Confusion haunts Mutambara faction

Politics
Confusion reigns over whom the MDC faction loyal to Deputy Prime Minister Arthur Mutambara will back in the forthcoming elections.

Nqobani Ndlovu/ Tatenda Chitagu Confusion reigns over whom the MDC faction loyal to Deputy Prime Minister Arthur Mutambara will back in the forthcoming elections, with others saying they will be backing Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai, while another group is saying they will remain neutral.

Morgan Changamire, the spokesperson for the faction, said they had made a strategic decision not to contest the elections and will reorganise after the polls.

“As far as we are concerned, we have made a strategic decision not to contest the elections because we want to expose the (Welshman) Ncube group that their numbers are still the same and never increased after the reports of those alleged defections,” he said.

“We are not backing any political party. We want our supporters to make their independent decisions and vote for their candidates of choice.” Changamire said coalitions were an elaborate ruse to shortchange the electorate by parties that did not have clear programmes to offer.

However, this is in stark contrast to statements by the faction’s organising secretary Robson Mashiri, who said they had thrown their lot with Tsvangirai. “If we did Weshman Ncube a favour by demanding the withdrawal of his (Mutambara) court case, why not extend the same favour to Tsvangirai?” he asked on Wednesday. The MDC faction that broke off from the Ncube-led MDC claimed they were led by Mutambara, but they later “fired” the robotics professor whom they accused of neglecting party business.

Mutambara described his firing as “nonsense”. The former MDC leader did not submit his name for nomination for the presidential elections, raising questions on whether he still had a future in politics.

Efforts to contact Mutambara were fruitless as he could not be reached on his mobile phone while the person who answered his office phone said he was out of the country.