via Tsvangirai massive support base, a myth:Nkomo | Radio Dialogue October 6, 2014 by Makhosi Sibanda
The belief that Morgan Tsvangirai’s MDC has more numbers than any other opposition political party is a myth says national chairperson of the MDC Renewal Samuel Sipepa Nkomo amid more defections of MDC-T House of Assembly representatives and councillors.
The latest senior members to leave the embattled MDC-T are Pumula Constituency MP Albert Mhlanga who effectively stepped down as the party’s provincial organising secretary, Binga MP Prince Sibanda as well as the Woman’s Assembly chairperson and MP Gladys Mathe.
About 14 Bulawayo councillors including Ward 8′s Sheila Musonda also have defected from MDC-T to the MDC Renewal team.
Speaking during the parade of the ‘new’ renewal members in Killarney, Sipepa Nkomo’s home, he said going against Morgan Tsvangirai was difficult as there is a feeling or a belief not only in the media but in other circles that he has more followers than any other opposition parties.
“That is a belief that I want to now say is a myth because it is not true, it may have been true a year or two years ago, not it is no longer true.
“The people that were seen at Tsvangirai’s rallies were organised by us, if we were able to organise those people we are the same people that can disorganise,” said Sipepa.
He said in so far as Bulawayo is concerned, Tsvangirai has lost ground.
“The people of Bulawayo vote as a block and when we tell him that he has lost it he does not believe it, we hope that the people close to him will whisper to him the truth,” said Sipepa Nkomo.
He said rejecting Tsvangirai was not about the numbers but upholding the values and principles of the party.
Giving his speech, Mhlanga said it was impossible for any sane individual who experienced the events of the MDC-T provincial congress to ignore the criticisms levelled against his former party.
“The provincial congress confirmed beyond any reasonable doubt that MDC-T does no longer respect the norms and values of its own constitution.
“Members of the Standing Committee particularly Thokozani Khuphe and Abednico Bhebhe behaved like a bunch of petulant school kids, puffing and ranting as they competed in excluding everyone believed to be outside their faction,” said Mhlanga.
He said 500 of his former colleagues in the province and districts had directed him to speak on their behalf adding that: “We declare our resignation en masse from MDC-T.”
MDC-T spokesperson Mandla Sibanda was not immediately available for a comment as his mobile phone was unreachable.
Senator Sekai Holland was last month officially appointed the MDC renewal team’s interim president.
COMMENTS
While the fact that MDC_T, and apparently any other MDC splinter formation, might have strayed far and wide, or even narrowly, from the founding principle of original MDC, The Renewal Team, or any other splinter group needs to seriously note the following sad reality:
“Guyz your parting ways with erstwhile colleagues in the MDC_T is sufficient evidence that you totally disagree with your former colleagues, or at least with Tsvangi and few others, whatever the case. Whether you guyz are correct or wrong remains for us & more importantly history to judge. Having said that, the key point to be made and I am making it now is: If you have principled agendas to pursue then you channel all your energies in pursuit of those principles. This apparent obsession with Tsvangi and MDC_T is tantamount to putting your hands on a plough and then looking back at the same time instead of facing the front and concentrate the ploughing that you want to do, if you indeed want to it.
Remember Tsvangi & MDC_T for all their weaknesses are not the authors of the situation in which Zim finds its self. Those who are responsible for the mess are known to all & sundry. So, your obsession with Morgan will sooner than later come back to haunt you. Leave Morgan alone & concentrate on the work at hand, which is nothing more & nothing less than extricating the motherland from the jaws of the insatiable dictatorship – and surely Tsvangi is not part of the dictatorship.
In short people are waiting to see what your are going to do differently, especially given that you have been part and parcel of MDC_T that allowed a failed regime to comeback from the dead and snatch a landslide electoral victory its nose. This is what you guyz must be concentrating on if you want people to take you seriously; otherwise some voice which are already whispering that key figures in your team are actually zanu pf moles ( or have been given large sums of money by zanu pf to destroy MDC_T) might start getting serious attention soon.
Ignore this free council at you peril guyz.
The renewal team is pre-occupied with Tsvangirai instead on focussing on the authors of Zim’s problems. Why don’t the Renewal Team hold a rally so that we know the level of their support. They have been in existence for more than six months and they are afraid to expose themselves. In your opinion the numbers that we saw at the last rally before the election were any illusion. Sipepa why are you behaving like a divorced spouse. Please man up and focus on the real issues.
My only advise is this ‘a member of a different party is not necessarily your enemy’ you just have different views.
If the numbers are indeed a myth why is it that the defectors are not willing to relinquish the seats they won on MRTs back and stand an election under the renewal banner
“The people that were seen at Tsvangirai’s rallies were organised by us, if we were able to organise those people we are the same people that can disorganise,” said Sipepa.
So when it comes to other issues like mobilisation of the masses/ grassroots the Renewal guyz want to take all the credit and heap all the blame for losing on Morgan, and zvakangooma hazvo vakomana chimboitai tione