Pamela Shumba Senior Reporter THE MDC-T Guardian Council yesterday reprimanded the party’s faction leaders Morgan Tsvangirai and Tendai Bit...
Pamela Shumba Senior Reporter
THE MDC-T Guardian Council yesterday reprimanded the party’s faction leaders Morgan Tsvangirai and Tendai Biti and conceded that the party’s existence was no longer guaranteed. The council’s acting chairperson Sekai Holland yesterday staged a U-turn from an earlier statement she issued on Thursday that dissociated the party’s elders from the renewal team in a development that had been seen as a boost by Tsvangirai’s camp.
The MDC-T senator was reportedly coerced to issue the initial statement that she retracted yesterday with a damning assessment of both factions.
Holland said the party’s warring camps have been acting unconstitutionally by claiming to have suspended each other’s leaders.
She also said Tsvangirai’s move to recall MPs and Senators from Parliament would create confusion and instability in the party.
“The MDC has reached the most critical stage of its life, facing an existential crisis as, according to their own accounts, there is no longer any trust between the president and the secretary general and amongst the members of the National Standing Committee,” said Holland.
She added: “On this note, and in view of the need for openness and transparency to the nation, the Guardian Council feels it must, sadly, use a public platform to rebuke all our National Standing Committee leaders.”
Holland said the MDC-T’s Guardian Council’s mandate is to offer advice and wisdom to the national leadership of the party including the national executive committee and national council.
On Thursday, Holland told journalists in Harare that the organ had nothing to do with Biti’s renewal team and had never been involved in the Harare meeting that purportedly suspended Tsvangirai and six other top leaders.
Yesterday she, however, organised another Press conference to distance the Council from the two camps.
In an interview, MDC-T spokesperson Douglas Mwonzora dismissed claims that Holland had been coerced in the first instance, saying she actually participated in the drafting of the statement.
“That is completely false. She participated in the drafting of the statement and delivered it in a room full of journalists and some members of the Guardian Council. She absolutely showed no signs of being coerced,” said Mwonzora, adding that Holland was “messing up”.
Jacob Mafume, the spokesperson for Biti’s faction, said the new development was an indication that the Guardian Council appreciated leadership renewal.
He said despite being a senior member of the party, Holland read Thursday’s statement that had distanced the council from the renewal team because she “feared for her life”.
THE MDC-T Guardian Council yesterday reprimanded the party’s faction leaders Morgan Tsvangirai and Tendai Biti and conceded that the party’s existence was no longer guaranteed. The council’s acting chairperson Sekai Holland yesterday staged a U-turn from an earlier statement she issued on Thursday that dissociated the party’s elders from the renewal team in a development that had been seen as a boost by Tsvangirai’s camp.
The MDC-T senator was reportedly coerced to issue the initial statement that she retracted yesterday with a damning assessment of both factions.
Holland said the party’s warring camps have been acting unconstitutionally by claiming to have suspended each other’s leaders.
She also said Tsvangirai’s move to recall MPs and Senators from Parliament would create confusion and instability in the party.
“The MDC has reached the most critical stage of its life, facing an existential crisis as, according to their own accounts, there is no longer any trust between the president and the secretary general and amongst the members of the National Standing Committee,” said Holland.
She added: “On this note, and in view of the need for openness and transparency to the nation, the Guardian Council feels it must, sadly, use a public platform to rebuke all our National Standing Committee leaders.”
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| Tsvangirai, Biti reprimanded |
On Thursday, Holland told journalists in Harare that the organ had nothing to do with Biti’s renewal team and had never been involved in the Harare meeting that purportedly suspended Tsvangirai and six other top leaders.
Yesterday she, however, organised another Press conference to distance the Council from the two camps.
In an interview, MDC-T spokesperson Douglas Mwonzora dismissed claims that Holland had been coerced in the first instance, saying she actually participated in the drafting of the statement.
“That is completely false. She participated in the drafting of the statement and delivered it in a room full of journalists and some members of the Guardian Council. She absolutely showed no signs of being coerced,” said Mwonzora, adding that Holland was “messing up”.
Jacob Mafume, the spokesperson for Biti’s faction, said the new development was an indication that the Guardian Council appreciated leadership renewal.
He said despite being a senior member of the party, Holland read Thursday’s statement that had distanced the council from the renewal team because she “feared for her life”.
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