Opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai and his former secretary-general, Welshman Ncube, yesterday ended their long stand-off when they signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to work together in the watershed 2018 national elections.
This comes after Tsvangirai signed a similar deal with former Vice President Joice Mujuru on Wednesday, as the opposition edges closer to finalising the long mooted grand coalition in their bid to end President Robert Mugabe’s and Zanu PF’s rule next year.
Yesterday’s pact ended 12 years of frosty relations between Tsvangirai and Ncube, in a move which analysts said was a clear indication that the opposition was now coming of age.
“It would also be equally dishonest not to recognise that in our journey with Ncube we both made our own mistakes.
“We split our party in 2005. The cost of that vote splitting, in addition to the blatant manipulation of results, delayed change for the people of Zimbabwe in 2008.
“Ladies and gentleman, it takes humble leadership to accept one’s mistakes and it also takes bold leadership to correct those mistakes,” Tsvangirai told journalists in Harare yesterday.
“It is in this respect that I am both relieved and pleased to have signed a memorandum of understanding with Ncube, as a first step towards undoing the damage we caused ourselves.
“Today, Ncube and I will open a new chapter and craft a political agreement that should see us harness and combine our known electoral strengths to face our common opponent as a united front,” he added.
Singing from the same hymn sheet, a beaming Ncube said he also regretted the split of a decade ago, and was confident that their newly-found alliance would finally consign Mugabe and Zanu PF to a decisive electoral defeat next year.
“Let me repeat what president Tsvangirai said, I also take personal responsibility for the mistakes that we made in the past.
“We accepted that we divided our people, we divided the membership of the party, which we should not have done.
“I too take responsibility for those mistakes. But what is more important today is for us to not just accept those mistakes but begin to take steps that are necessary for us to be accountable to the people of Zimbabwe.
“The people of Zimbabwe, wherever we go, tell us that we must unite. We must come together to confront the regime that has caused so much misery and so much chaos in this beautiful country.
“In 2018 we must not fail. The objective now should be bringing together the democratic forces that have some value to add to the struggle and I want to congratulate president Tsvangirai and his team for the work that has been done,” Ncube said.
“If anyone in this country expects us to contest the next elections separately as we did in 2008 and 2013 … it will not only be a third moment of real madness, but the highest form of insanity and none of us is insane,” Tsvangirai chipped in.
The former prime minister in the government of national unity has for the past few months been working feverishly behind the scenes with Mujuru and other smaller opposition leaders to finalise the grand coalition.
Optimism has been high ever since Tsvangirai and Mujuru publicly flaunted their readiness to join forces against the ruling party, when they appeared together in Gweru last August.
Analysts have also repeatedly said Mujuru, whose liberation struggle nom de guerre was Teurai Ropa (Spill Blood), and whose husband Solomon was the first black post-independence army commander, could provide the much-needed bridge that opposition parties have been missing to ensure the smooth transfer of power if they win elections again.
However, they have also warned that without a broad coalition involving all the major opposition players, Zanu PF would use “its usual thuggish and foul methods” to retain power in 2018. Daily News
