By Staff Reporter
The Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) led by Morgan Tsvangirai is set to formally split on Saturday with Nehanda Radio sources claiming a faction of the party fronted by expelled Deputy Treasurer General Elton Mangoma will break away.
Its not clear if MDC-T Secretary General Tendai Biti will be part of the proceedings at at the Mendel Training Centre in Malborough, 15km away from the MDC-T Harvest House headquarters, but we understand a national executive meeting of the rebels will be followed by another meeting of their national council.
As reported by Nehanda Radio, Biti was facing a rebellion from several MP’s who fear losing their seats in parliament because of the split. But the rebels are allegedly planning to expel Tsvangirai and plunge the party into a bruising legal battle over the status of the MP’s and other party issues.
But other sources claim the MDC rebels already have an assurance from President Robert Mugabe (via proxies) that their MP’s will not be expelled from parliament.
The acrimony in the party exploded into the open when Mangoma wrote a letter suggesting Tsvangirai was ‘damaged goods’ and should step down.
This did not go down well with Tsvangirai loyalists who argued he was elected at a congress and only the same grassroots members could take away his mandate.
Since then both factions have been trading barbs in newspapers and social media. Some in the ‘renewal camp’ even opened bogus facebook pages to launch personal attacks at their perceived opponents.
Although Mangoma has been the public face of the rebels in the party the continued feeling is that he is a proxy for Biti who ultimately is calling the shots. Western embassies and diplomats have also been sucked into the mess with allegations they are sponsoring Tsvangirai’s ouster.
More details as we get them……..
