell myself that a pull-out that’s not a pull-out is at least a little bit more than a threat to pull out, which is the more regular position for the MDC-T party.
Does this count as a significant development in Zimbabwean politics? Progress…? Or yet another backward step…?
In the meanwhile, I’m still hoping against all hope that Roy Bennett gets bail today. We’ll keep you posted on that too.
October 16th, 2009 14:04
mr journalist u a Zanu PF suppoter thats all i can say, u a not giving a true and fair view of the story.
October 16th, 2009 14:51
@Swirimon, Abuja – Me thinks you are wrong bro. I checked this sie out – its looks pretty okay. ie., not a Pro-Mugabe mouthpiece.
October 20th, 2009 16:13
Its a worrying trend of the GPA and Unity Government. It seems that so far any agreement that has been reached by the Unity Government has been reached by a process of struggle rather than unity agreement across the board. In some ways I can understand the MDC frustration, but this wishy washy sort of kind of maybe stand off is not going to gain the party any credibility in the long run. Strong and decisive leadership is lacking and the outcome may well backfire in the MDC’s face. More thoughts on my blog. http://robert-strobel.com
October 25th, 2009 13:53
the guy has no principle thats all i can say. morgan be a principled guy