Source: Tsvangirai calls vultures to order – DailyNews Live
Fungi Kwaramba 18 January 2018
HARARE – MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai has counselled his impatient
lieutenants who are already looking beyond him that he is still in charge
and that his successor will only come through proper party processes.
Speaking through his spokesperson, Luke Tamborinyoka, Tsvangirai who is
expected home this week from South Africa where he had gone for his
routine medical check-up, said those who are looking at succeeding him
should “hold their horses”.
“…Tsvangirai is still in office and he will not allow what is happening,
especially those who are already in the post-Tsvangirai mode,” said
Tamborinyoka.
“If they are mischievous people who are already discussing his health,
then they should follow the internal and constitutional processes; if they
are political vultures who are lurking in the shadows they should stop
what they are doing.”
Tamborinyoka said succession should not be an issue that the country’s
biggest opposition party should be seized with at the moment.
He said the party’s constitution and internal processes should be followed
by those who think it is an issue.
“Remember…Tsvangirai is a stickler to democracy and he will not impose
any candidate. Now those vultures should hold their horses,” said
Tamborinyoka.
There is presently a raging factional war in the MDC triggered by
Tsvangirai’s ill-health.
This follows the former trade unionist’s long battle with cancer of the
colon, which has taken him in and out of South Africa on routine medical
check-up.
The fights have all along been bubbling under the surface before they
exploded into the open after the MDC leader announced that he was
considering departing from the political stage, handing the reins to a
younger generation.
This prompted ambitious cadres to throw their hats into the ring.
At least three factions have emerged, all gunning for Tsvangirai’s job in
the event that he becomes incapacitated.
Tsvangirai’s three deputies -Nelson Chamisa, Elias Mudzuri and Thokozani
Khupe believe they can fit into his shoes.
A certain section of the MDC is now pressing for an extraordinary congress
before national elections that are due mid-year.
Khupe’s camp believes the job should be given to her by virtue of being
the only deputy elected at congress while the other two were appointed.
Last week, a close ally of Khupe, Abednico Bhebhe, told our sister paper
the Daily News on Sunday that Khupe will have little choice but to quit
should Tsvangirai insist on handing over power to either Chamisa or
Mudzuri while sidelining his longest serving deputy.
“She (Khupe) is a democrat who believes in constitutionalism and the only
way out is for the party to follow the constitution or Khupe will have
little option but to step down. She either will insist on following the
constitution or she quits rather than being forced to be an accomplice in
mutilating the party constitution,” Bhebhe said.
He warned that such a development could lead to another split saying
“while that is not desirable, it could be inevitable because at the moment
anything is possible”.
MDC spokesperson Obert Gutu told the Daily News that the majority in the
MDC prefer to follow the constitutional route and have a congress.
“If anything happens to the president the only route to take is through a
congress and not the imposition of candidates,” said Gutu.
Observers have warned that the party would split if Tsvangirai were to
impose his successor.
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