The national executive committee of the larger faction of Zimbabwe’s opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) party will meet on Friday to discuss possible reunification of the splintered party as well as moves by the ruling Zanu-PF party to extend President Robert Mugabe’s term to 2010.
Authoritative sources in the Morgan Tsvangirai-led MDC faction told ZimOnline that the top party committee will hear feed-back from former CEO of the banned Daily News newspaper Sam Sipepa Nkomo, who heads a team set up by the Tsvangirai group to negotiate with a rival faction led by prominent academic, Arthur Mutambara.
The MDC, once regarded as the biggest threat to Mugabe and Zanu-PF, split in October 2005 after its top leaders disagreed on whether to participate in a Senate election.
”Several issues will be under discussion, but the most important item on the agenda will be the feedback from the team that is negotiating possible unity with our erstwhile colleagues,” said a member of the party’s national executive, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
Both factions are divided on whether or not they should unite. However, both Mutambara and Tsvangirai have recently issued separate statements saying there is no substitute for unity, fuelling speculation that the two groups could be moving to either unite or to at least agree on peaceful co-existence and cooperation.
The spokesperson for the Tsvangirai-led MDC, Nelson Chamisa, said the Friday meeting will concentrate on discussing the national crisis, internal party matters and Zanu-PF’s decision to extend Mugabe’s term by two more years without an election.
”On top of the agenda on Friday will be the regime’s decision to postpone suffering, tyranny and oppression to 2010. The party will also deliberate on the operational framework of the party’s political agenda,” Chamisa said in a statement issued on Wednesday.
Chamisa did not refer to the issue of re-unification of the once-vibrant opposition party.
Meanwhile, the two MDC factions are expected to field separate candidates in next month’s parliamentary by-election in Chiredzi constituency, to replace the late Zanu-PF legislator, Aaron Baloyi.
Friday’s meeting by the Tsvangirai-led MDC is expected to endorse the candidature of Emmaculate Makondo, who narrowly lost to Zanu-PF in the March 2005 election, while the Mutambara faction is expected to hold primaries to select its candidate in time for the nomination court scheduled for next week. — ZimOnline