WhatFinger


Anti-Tsvangirai Plot thickens, The Herald, propaganda

Zimbabwe’s MDC denies allegations of internal split



Zimbabwe’s main opposition, the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), led by Morgan Tsvangirai has Thursday denied allegations that the party is rocked by internal divisions saying the claims are the imagination of the state controlled media, particularly the daily newspaper The Herald. In a statement the party asserted “Zimbabweans will not be hoodwinked by shrill propaganda from a discredited newspaper that has since lost its credibility.”

Support Canada Free Press


The MDC said there have been false stories circulating in the state media since Saturday that the party’s Secretary-General Tendai Biti, was orchestrating strategies to oust party leader, Tsvangirai and “that the MDC President has summoned the top leadership of the party to South Africa to mend non-existent rifts within the top hierarchy of the party.” “Zimbabweans know that the only political divisions that exist are in Zanu PF where contrived accidents and succession disputes and factionalism are a reality and not fiction. The Herald has obviously mistaken the MDC for Zanu PF where internecine succession battles have wrought deep rifts, mistrust and suspicion across the length and breadth of the dying party,” read the statement. “There is no reason why the MDC Secretary General, himself a lawyer of unquestionable repute and a key figure in the drafting of the MDC Constitution, would wish for an illegal Congress in February 2009.” “Anyone with a cursory knowledge of the MDC would know that Hon Eddie Cross is the policy coordinator general and not the party’s financial advisor, as peddled by The Herald. The lies are too threadbare, indeed too naked to be taken seriously by the discerning people of Zimbabwe who overwhelmingly voted for the MDC on March 29, 2008,” added MDC. The Herald on Tuesday this week, in an article titled “Anti-Tsvangirai Plot thickens” alleged that inside sources within the party “revealed that a group led by secretary general Mr. Tendai Biti was working to ensure that Mr. Tsvangirai would not join the Government anytime soon so that they could find a way of engineering his ouster.” The paper further quoted the unnamed source alleging that Biti’s move (to oust Tsvangirai) is premised on the grounds that the current MDC top leadership is” too weak” to enter into a government of national unity with Robert Mugabe and that Biti is “lobbying behind the scenes” for Tsvangirai to “make way for new leadership.” MDC, however further denied these charges, adding that the MDC national executive is united on the issue of an inclusive government. “It is common cause that several resolutions by the MDC national council have reiterated the fact that all outstanding issues have to be resolved before the party can become part of the inclusive government. These resolutions, including those of the last National Council held in Kadoma on Friday, December 12, 2008, have been unanimous. This means there are no divisions within the party; the party has one position regarding the issue of the inclusive government.” The party said the published falsehoods are inclined to divert attention from the declining “political fortunes of Zanu PF.”   “No amount of malice, hate language and distortions will be able to transplant divisions and factionalism from their home in Zanu PF to the MDC. No amount of fiction will change the fact that Zimbabweans see their only hope in the MDC and its leadership as expressed by the people’s vote on March 29.”        


View Comments

Stephen Chadenga -- Bio and Archives

Stephen Chandega is a journalist in Zimbabwe


Sponsored