In Zimbabwe, the leader of one of the factions of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) Arthur Mutambara is calling for unity in the opposition. But the other faction led by Morgan Tsvangirai has rejected his call claiming Mutambara is part of the problem, and that his call for unity is flawed and misplaced.
General Secretary Nelson Chamisa of Morgan Tsvangirai’s faction of the MDC says the opposition is strong and united in providing leadership for the country.
“What we now need to do is to make sure that we respond to the call by the people to answer to the issue of providing leadership particularly as the situation in the country continues to worsen,” he said.
Chamisa said the opposition is seeking the mandate of the people to turn things around in the country.
“What we are doing obviously is to get the mandate of the people to bring about a new constitution, to bring about free and fair elections and the framework of an all stakeholders conference. And once we have sorted all those things, we then move on to resolve the national question and of course reconstruction and other issues would follow,” he said.
Chamisa said he does not see what faction leader Arthur Mutambara’s motivation is, but that the opposition MDC is united and ably supported by its base.
“In fact we are united already as the opposition and democratic forces. We don’t understand where Mutambara’s remarks are coming in; we do not understand the sincerity and also reason for his call for unity… all the civic organizations under the broader alliance have already committed themselves to a unity of purpose…and the MDC is committed to that coalition of the broader democratic forces,” Chamisa noted.
He said Mutambara’s call for unity is flawed and misplaced.
“He is speaking about an MDC which is divided when in fact on the ground there is no evidence of and MDC which is divided. The people are clear in Zimbabwe across a political divide that they are totally united behind the MDC and behind the democratic front…So we are saying that his call is flawed,” he said.
Chamisa said Zimbabwe’s crisis has always been that of leadership but said the MDC would fix that.
“The national crisis in the country is shown by the lack of leadership at the national level, is shown by the dislocation of our politics and obviously the crises of governance which is basically the ZANU PF failing to live up to the expectation and the will of the people,” he said.
He reiterated the unity in the opposition movement for democratic change.
“The opposition has already made sure that by joining forces and having a synergy of efforts and also unity of purpose, we have resolved issues to deal with… and the opposition is completely and completely united,” Chamisa said.