MDC and Zapu Friday announced an election pact that will see the two parties supporting each other ahead of the July 31 harmonised elections.
The unexpected announcement by Zapu and MDC came hard on the heels of reports that Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai’s MDC-T was making fresh overtures to the Welshman Ncube led MDC seeking a pact ahead of the polls.
Zapu leader Dumiso Dabengwa and Ncube announced their election pact at a press conference in Bulawayo where they charged that Tsvangirai had left it too late to forge an alliance that would have fought President Robert Mugabe and his Zanu PF party in the polls.
Dabengwa said Tsvangirai’s only showed interest in the coalition four days before the sitting of the nomination court and that gave them little time for detailed discussions.
Tsvangirai, Ncube and Dabengwa filed their papers to challenge Mugabe in the watershed polls.
The alliance talks between MDC and Zapu began last December, Dabengwa said.
“Discussion with MDC started way back in December and we had to first assess whether we agreed on our values,” he said.
“We then compared our values and realised that we shared almost over 90 percent of those values that we cherish.
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“We did not have any other approaches from any other party until the time we were approaching elections
“The first time Zapu was approached by MDC-T was when we discussed the ruling of the Constitutional Court.
“The MDC-T president Morgan Tsvangirai intimated that he thought this was an issue of importance in Zimbabwe and we should look at the possibility of having a coalition in order to topple Mugabe.”
Dabengwa said serious talks started after the Maputo Sadc summit last month.
“We never had an opportunity to discuss it and they went to Maputo.
“It was a few days before the nomination court that we started discussing in detail what he (Tsvangirai) thought the grand coalition should be like.
“Obviously discussing this issue four days before nomination court doesn’t work.
“We have been at it with MDC for six months and somebody comes in four days before nomination day.
“These issues need massive consultations with our membership. We have not excluded anybody. It was the question of timing”.
Dabengwa said in his discussions with Tsvangirai and his team, the premier was “allocating roles to Zapu which was un-acceptable”.
“Tsvangirai approached me on the issue of a coalition to topple Mugabe with a predetermined plan on the president of the coalition. That was not acceptable” he said.
“The last time I met him I told him that his idea has been overtaken by events and we think we will be able to get together after the announcement of the election results.”
Ncube said by not including Tsvangirai in the alliance, they were not shutting him out saying, “this is not a statement to anyone but it’s a result of certain consequences”.
However, Dabengwa said they had failed to agree on a single presidential candidate because discussions dragged on until there was little time to reach an agreement by June 28, the day the nomination court sat.
“It was difficult for me and Welshman Ncube to decide who will step down for the presidential candidate,” he said.
The two parties said they wanted to avoid splitting votes and candidates from both Zapu and MDC were free to make way for each in wards and constituencies.
“With respect to the issue of the two parties’ presidential candidature, the parties expressed desirability of consolidating their share of votes by not splitting the vote,” MDC said in a statement.
“They, however, acknowledged the complexity of the issue and undertook to consult their respective executive committees to get guidance.
“In any constituency and or ward where one party has not fielded a candidate, the other party will mobilise its members and supporters to vote for the other party’s candidate.
Zapu and MDC said they would not allow a situation where one side entered into negotiations with a different political party without the knowledge of the other.
“That the parties would not discuss or enter any pact or coalition with any other party other than with each other, namely MDC and Zapu save in circumstances where an agreement would have been reached between the two parties,” MDC said.
“This is in recognition of previous discussions that had been established that the two parties shared common values and principles.”
Previous talks between MDC and MDC to form an electoral pact failed on the eve of the 2008 elections after some of Tsvangirai’s lieutenants reportedly refused to give up their positions.
