Open letter to Abedinico Bhebhe and Theresa Makone

This letter serves to register our fury over the way Abedinico Bhebhe and Theresa Makone conducted themselves when they came to South Africa recently for a Johannesburg District Council meeting.  They got everything wrong.

They repeatedly made erroneous decisions, refused to comply with MDC constitution and ignored everything that MDC stands for. These are people serving in the standing committee whose presence in Johannesburg should have boasted our confidence in our Party of excellence.

Instead of closing-up tribal mistrusts and divisions, they widened the political apertures. They left the Party more divided, tense and susceptible to internal squabbles. The duo is more dangerous to MDC than Zanu PF and Tendai Biti combined.

We are not going to keep our mouths as long as there are leaders who are failing to properly represent the ideals of President Morgan Tsvangirai.

The two failed to differentiate a district meeting from a provincial congress. They were invited and sponsored by opulent members of Johannesburg district who kept on feeding them with KFC drumsticks throughout the day in full-view of the starving Party members camping in the freezing grounds outside the bosses’ hot-air conditioned venue.

The Chairman of the province was conveniently left out. Who does not know that provincial chairmen are the contact points of the national leadership? Like pigs on feeding troughs, Bhebhe and Makone never raised their heads to even greet or address Party members camping at the gate.

As if this was not enough circuses the meeting turned into a Provincial Council and shockingly ended up being an elective congress. Such a charade can only be expected at a pre-school. Bhebhe did not even seem to understand that Secretariats are appointed and not voted into office. He barred secretariats from attending the council meeting.

He also never ceased to boast about the executive powers he has to boot-out Party structures. Bhebhe then asked all members of the Provincial executive to resign. He then proceeded to conduct elections whose residual credibility is far much less than what Zanu PF war veterans produce every election time.

The majority of Party members who were supposed to participate in the voting were locked outside. The number of candidates was far more than the voters. Almost everyone who was admitted in the meeting walked out with a position in the Provincial structure. What kind of nonsense is this?

Ninety-five per cent of the impromptu fake structure is comprised of Ndlovus and shonas are now crying tribal foul. People are not stupid. They know the game at play here. They simply shared the positions among themselves under the watch of someone with ambitions to be the Party’s Organising Secretary in October. This was done behind high walls in a secluded and exclusive suburb of Rosebank.

The message was very clear to everyone. People were not welcome. It was an affair for the political elite, businessmen, the connected and the moneyed. The kind of security which was provided at the venue is second to none. Even the ANC’s Mangaung congress venue was not as protected as the MDC district council meeting point.

The venue was dural-walled whose heavy iron cast gate was remote controlled from a control room inside the house. There was electric fence on-top of the concrete wall plus additional razor-wire. Who were they running away from? Was this kind of security necessary? Why are bosses, all of a sudden, scared of their fellow comrades?

If they are people’s choices as they claim, why are they fencing-off the people away from them? This cannot be the MDC of Morgan Tsvangirai that embraces everyone. The respected former Provincial Chairperson Austin Moyo was barred from attending the meeting even as an ex-officio member. Such behaviour by characters masquerading as champions of the poor is in clear contrast to what MDC stands for. Even Zanu PF does not treat its members with such sheer disdain.

Bhebhe flew in on Friday 13/2014 for a meeting that was scheduled for Sunday 15 /2014. His flight, stay and shopping were all sponsored by the architects of the coup. This is not a secret anymore. He spent time around Jozi after the meeting  taking accolades for “a job well-done.”

I hope Bhebhe will find time to address issues which I raised here. I share the issues with scores of other members of the Party who were locked out.

MDC Secretariat for Immigration and Asylum issues

Rodgers Mudarikwa