MDC Renewal Team attack Daily News

Full Statement by MDC Renewal Team

The MDC Renewal Team notes with serious concern the false stories being peddled almost on a daily by The Daily News that are portraying the party as being in turmoil.

It has now become true to fashion and tradition that The Daily News is now seeking to reinvent tired and fictitious articles of the purported imminent collapse of the renewal project and false shadowy stories within the MDC Renewal Team leadership.

As the MDC Renewal Team we want to set it on record that we are proponents of a free press, and respect the freedom of assembly, association and expression.

We believe that a free press is one of the key tenets that build a democratic society by fostering transparency, accountability, and governance. This is particularly so in the case of Zimbabwe where citizens are still to enjoy the fruits of their hard won political independence.

However, if the role of The Daily News in today’s civilised society is to openly manufacture falsehoods in a forlorn attempt to discredit and smear the MDC Renewal Team, then it is dismally failing to play watchdog and serving the nation to be informed.

In the recent past, the newspaper has resorted to using fictitious and nameless sources; and fabricated documents in their reportage on the Renewal Team activities. The reporting standards lack basic tools that are understood even by a first year journalism student.

We make particular reference to the use of a story published in The Daily News of Wednesday, 18 June 2014, where in the article fake documents that have absolutely no link to the MDC Renewal Team were used to prop up the newspaper’s project of discrediting the renewal call in the MDC.

We want to place it on record that the said document was never authored by any Renewal Team official or was there any meeting held to discuss the said document that was attended by a Renewal Team official. The dossier is a desperate lie manufactured by some known nervous officials in the suspended MDC President, Morgan Tsvangirai’s camp.

It is therefore totally unethical and unacceptable that in the article not a single name of any of the Renewal Team members who are claimed to be authors of the said dossier are mentioned or who attended the meeting where the so-called Power Point presentation was made. The article is totally lacking in truth, detail and is blatant disregard of basic journalistic standards and we dismiss it as nothing but yellow, gutter journalism and gross misinformation.

On Saturday, last week, the publication’s readers were once again falsely fed with lies on the purported collapse of the Renewal Team. In the story, the newspaper quoted a senior faceless and unnamed Renewal Team official as its “well-placed source”.

However, it is strange that as that day’s The Daily News issue hit the streets, the MDC Renewal Team including Secretary General, Tendai Biti, Deputy Treasurer General, Elton Mangoma and National Executive member, Lucia Matibenga were in Gweru addressing a well-attended provincial planning on the way forward of the Renewal Team’s project in the Midlands province.

On Thursday, 12 June, the newspaper claimed that talks between Biti and Tsvangirai had collapsed because Biti had “summoned Tsvangirai to appear before his disciplinary committee on 18 June” when it is clear it is the MDC National Council that suspended and charged Tsvangirai for his various transgressions and not Hon. Biti.

On Saturday, 19 April, it reported that Robert Mugabe had backed the Renewal Team without any background to prove its story. In his address on the heroes’ day, Mugabe had castigated internal party violence that was being perpetrated by Tsvangirai and his close lieutenants.

On Friday, 11 April, The Daily News reported of a purported 17 page document which details how the Renewal Team supposedly started putting their plan together to depose Tsvangirai, with the active support of Zanu PFagents from 2012. Again, a fake document prepared by Tsvangirai’s camp, which The Daily News took as the gospel truth, without verifying the facts.

On Wednesday, 26 March, The Daily News reported without any supporting evidence that the MDC Deputy Treasurer General, Elton Mangoma used party funds to bribe party structures in order for him to be the party’s president. Again no proof was provided nor did the paper seek audience with Mr. Mangoma before publishing the blatant lies.

On 27 January the newspaper claimed that Mr. Mr. Tsvangirai was starved of campaign funds and was only given less than $120 000 for the whole campaign. This is a sick joke as it is on record that Mr. Tsvangirai is a signatory to all party bank accounts and he approved all budgets, which were way above $120 000.

It is pertinent to note that since the emergence of the renewal call in the MDC, the tabloid has persistently and consistently written sham articles in order to please certain politicians but feeding their readers with lies and unbalanced stories.

Despite the machinations and shenanigans of The Daily News and some known politicians in Tsvangirai’s faction, the MDC Renewal Team restates its position that the doomsday cults and authors of these falsehoods will not stop the people’s national project of bringing about the much needed real change to the people of Zimbabwe.

The MDC Renewal Team knows that despite the desperate attempts by the newspaper in attempting to tarnish its good image, the people of Zimbabwe will never be swayed by publication being turned into a political propaganda mouthpiece of certain politicians linked to Tsvangirai.

Zimbabweans have now moved way above petty politicking and have diverted their attention to the real issues that will see the country’s economy ticking again and a better life for all.

As the MDC Renewal Team we are concerned by the failure by the government of the day, Zanu PF, to fulfil on its 2013 electoral promises of proving 2, 2 million jobs in the next five years. On the contrary a least 10 companies are closing every month and over 2 000 workers have lost their jobs since the beginning of the year.

Together, we are confident that we shall win.

Statement by MDC Renewal Team