Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe, with his own factional problems bottled, is hoping that the sharp differences between the two most powerful men in the opposition Movement for Democratic Change will escalate into a full-scale battle he can exploit.
Public differences over policy between MDC leader and Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai and Tendai Biti, the MDC secretary general and finance minister, have cheered Zanu-PF, which itself has seen years of factional battles.
Rivalries have long existed between Tsvangirai and Biti, who represents the more radical wing of the MDC, which was previously opposed to any compromise with Mugabe.
Tsvangirai has been embarrassed recently by violence between rival youth groups at his party headquarters and has allowed his differences with Biti on economic policy to spill over into the public arena. Now observers are watching to see how quickly he can prevent the row from spreading to other parts of the party.
The violence followed differences over Biti’s announcement that the government would impose a cap on public service salaries, which made up 70% of state spending.
Tsvangirai publicly rebuked Biti in a May Day speech in which he told a rally of the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions, which is allied to the MDC, that this had not been approved by the Cabinet.
Days later Elphas Mukonoweshuro, the public service minister and a long-time Tsvangirai ally, called a press conference at which he strongly criticised Biti and said that Biti believed he was a “super minister” who could grab the duties of other ministers. The state-owned Herald daily published Mukonoweshuro’s criticism in full.
Since the fallout the MDC has been trying to play down the differences, even suggesting a Zanu-PF hand in it. Tsvangirai said he and Biti were old “comrades in the struggle” and that he “would not allow enemies of real change to succeed in derailing the people’s cause”.
“I am shocked by the energy and the magnitude of the efforts to undermine our agenda,” Tsvangirai told reporters.
His party dismissed the violence as “internal hygiene issues” and said its critics were making up “nonexistent, imaginary and concocted power struggles”.
“Unfortunately, these disturbances have provided an avenue for the traditional enemies of the people’s project to transport and relocate factionalism from its permanent home in Zanu-PF to the MDC,” Nelson Chamisa, the MDC spokesperson, said.
The real question is how deep the differences run and how damaging they could be to the MDC. Tsvangirai’s position is already weak and, should the MDC become preoccupied with the division, Zanu-PF is ready to take advantage of it.
Political analyst John Makumbe said that although there might be differences on policy between the two men, it was unlikely they would escalate into a full-blown power struggle. Like Tsvangirai, he suggested Zanu-PF might be to blame.
“Robert Mugabe and Zanu-PF know very well that Morgan Tsvangirai and Tendai Biti are the linchpins of the MDC, and so the best way of destroying the MDC is to place these two against each other,” he said.
But the MDC has a record of factional violence. Since 2001 at least six senior MDC MPs have been assaulted by youths loyal to rival leaders. The violence escalated in 2005, the year the party split into two factions, the MDC-T, which sided with Tsvangirai, and the MDC-M, which sided with Authur Mutambara.
Biti has a reputation for being openly critical of party leaders and he has often clashed with Tsvangirai at meetings of the party’s top national executive. But Biti’s allies said he has no ambition to take over as party leader.
One of his close associates said there is a view among radical sections of the party that Tsvangirai tends to compromise too much with Mugabe and that Biti’s sharp criticism is important only to “keep Tsvangirai focused”.
Tsvangirai faces no challenge to his leadership at the party’s elective congress next year — he quietly amended the MDC constitution by removing the limits on terms of service. Under the original constitution, Tsvangirai would have had to step down in 2011.
Reports that Tsvangirai is backing a bid by Ian Makone, his most trusted aide, to take over from Biti as secretary general is also causing friction between the two men. Also, in 2007, Tsvangirai dismissed the leader of the MDC’s Women’s League and steamrolled it to accept Theresa Makone, Ian’s wife, as its new leader.