‘The vote was carried unanimously, there were no dissenting voices’
‘The decision was received favourably across the country’
After nine months of negotiation under the auspices of SADC, the MDC was finally forced to make decisions as to what to do about the whole electoral process this weekend. Two sets of negotiation had been going on in parallel – talks with Zanu (PF) under the facilitation of the South African government and talks with the Mutambara faction of the MDC in the hope that the party might be reunified to fight the next election.
In the first process we had in fact made huge progress. A comprehensive package of reforms – some of which have been implemented, was negotiated, giving us the chance of a free and fair electoral process if they were implemented. Mugabe, who all along had been negotiating under duress, was eventually faced with the decision – allow these reforms through and face defeat or just tell his South African and SADC colleagues that they were asking too much – he decided on the latter.
Mbeki was forced to use his last option – to confront Mugabe’s refusal to implement the deal negotiated at such expense and time at a meeting of SADC Heads of State. He did so last week at Addis on the sidelines of the AU summit and we understand he pulled no punches. However, in the end Mugabe was backed by three other Heads of State – Swaziland, Namibia and Angola and Mbeki came away with no decision – such a decision could only be taken on a consensual basis and four against censure and eight in favour was just not enough.
So when the MDC leadership gathered in Harare last weekend to consider the question of fighting the next election, it was against the background of a failed mediation effort by Mbeki. In addition to this setback, we faced the reality that despite the reforms already adopted and passed through Parliament with our assistance, the regime in Harare was maintaining its barrage of anti democratic policies against the MDC.
Marches and rallies were being banned, there is no sign of any reform in the media and the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission is totally under the control and direction of the Zanu (PF)-led regime and was being staffed with many of the old electoral management from the security services.
The debate in the National Executive and then the Council was short and when the vote came to participate it was carried unanimously, there were no dissenting voices. In answer to those who claim that by running we are going to legitimize a rigged election, the President stated that to the contrary, the only way to demonstrate the illegitimate nature of the regime would be to contest every seat and make sure that they have to rig massively to get a result in their favour.
So now we have five days to put up nearly 2000 candidates under the MDC banner. That is no small task and it’s just as well we anticipated this decision and are far down the road on this one. I do not think we will get a candidate into every Rural District Council seat but we will contest every Urban Council seat and every Parliamentary and Senatorial seat, plus the Presidency.
In addition, we had been talking to the other faction of the MDC for over a year. Initially they had wanted an “amicable divorce” but insisted on continuing to use the MDC name and symbols and we said that if they wanted to do so, then unity was the only route we would accept.
We have since negotiated a full reunification agreement and when the election was announced, it was decided to translate that into an electoral pact that would take us past the elections and then going onto a Congress where the unification process would be completed. But the devil is always in the detail and when the MDC leadership was presented with the suggested list in terms of allocated seats, the whole deal fell apart.
It is now generally accepted that the group led by Mutambara is the smaller group, the crucial question is how much smaller? Obviously we feel that it is very much the junior player while they (understandably) do not agree. Had they accepted the selection of candidates by a democratic system there would have been no real argument – the decision as to who stood where would be left to the Party structures in the electoral districts concerned. However the Mutambara group feared that such a process would decimate their representation and refused to go down that path.
In the end we resolved to adopt the unity agreement with one or two minor amendments but to go back to the Mutambara group with a revised allocation of seats – one that our leadership felt was more realistic. The Mutambara group rejected this out of hand and we mutually decided to go it alone. Although I had anticipated this outcome, I was astonished by the reaction – not only in the MDC itself but nationally. The decision was received favourably across the country.
So now – for better or worse, we will fight this election – the Tsvangirai-led MDC joined by Zanu Ndonga will fight all seats and the Mutambara group will put up as many candidates as they can and run against us. There will be other Parties in the game – I know of 5 so far, perhaps with more to come, but in essence it will be the three-way scrap between Zanu (PF) and the two MDC groups that will receive most attention. Only the main wing of the MDC offers the chance of regime change and this puts all others at a severe disadvantage, and they know it. There was a profound sense of gloom at the hotel where the Mutambara group was caucusing yesterday in Harare.