Dear Editor,
In an interview after the recent MDC-T Congress in which he berated Tsvangirai for “grabbing power”, Tendai Biti, aka John Dotito, actually acknowledged that the previous structure in which previous Secretary-Generals of the party had equal power with the President is unworkable.
Biti is quoted to have said, “By virtue of being party president Tsvangirai was chief fundraiser, administrator and headed the executive and secretariat.”
So this is how it should be, but previous Secretary-Generals took advantage of the silence in the constitution to cause confusion.
As confirmed by Sekai Holland after the 2005 walk away of the late Gibson Sibanda and others, Professor Welshman Ncube called a meeting at short notice when she (Sekai Holland) was out of the country and did not invite some of the council members he knew where against his hidden push the party to contest in Senate elections just after the 2005 parliamentary elections.
And during the nomination process for the 2013 harmonized elections, the then Secretary-General Tendai Biti used his muscle as Secretary-General to frustrate Chamisa in selecting candidates for election.
The defective reporting structure in the then constitution allowed him to do that, and that factor was the second reason the party lost the elections after the rigging factor.
A party, therefore, does not need two centres of power, so the MDC-T should be applauded for streamlining the responsibilities of the Secretary-General to ensure that conflicts of that nature do not recur.
It is interesting to know where Biti got it from that Tsvangirai imposed the resolution to Congress. From what I gathered, the suggestion was first brought to National Council but rejected.
Congress receives reports of what has transpired in the year, and may endorse or reject the decisions that will have been made in between the congresses.
Congress, or any other organ of an organisation, should not simply rubber stamp decisions, so Congress which brings together a wider group of party officials and accredited members has the right to bring back for discussion when it is not convinced with certain decisions Council may have made.
Tendai’s Biti remarks demonstrate desperation on his part and his Renewal Team to tarnish the image of Morgan Tsvangirai, and exposes him as a politician of limited positive thinking capacity.
To my lost brother Tendai, as you rightly pointed out, Tsvangirai is “chief fundraiser, administrator” and head of the executive and secretariat.
What is wrong if that is spelt out in a constitution? Your attack was ill-timed and exposes you for what you are – a political novice who is no match for Morgan Tsvangirai.
Kennedy Kaitano, Mutare
