Zimbabwe Opposition Faction Leader Calls For Unity Against Ruling Party!

Zimbabwe Opposition Faction Leader Calls For Unity Against Ruling Party!

 

 

http://www.voanews.com/english/Africa/Zimbabwe/2007-05-14-voa53.cfm

 

By Mhlanga Sithandekile Washington 14 May 2007

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Zimbabwe's opposition Movement for Democratic Faction led by Arthur Mutambara, celebrated a victory in Umzingwane, Matebeleland South, Sunday, where it's candidate Elliot Dube, was elected councilor for Ward 12.

Top party officials including Mutambara, deputy president Gibson Sibanda and National Organizing Secretary Esoph Mdlongwa, attended the rally at the Kumbudzi Business Center.

Deputy party spokesman and Member of Parliament for Nkayi, Abednico Bhebhe, told Studio 7 that they had to move the rally from Saturday to Sunday, because at the last minute, police refused to grant them permission to hold the rally.

 

 

Bhebhe told reporter Sithandekile Mhlanga of VOA's Studio 7 for Zimbabwe, that Mutambara said both MDC factions would unite during elections, so as to put up a stronger front against the ruling ZANU PF party.

 

 

More Stories From VOA's Studio 7 for Zimbabwe...

 

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THE INTERVIEW BY THEARCHBISHOP PIUS NCUBE!

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"MUGABE AT HIS SUNSET BUT OPPOSITION IS IN DISARRAY!"

As Mugabe era ebbs, opposition is deeply divided in Zimbabwe

 

By Michael Wines

Published: May 8, 2007

 

 

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http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/05/08/news/zim.php

 

 

JOHANNESBURG: The last couple of years have been exceedingly tough for the Movement for Democratic Change, the only opposition political party of any note in Zimbabwe.

Party officials have been beaten with stones and logs; their cars have been hijacked; their posters have been methodically stripped from street poles. In one memorable instance, thugs tried to toss the party's director of security down a sixth-floor stairwell at the party's headquarters.

And those are just the attacks they have endured from their own members.

Even more than the Zimbabwean government's frequently brutal abductions and assaults on members of the MDC, the internecine brawls are evidence that all is not well inside Zimbabwe's political opposition, the force upon which the West has pinned its hopes for democratic change.

As President Robert Mugabe's 27-year rule enters what many analysts call a terminal phase, the self-proclaimed democratic opposition is near its nadir. The Movement for Democratic Change is split into two bitterly opposed factions, at war over ideology, power and prestige. Each has called the other a tool of Mugabe's spy service, the Central Intelligence Organization, and each has accused the other of betraying the party's democratic ideals.

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Now, with a crucial national election looming, the question is whether the two factions can reform their tactics and patch up their differences long enough to mount a serious challenge to Mugabe - and if they do, whether ordinary people will care.

Some Zimbabweans are skeptical. "They don't seriously challenge the regime," said Mike Davies, who leads a civic group, the Combined Harare Residents Association. "You ask young people here what they want, and their No. 1 answer is 'I want to get the hell out of Zimbabwe.' They don't buy into the MDC."

Another expert, a political analyst in Harare, the capital, who refused to be identified for fear of expulsion by the government, was dismissive. "As a political party," he said, "they haven't cut the mustard."

An unlikely amalgam of whites and blacks, trade unionists and intellectuals, the Movement for Democratic Change nearly won control of Parliament in 2000, just a year after its founding, and nearly beat Mugabe in the 2002 presidential contest.

By the end of 2006, however, repeated miscalculations and sometimes violent infighting had divided the party into two feuding camps, both almost irrelevant.

They might still be, had Mugabe's riot police not severely beaten dozens of opposition members during a protest March 11, including Morgan Tsvangirai, the popular figure who now heads the party's largest faction.

Although Tsvangirai and his loyalists presided over the party's decline - and not a little of the violence - his head wound and swollen eye instantly elevated the party's profile in the world press, turning him into a symbol of democratic change in Zimbabwe.

For the MDC, Tsvangirai's drubbing could be a godsend. Though the economy is in ruins, millions of citizens have fled the country and most of those who remain resent Mugabe, who at 83 has declared his intention to seek a new term as president in elections next March.

Zimbabwe's neighbors, belatedly alarmed at the unraveling next door, have appointed President Thabo Mbeki of South Africa to mediate guarantees of a free and fair election.

Most political analysts say Mugabe has already begun his campaign, in his own way. In February his agents began a wave of kidnappings and beatings of hundreds of Movement for Democratic Change leaders - a crusade, critics say, to destroy the opposition's will to contest another election.

Faced with that campaign, the two MDC factions have declared a temporary truce and pledged to wage a single campaign against Mugabe. But with 11 months left before the vote, they have yet to choose a presidential candidate or a parliamentary slate, much less a campaign plan.

Brian Raftopoulos, a Zimbabwean political scientist at the Institute for Justice and Reconciliation in Cape Town, says the clock is ticking. "They have to agree at the very minimum on a common election strategy and a common nominee for president," he said. "I think they've got very little time to do that."

In interviews, both Tsvangirai and Welshman Ncube, the general secretary of the opposing MDC faction, said that they were in serious talks to put aside their rivalry and refocus their energies on defeating Mugabe.

That will be a tall order, for as Ncube says, the two sides are at odds over bedrock issues about the role of a democratic opposition. One is the principle of majority rule; the other is the acceptability of violence as a political tactic.

 

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TSVANGIRAI BRUTAL TYRANT PART 2

We continue with the chilling account of how Morgan Tsvangirai institutionalised violence as a political instrument, as narrated by the MDC founding secretary for legal affairs, David Coltart, in "Why I cannot join Tsvangirai's faction", which he wrote only last year in June.


From Coltart's account so far we have learnt how over the years Tsvangirai used violence against those he perceived as political opponents within his own party - including female legislators! The Western media (with our pliant local media on hand for local consumption) go to great lengths to hide this sordid side of Tsvangirai and the MDC as part of imperialist efforts to get Tsvangirai elected as Zimbabwean president.

Allegations by the ruling Zanu PF that the MDC uses violence to intimidate Zanu-PF supporters during political campaigns are therefore always swept under the carpet. One can only shudder at the prospects of Tsvangirai becoming president, as this would give him unfettered access to the national armed forces - he would surely give 'repression' a completely new meaning. Incidentally, the West's tolerance towards Tsvangirai's thuggish behaviour explains why Third World dictators propped up by the West are by far the most repressive in the world.

Part 1 concluded at the point where Coltart was telling us that Tsvangirai prematurely ended a June, 2005 National Council meeting held to consider an enquiry into intra-party violence before the fate of senior party members implicated in the violence could be decided. Coltart continues with his narration: "I was so concerned about our failure to get to the bottom of the violence that I prepared a statement that was tabled at the next meeting of the National Executive held on the 15th July.

(In the statement) I reiterated my belief that the investigation had been incomplete and that further investigations and disciplinary action was needed...It was with this in mind that I suggested to Morgan Tsvangirai when I met him on the 12th November that an independent commission of enquiry into violence be established...Tsvangirai promised to consider the suggestion."

However, it was only in January 2006 that Coltart learnt from a senior National Executive member in the Tsvangirai faction that "Morgan Tsvangirai was no longer interested in pursuing the suggestion. I subsequently had a private meeting with Tsvangirai on the 27th January and it was clear in that meeting that he was not interested in pursuing the proposal any further."

In addition to having been disappointed by Tsvangirai's refusal to commission an independent enquiry into the violence, Coltart informs us that he had also become increasingly dismayed by the following: "The senior member of staff dismissed by the National Council in its June 2005 meeting has been re-employed by the Tsvangirai faction; the youths responsible for the violence in Harvest House in September 2004 and May 2005 expelled from the party by the Management Committee (and endorsed by the National Council) have been re-employed by the Tsvangirai faction: at least one of these youths was involved in the unlawful hi-jacking of a vehicle in the lawful possession of the Mutambara faction in March. It appears as if no internal disciplinary action has been taken against that youth."

Coltart continues: "the senior members of the National Executive and MPs implicated in the Harvest House violence were all elected to the National Executive and some are on the new Management Committee of the Tsvangirai faction; senior members of staff implicated in the Harvest House violence have retained their positions; the Tsvangirai faction's winning candidate in Budiriro is one of the very people suspended by the MDC National Council in June last year for 2 years on the accusation of being involved in the Harvest House violence; the Budiriro by election has been marked by violence and illegal activity including the tearing down of the Mutambara faction candidate's posters;

Tsvangirai faction Chairman of Harare Province Morgan Femai was quoted in the press as having told a rally in Mufakoze on the 2nd April 2006 that 'before we remove Zanu PF we will stamp them (the Mutambara faction) out.' No statement rebutting this policy has been issued by the leadership of the Tsvangirai faction."

LINK!!!

STATEMENT BY PRESIDENT TSVANGIRAI!

"There's still time for Mugabe ... but not much!"

by Morgan Tsvangirai

The Washington Times, Friday 4 May, 2007

PLEASE CLICK HEADER FOR LINK!

On March 11, 2007 I was arrested while attempting to attend a prayer vigil in Harare, and taken to a police station where officers, whose job it is to protect the public, beat me so badly I suffered injuries to my skull and had to be hospitalised for almost a week.

My crime: trying to pray for change in Zimbabwe.

The world’s outcry over the past two months at the brutality exhibited by the regime of President Robert Mugabe has been heartening to the Zimbabwe people. Make no mistake, this condemnation, both in Africa and abroad, has had a huge and positive effect on the morale of those fighting for freedom.

Robert Mugabe has ruled Zimbabwe from 1980, and since that time we have seen inflation spiral from virtually zero to 2300 per cent, a collapse of the currency and the flight into economic exile of almost a third of our population.

True, there have been worse leaders in the world. According to the Guinness Book of Records, Joseph Stalin killed more than 30 million people. Idi Amin, murdered around 300 000 Ugandans, while one-in-10 Cambodians perished under the rule of Pol Pot. Stalin, Amin and Pol Pot lived out their lives in relative comfort, and died of natural causes.

Nevertheless the world has changed. General Augusto Pinochet of Chile, propped up so shamelessly by Washington and Europe during the Cold War, ended up on trial, stripped of the immunity he had forced the Argentine government to give him in exchange for a transfer to democracy.

On my own continent, the former leadership of Rwanda and Sierra Leone are in the dock, while one-time president of Liberia, Charles Taylor is under arrest at the Hague for crimes against humanity.

These are dangerous times for dictators.

I have little doubt that one reason Robert Mugabe is so determined to stay in office until he dies (he's already 83 years old) is a fear of prosecution.

In the early '80s, he sent his army into our southern province of Matabeleland where they slaughtered thousands of people loyal to his rival, the late Dr Joshua Nkomo. That one act would be enough to see him tried for war crimes, let alone the wide scale murder and torture committed by his government since our party, the Movement for Democratic Change or MDC, first challenged his authority in 1999.

Mugabe was not alone. Air Marshall Perence Shiri amongst others, led the Matabele genocide; speaker of Parliament Emmerson Mnangagwa oversaw it as minister; various heads of the feared Central Intelligence Organisation or CIO, including the incumbent Didymus Mutasa.

These individuals could be held responsible for permitting acts of torture and abuse, not to mention the wholesale displacement of an estimated 1.5 million people when their homes were bulldozed in 2005 during operation Murambatsvina (clear the trash).

And that’s the Catch-22! If we say we'll bring these people to justice, they will cling ever-more firmly to power. Yet, if we offer them unconditional pardon, we sell out the hopes of their victims: millions of people who have a right to justice.

With my body still in pain from the recent beating, I am reminded of the words of Henry Kissinger when he was secretary of state in the 1970s: "If you want to make peace, it's no good talking to your friends; you need to speak with your enemies."

To this end we are willing at any time to sit down with Mugabe and his ministers and discuss a transfer to democracy, free and fair elections, an end to their rigid control of the media and a new era of freedom for Zimbabwe. After all, we have nothing to lose and polling suggests our party would win a landslide if people had the chance to vote without the rigging and intimidation that have marred recent efforts.

If it took immunity from prosecution to secure change, we could talk about that. Our side comes to the table with no preconditions except that discussion must be aimed at bringing true freedom to the country. I will never be bought off by offers to join Mugabe's side, or any plan that would see a continuation of the current tyranny.

The change I talk about will come, regardless of whether Mugabe agrees to it or not. As surely as dictatorship fell in Chile, Cambodia, Liberia, Rwanda, Sierra Leone and the former Soviet Union, it will collapse in Zimbabwe. But the longer Mr Mugabe and his allies stall that change, the greater will be the wrath of our people.

There is still time for Mr Mugabe to make a dignified exit, but not much. Beatings, torture, killings, rigged elections and control of the media may secure his position in the short term, but nothing will change the outcome.

Let's pray that Africa and the world can persuade him of that before it is too late.

Mr Tsvangirai is president of the Zimbabwe opposition party, the Movement for Democratic Change.

©The Washington Times

"MATONGO RE-BUILT THE PARTY AFTER THE SPLIT!" MDC

MDC says Matongo rebuilt the party after split


By Our Correspondent

PLEASE CLICK ON THE HEADER FOR LINK!


HARARE, May 3, 2007- The Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) says the death of national chairman Isaac Matongo early on Wednesday had robbed them of a dedicated cadre who held the party together after internal squabbles led to a split two years ago. Matongo, 60, died in his sleep at his Chisipite home in Harare. He is suspected to have died of a heart attack. His deputy, Lovemore Moyo said Matango was a committed member who did not hesitate to act when the need for action arose. “We’re all shocked by this sad development. “We are shocked that a man who had been well all along can simply die in his sleep. Indeed in Matongo, we have lost a cadre who was committed to his work and never looked back when demanded to tackle problems,” Moyo said.


He highlighted that Matongo’s greatest contribution to the MDC saw him hold fort at the height of the internecine conflict that led to the opposition party’s split on October 12, 2005.



Moyo said Matongo worked tirelessly to recreate the structures after the split, and took over several roles to hold the party together, single-handedly.



“He is the man who ran the organization (the MDC) after we parted ways with our colleagues on October 12, 2005. He was literally the re-organizing secretary, the national chairman, acting secretary-general, acting treasurer, and organizer of the party.



“Matongo enjoyed his work and was indeed a man whom we could all rely on, and it is indeed with a heavy heart that we have learnt of his death,” Moyo said.



Condolence messages continued to pour in as news of Matongo’s death spread. The Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Union, (ZCTU) said Matongo’s death was a serious blow to efforts to propel Zimbabwe into a democratically-governed nation.



ZCTU secretary-general, Wellington Chibebe said: “Matongo’s loss is a loss not only to the MDC but indeed to the whole nation. He was an illustrious son of the soil and the country’s labour movement indeed joins the nation in mourning Matongo.”



Born in Masvingo, Matongo became member of the ZCTU after Zimbabwe attained independence. Subsequently, the National Engineering Workers’ Union (NEWU) elected him vice-president in 1988. He then served as the vice-president of the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU) together with Morgan Tsvangirai who was then the ZCTU secretary-general. Tsvangirai is now president of the MDC.



Matongo played a pivotal role in the conception and formation of the MDC in 1999.



Matongo, together with other labour and civic leaders, convened the historic All Working National Peoples’ Convention in 1999, which gave birth to the MDC to resolve the ever-deepening crisis in Zimbabwe . Matongo was elected the founding national chairman, a position he held at the time of his death.



Matongo was married to Evelyn Masaiti, the former MDC MP for Mutasa. Masaiti said she heard her husband groan in pain and gasping for breath in the early hours of Wednesday. He is suspected to have suffered a heart attack.

Matongo is likely to be buried in his home area in Masvingo at a date to be confirmed. Moyo said: “Some of the relatives are yet to be informed. Those that have gathered in Harare have resolved that Matongo be laid to rest in Masvingo at the family home.


“We hope that all will go according to plan and that we will not have any hitches. As for now, we await the post-mortem so that we can get to understand what could have taken his life.”

URGENT "STATE OF THE NATION ADDRESS" FROM THE OFFICE OF THE EXECUTIVE PRESIDENT!

"STATE OF THE NATION" ADDRESS BY YOUR PRESIDENT!

I think there is a bit of confusion in our beloved country of Zimbabwe today!

Who ever said I won the Presidential Elections of 2002?

I never said so!

All I said was Tsvangirai's Election Petitions are "frivolous and vexatious."

I also pleaded with all patriots to "recognize" me as the Executive President.

I am the only person who can keep this country of Zimbabwe together!

If I removed myself from the top seat, the country will degenerate into chaos (racialism, tribalism, regionalism and all the negatives you can think of!)

Now we are in this whole mess because you simply refused to do the obvious- JUST RECOGNIZE ME. PERIOD!

Do you honestly think Tsvangirai can run this country?

I'm very disappointed with you, my fellow countrymen!

Running a country is a very complicated, delicate task!

You do your best and you are still accused of not doing your best!

WHO REALLY COULD HAVE MANAGED THIS ECONOMY BETTER THAN ME?

Now about the so-called rigging and the so-called-violence!

Your focus should be on the major issues!

Would we really stand by and allow Mr Blair to re-colonize our country, take away our Sovereignty and take over all our resources?

Would you allow someone to take your wife and you just stood by?

Please lets be very serious, Ladies and Gentlemen, Comrades and Friends!

About assassinations:be very careful!

This may break the whole Nation apart!

Who killed Cde Hebert Chitepo?

So why do you ask who killed General Josiah Magama Tongogara?

About the so-called "Truth and Reconciliation Commission!"

Where and when do we start?

Who will remain without blood on his hands?

Do you know how Dr Parerenyatwa died? Was it Smith's men or was it an internal struggle?

So will you raise the dead to ask them to testify?

Then last but not least: where in the world are "perfect people"?

The words "rigging", "assassinations" etc are English words!

Are they Shona words?

MUTIKWANIRE! (STOP THIS LUNACY!)

Please recognize me, rally behind me as your God-given father and lets move forward and re-build our Nation!

About the unfortunate isolated incidents in the Southern part of our country (the so-called "Gukurahundi Massacres"), please lets not open old wounds!

The Ndebeles can be very naive if they think we have forgotten their vicious raids against our peace-loving Shona people in the 1890s!

Please let all bye-gones be bye-gones!

MAY THE GOOD LORD ABOVE BE WITH YOU ALL!

Yours Faithfully,

ME.

 

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CHAIRMAN MATONGO'S DEATH: "FOUL PLAY NOT SUSPECTED!"

MDC chairman Matongo dies http://www.zimbabwejournalists.com/story.php?art_id=2218&cat=1

Isaac Matongo.   By Dennis Rekayi HARARE – Opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) national chairman, Isaac Matongo, has died. He died in his sleep and his family is not suspecting any foul play. Information so far from the opposition reveals the trade unionist who teamed up with colleagues to form the MDC in 1999 and was instrumental in keeping the Morgan Tsvangirai team together, died in his bed in the early hours of today at his Borrowdale house. Matongo, who was married to colleague Evelyn Masaiti, who was the MP for Mutasa from 2000 to 2005, was one of the key leaders in the MDC. Masaiti said she heard her husband groaning around 3 am today, apparently breathing his last, a family spokesperson said. "His wife was woken up nemagwiriri acho (groans) and he died there and then. That was the end of  the man we all loved and knew as the stabiliser in the MDC. We suspect that it was a heart attack." Mourners have already started gathering at Matongo's house. They were led by the party's founding president and friend, Morgan Tsvangirai, who was in the ZCTU with Matongo before they decided to form the MDC. Tsvangirai has since put on hold plans to visit the United Kingdom early May. He said the party had learnt with shock of Matongo's death and was in mourning for a gallant Zimbabwean son who was fighting for change in his beloved country. Tsvangirai said the party had lost a gallant and princilled man who gave all he had to fight dictatorship in Zimbabwe. The party's chairman in the UK and Ireland said the MDC had been "shaken to the core" by Matongo's death. "Today is a very very sad day for us in the MDC. All who knew what this man did for the party - acting as the president's buffer zone, our stabiliser, man of vision and intergrity - will tell you that we have lost a great man. We are heart-broken," said Tapa. He said he had spoken with Matongo on Sunday when he was coming from the MDC's strategic meeting in South Africa. The two were supposed to speak again yesterday but Tapa forgot to call and was meant to talk to him today over party issues concerning the UK and Ireland. "VaMatongo was a founding member of this party. He was there right from the formative stages when it was just an idea. He went on to create the structures of the party as we know them today, he helped build the party to be what it is today," said Tapa. "Even in the Diaspora we continue to build on his vision. He brought sanity and sense of purpose and direction to the party and we were in touch with him twice every week." "Matongo was a principled, honest man, selfless true liberation hero. The party is going through a very difficult period right now - his death is really shocking and sad. We have suffered an irrepairable loss. It is like an earthquake. We have been shaken to the core. The party is shaking. Our stabiliser is gone." Tapa said Matongo's spirit would remain with those still fighting for change in the MDC and other pro-democracy groups that worked with the opposition in seeking Zimbabwe's return to the democratic path. "We are crying today and we hope to remain inspired by his exemplary work in the party to take the struggle even further as we seek and fight for a new Zimbabwe. It is a sad, sad loss."

 

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MDC NATIONAL CHAIRMAN MATONGO DIES!

 

02 May 2007

 

By Staff Reporter

 

http://www.nehandaradio.com/matongodeath020507.html

 

The National Chairman of the main opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), Isaac Matongo is reported to have died in his sleep 3am Wednesday morning. No details on the cause of death have been disclosed yet but its believed he had been unwell for some time.

When the party split in October of 2005 over whether to participate in senate elections or not Matongo had initially aligned himself with the smaller pro-senate faction of the party. He later made a u-turn and rejoined the much larger party led by Tsvangirai. Matongo was very active in shaping up MDC structures in the diaspora and travelled extensively in this regard.

In 2000, Matongo was the acting president in the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions when they organised a one-day general strike to protest the lawlessness on the occupied farms. He is survived by his wife and fellow MDC colleague Evelyn Masaiti, the MP for Mutasa from 2000 to 2005.

 

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