OPPOSITION MDC-T leader Morgan Tsvangirai finally met with
his deputy Thokozani Khupe, party chairman Lovemore Moyo and organising secretary
Abednico Bhebhe early this week and buried their differences following their
acrimonious fallout two months ago over whether or not they should be part of
the MDC Alliance.
Both MDC-T secretary-general Douglas Mwonzora and Khupe’s
personal assistant Witness Dube confirmed the development yesterday, saying the
meeting took place at Tsvangirai’s Highlands home in Harare.
They said the MDC-T leaders agreed to lift Bhebhe and
deputy treasurer-general Charlton Hwende’s suspensions as a precondition to
opening negotiations into the cause of their fallout in August this year.
Khupe and her team had stopped attending MDC-T meetings in
the capital citing security concerns following their assault by suspected
Tsvangirai “hooligans” at the party’s Bulawayo provincial offices on
accusations of frustrating the formation of the MDC Alliance.
The intra-party violence, which occurred in August,
resulted in the suspension of Bhebhe, Hwende and several other top party
officials, amid fears the party was headed for a split.
“The president, in his wisdom and in the desire to make
people focus on the important business of voter registration and preparing for
the 2018 elections, has lifted the suspension of Bhebhe and Hwende, and with
immediate effect,” Mwonzora said yesterday.
“The president held a meeting with Khupe where they agreed
to resolve whatever outstanding issues there were and that they should now work
towards the project. So, as we stand, everything has gone back to normal.”
Dube, in a statement, however, insisted that Tsvangirai’s
deputy still had reservations over the party’s involvement in the MDC Alliance.
“Khupe’s visit and working meeting at president
Tsvangirai’s residence yesterday (Monday) was not and must
not be read as a wholesale withdrawal of all the
substantive issues that were raised in the much-publicised letter that was
written to and is filed in MDC-T president Tsvangirai’s office, save for the
condition on the place of the meeting that had been placed,” Dube said.
He said the only matter that was finalised was the incident
of violence which occurred in Bulawayo where an “amnesty” was reached resulting
in the lifting of suspensions of both Bhebhe and Hwende.
“This amnesty was done outside the founding context of the
violence which, therefore, leaves the other substantive issues that they raised
in the letter to president Tsvangirai very much in the middle of the table. The
extent of engagement on the same in yesterday’s meeting is a matter that will
be unravelled in the official party activities and constitutional meetings
which deputy president Dr Khupe will be leading in the interim that president
Tsvangirai is winding up his medical leave,” he said.
Dube added: “Therefore, the climbdown to going to the MDC-T
party’s 2018 presidential candidate’s residence and all party offices including
Harvest House by Khupe, Moyo and Bhebhe, must not only be read as their
accommodation of president Tsvangirai’s medical leave conditions, which we all
pray will be over soon, but as a hint of their magnanimity and altruism in
putting national interests before themselves. Added to that, the security
situation around the three standing committee members has been closely
monitored since the Bulawayo provincial office violence. Currently, nothing
suggests that there may be any new incidents of violence that will bring the
name of the party into disrepute, which in essence was their primary concern
about presenting themselves at MDC-T establishments in Harare.”
Khupe’s aide also added: “The lengthy and fruitful meeting
was both a courtesy visit to the president following his stay in South Africa
on medical leave as well as a routine working meeting between the president and
his deputy of 11 years in the party. It emerged and was agreed to that the
suspensions had neither been sufficiently constructed nor formally communicated
to the affected parties to warrant sustenance. In any case, the leadership
mutually struck a reconciliatory tone of letting bygones be bygones regarding
the incident of violence that happened at the Bulawayo provincial office.”
But highly-placed MDC-T sources maintained that the two
leaders had narrowed down their differences over the MDC Alliance project.
“They met at Tsvangirai’s residence resulting in the
cancellation of the standing committee meeting which the president was supposed
to chair. Most of the issues were discussed and ironed out because they
bordered on personalities in the MDC Alliance and not the principle,” a source
said.
This came as the Tendai Biti-led People’s Democratic Party
is divided over joining the MDC Alliance.
Biti recently endorsed the Tsvangirai-led MDC Alliance,
resulting in a fierce clash with party secretary-general Gorden Moyo, who
accused him of railroading the party into the coalition without the consent of
other executives.
The two have since parted ways with each claiming leadership
of the fractured party.
Meanwhile, the MDC Alliance leadership will tomorrow meet
after a long lull to plan its programme of action and activities in the
aftermath of Tsvangirai’s hospitalisation in South Africa.
Alliance spokesman Jacob Ngarivhume confirmed the meeting.
“We are going to have a meeting this Thursday (tomorrow)
and the appropriate details of the issues discussed will be advised to the
nation after the meeting,” Ngarivhume said.
The Alliance is composed of MDC-T, MDC, Transparent
Zimbabwe, Zimbabwe People First, PDP and other smaller parties.
The Alliance is still actively courting Joice Mujuru and
her National People’s Party.
Ngarivhume took a dig at the government for the
deteriorating economic situation in the country.
Speaking at a Press conference in Harare, Ngarivhume said
the government should repeal the Indigenisation Act, adopt the South African
rand as the base currency and avoid unnecessary expenditure by its departments.
He said the solution to the country’s woes lay in having a
united opposition and an effective regime change in the 2018 polls. Newsday
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