The Sunday Mail
Facing imminent disintegration, MDC-T leader Mr Morgan Tsvangirai and his remaining loyalists have decided to “introspect” and see what has gone wrong with their party. The result has been a 29-page document which The Sunday Mail last week managed to get hold of. But instead of finding the genesis of its current troubles, and mapping a strategy for the future, it blames Western diplomats, donors, ex-Rhodies, the media, Zanu-PF and the Central Intelligence Organisation for all its woes.
The document alleges that the rebellion against Mr Tsvangirai is a multi-million-dollar covert operation sponsored by Western donors, ex-Rhodies and Zanu-PF.
It is titled “Zanu-PF Game Plan: Causing and sustaining chaos in MDC, deceptively engaging to solve economic crisis, dragging nation into early election”.
MDC-T spokesperson Mr Douglas Mwonzora was said to be in marathon meetings and could not comment on the document. Organising secretary Mr Nelson Chamisa refused to comment and referred all queries to Mr Mwonzora. The document alleges that many in their ranks “were approached and offered huge amounts of funds to try and bribe them” so that they rebel and join the MDC Renewal Team, led by Mr Tendai Biti and Mr Elton Mangoma. The document says Mr Biti, Mr Mangoma, and former senior officials Mr Toendepi Shonhe, Mr Fortune Gwaze, Mr Solomon Madzore and Mr Promise Mkwananzi were being funded by the odd combination of donors, ex-Rhodesians and Zanu-PF.
They are accused of crafting a propaganda campaign anchored on Mr Tsvangirai’s well-known marital and financial problems.
It is claimed that Mr Shonhe used funds sourced from those who wanted Mr Tsvangirai out and then bribed party structures to undermine and tarnish the MDC-T leader’s image.
“Shonhe, working in very close links with former director of research and policy Fortune Gwaze, established and co-ordinated a system of teams as well as communication channels that have been working on the sinister secret mission.
“Several senior MDC officials were bribed in various ways, with specific targets having been provincial chairpersons and secretaries.
“Some were given substantial amounts, raging between US$20 000 and US$100 000…
“Many party officials received either cash or assets such as houses and vehicles and agreed to become part of the plot by the Biti camp to gradually work towards campaigning within the structures for the eventual ouster of president Tsvangirai while backing the takeover bid of Biti,” reads part of the document.
Both ZANU-PF and the MDC Renewal Team have dismissed the claims.
Ruling party spokesperson Cde Rugare Gumbo said: “We don’t want to be involved in MDC issues; we are focusing on the economy and we don’t want to be distracted by who is fighting who. There is just too much political talk instead of concentrating on improving the economy.”
MDC Renewal Team spokesperson Mr Jacob Mafume said they were aware of the document’s existence, and denied that Messrs Biti and Mangoma received US$10 million from ZANU-PF and Western diplomats.
“If there is anyone who benefited from ZANU-PF it is Tsvangirai who is living in a Government house and pocketed US$1,5 million (of) which no one knows how the money was used.
“We are not leading any propaganda campaign against Tsvangirai; his love scandals are public information. He destroyed himself.”
The document also accuses the MDC Renewal Team of paying up to US$20 000 to some newspaper editors and reporters to tarnish Mr Tsvangirai.
This allegedly includes foreign journalists, primarily from Britain, who are said to have been paid to write anti-Tsvangirai articles.
“In addition to State-controlled media outlets in both print and electronic sectors, the secret service also brought on board privately-owned media, such as The Mail newspaper as well as titles under the Alpha Media Holdings – NewsDay and The Standard.
“Shonhe developed channels of systematically leaking confidential information from the MDC headquarters, such as on financial status, correspondences and even minutes from top leadership deliberations,” claims the document.
The document also says the MDC Renewal Team would join the MDC led by Professor Welshman Ncube and Prof Lovemore Madhuku’s NCA to form a United Democratic Front which would in turn form a government of national unity with ZANU-PF. It claims former South African president Mr Thabo Mbeki – who brokered the 2008 inclusive Government agreement – was ready to facilitate talks between the three. However, political scientist Mr Nyamutatanga Makombe said : “What is happening now could be because the MDC leaders enjoyed the trappings of power and ignored internal power struggles…
“If the MDC-T faction is accusing the media of being bribed, when was it bribed and how?”
