Tsvangirai seeks to extend term

Zimupdates (16/04/10)

The Tsvangirai faction of the MDC T has resolved that the party would not hold its congress until after the next elections and that Morgan Tsvangirai would remain at the helm of the party for the next two terms, as factionalism threatens to further split the party into two.

National Women’s Assembly Chairperson, Theresa Makone, who is a leading member of the faction told a Mashonaland East Provincial executive meeting on 12 April that the faction would cal for the resolution that Tsvangirai’s position would not be contested at the forthcoming congress scheduled for next year.

“There will be no elections for the position of the President at the Congress next year. We are aware that there are some people who want to dislodge the President, but we are saying no ways”, said Makone.

Makone indicated that the holding of an elective Congress had the potential of dividing the party as people would jostle for positions. She added that the party’s donors also favoured the status quo and would withdraw funding in the event that Tsvangirai was dislodged.

“Pane vanhu vanoda kutonga chete. The position of the party President is filled. To hell with your two terms, Tsvangirai will serve another two terms and anyone who doesn’t like it can go away”, said an increasingly irritated Makone after there were some murmurs of disapproval form the small crowd.

The meeting with the Mashonaland East executive came amidst growing calls by leading hawks in the faction for the disciplining of party Secretary General Tendai Biti, who they accuse of harbouring to lead the party. The latest accusation leveled against Biti is that he was involved in an accident early this month while coming from Kwekwe, where he had gone to meet a group led by Kwekwe Member of Prliament Blessing Chebundo.

Biti was involved in an accident, which nearly killed him near Chegutu under murky circumstances. Where he was coming from has never been made known to the general public leading to a wave of speculation.

In a bid to see to it that Tsvangirai is not contested, the faction has begun a nationwide campaign within its structures. The faction is also has also blocked the current party restructuring exercise, instead encouraging gap filling in the constituting of all structures. The fear that their current hold on power may be threatened by the entry of some pro Biti functionaries who may scupper their plans.

Makone also took the opportunity to lament the widespread divisions that are in the party, despite fervent denials by the party’s leadership. She singled out Midlands, Mashonaland West and Masvingo Provinces as the worst hit. She accused the party’s commissariat of failing to put up proper structures in Matabeleland South.

The latest act of political; chicanery by Tsvangirai all but rubbishes the party’s purported adherence to democratic tenets. Ironically, the party is running an advert on the Constitution Making Process calling for a maximum of two terms for the President.

What hypocrisy.