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Harare Bureau—
OPPOSITION functionaries exposed by First Lady Cde Grace Mugabe for having links with Vice-President Joice Mujuru have sprung to her defence, in a move that critics say is confirmation of the illicit relationship the VP has with them. This comes as political analysts have rapped MDC-T spokesperson Douglas Mwonzora for lying about the circumstances surrounding the formation of the MDC.

Contrary to Mwonzora’s claims that processes that took place prior to MDC’s formation were done in public, MDC-T leader Morgan Tsvangirai publicly admitted in his recent book At the Deep End that there was strong involvement of the white community at the formation of the party.

Cde Mugabe ruffled feathers of the opposition clique last week after she told scores of Zanu-PF supporters attending one of her “Meet the People” rallies at Rudhaka Stadium in Marondera that MDC and Simba Makoni’s Mavambo were formed in VP Mujuru’s house. While VP Mujuru chose to remain tight-lipped on the sensational revelation by the First Lady, the stampede with which some key figures in opposition politics rallied to her defence exposed her.

A string of opposition elements such as Dr Ibbo Mandaza and Retired Major Kudzai Mbudzi, both founding members of Mavambo/Dawn/Kusile, Mwonzora and former MDC99 leader Job Sikhala fell over each other in defending VP Mujuru.

The Zimbabwe Independent of October 17 quoted Dr Mandaza saying that Cde Mugabe would lose if she dared to challenge VP Mujuru.
“It seems the Mnangagwa faction is going for broke, but I don’t see them achieve anything because there is no way they can stop Mujuru, she is through the door already. They are trying to close the stable door after the horse has bolted,” said Dr Mandaza.

“If she (Grace) is naive enough to challenge Mujuru, it will be her nemesis. She will lose.
“As things stand, Mujuru already has the support as evidenced by the victory of her allies in provincial elections. I don’t see Grace and her team overturning that despite their clamours to have the presidium appointed by Mugabe,” said the official who concluded that “Grace will only end up as Women’s League boss unless she is imposed”.
Rtd Maj Mbudzi also came out guns blazing defending the VP while attacking Cde Mugabe.

“Amai (First Lady) by the look of things, seems to be too individualistic, immature, is incalculative and opportunistic and rather poor in mental construction of reality,” he said.
“Dr Mai Joice Mujuru is her direct opposite who is cool, calm, reserved, tolerant, objective and intelligently calculative of what is good or bad for Zimbabwe. No wonder political crooks want her out sooner than later. She will not in the too distant future, tolerate their crooked way.”

Rtd Maj Mbudzi said he was unhappy that Cde Mugabe said she revered Cde Shuvai Mahofa as political mentors in Masvingo leaving out Cde Dzikamai Mavhaire.
Mwonzora weighed in describing Cde Mugabe’s assertions that MDC-T was formed at VP Mujuru’s house as “wild.”
“It’s absolute rubbish,” said Mwonzora.

“This is a wild accusation. MDC was not formed in a private place. The processes that took place before the formation of MDC were held in public arenas.”
Sikhala claimed on his Facebook account that Cde Mugabe wanted to block VP Mujuru’s ascendancy to the Presidency of this country.

“We must make our plans as the largest political party in the opposition in Zimbabwe with our eyes centred on Grace Mugabe’s rise in Zanu-PF politics,” he said.
“There is no doubt that watching closely Grace’s political rallies she is aiming to disrupt any attempt of the Mujuru rise in internal Zanu-PF politics. So it is in that new developments that our arsenals must be targeting Grace.

“She will be our nemesis in the future of our politics. With me that will be an interesting duel for Grace epitomises a lot of Zimbabwe’s failure today. Come on MDC cadres. We must ravage Grace Mugabe from today onwards.”

However, political commentators said VP Mujuru should come out open if she had no links with the opposition parties.
Others lambasted Mwonzora as a junior member in the MDC-T who had no locus standi to comment on the formation of the British-sponsored party.
Some argued that Mwonzora was still a member of the Bishop Abel Muzorewa’s United Africa National Congress when MDC was formed.

War veteran and Foreign Affairs Deputy Minister, Cde Chris Mutsvangwa said the onus was upon the VP to clear herself lest she gave credence to the claims that she had links with the opposition.

“It is high time that she (VP Mujuru) comes in the open and dissociate herself from that oppositional support,” he said.
“It is one thing to be accused by the First Lady and another thing to be eulogised by opposition figures.

“It is incumbent on her as a cadre of the party to say that ‘I do not want your oppositional sympathy and defence I will talk to my President if there are any issues’. If she remained quiet, it gives credence to what the First Lady has said.

“As a party cadre, how can you be supported by Major Mbudzi who betrayed his fellow cadres in the military or Ibbo who never liked Zanu-PF or Mwonzora who is a member of the opposition?”

Political analyst Godwine Mureriwa had no kind words for Mwonzora.
He said Mwonzora was not privy to the history of MDC-T.

“Mwonzora is not aware that there was a meeting that was held on January 23, 1999 at the Chatham House which is owned by the Royal Institute of International Affairs,” he said.
“This was after the European Union had agreed that President Mugabe should be removed from office either through a military coup or through an opposition founded and funded by the British or through subversion of Zanu-PF.”

Through subversion, Mureriwa said, the British wanted to divert Zanu-PF from the ethos and ideals of the liberation struggle.
He said Mwonzora should not make uninformed pronouncements and avoid unnecessary fights with Zanu-PF but direct his energies towards his political nemesis Nelson Chamisa who had outwitted him ahead of the party’s congress slated for next week.

“Mwonzora needs to fight Chamisa and not Zanu-PF,” he said.
“If he has been outwitted by Chamisa what makes him think that he can outmanoeuvre Zanu-PF?
“He is a desperate lawyer trying to create some semblance of relevance by attacking Zanu-PF. He is just trying to get a lifeline from a perceived disintegration in Zanu-PF.”

Mureriwa said the First’s Lady’s remarks should not be treated as meaningless because she was privileged to classified information on developments in the country.
“Comments of the First Lady are perhaps mistaken as coming from nowhere but she is privy to the operations of the State and other things in the country,” he said.
“She is well informed and has intelligence of what is happening.”

University of Zimbabwe lecturer and political commentator Dr Charity Manyeruke said Mwonzora was not a realist in politics.
She said: “If you are not a realist you think the ideal situation is what is real but a realist knows what is happening and what the First Lady said is the real situation.
“When you join a train in the middle of a journey you do not know how it started off.”

Dr Manyeruke said most of the architects of opposition parties in Zimbabwe after 1980 were formed in Western capitals.
She said people like Mwonzora needed political education to deliver them from the utopian world of imaginary politics.

Acting president of the Multiracial Christian Democrats, Mathias Guchutu said although Mwonzora was the MDC-T spokesperson, he was not the best person to comment on that issue.

“He may not be the best qualified person to comment and it could have been good if journalists make efforts to seek a comment from someone who was present when the party was formed,” he said.

Guchutu said the MDC-T can only clear its name if a founding member sets the record straight with regards to allegations that it was founded and funded by foreigners.
In his book At the Deep End Tsvangirai said: “In due course, as the movement grew, especially among agricultural and agro-industrial workers, led by their union, more whites saw the MDC’s potential. We included some of them in the interim leadership of the party as a demonstration of our policies and values.”