Tsvangirai Rejected $3m Offer to Step Down

 Former Prime Minister and opposition MDC-T leader Morgan Tsvangirai on Thursday allegedly rejected a-$3million golden handshake to immediately step down as party president and pave way for an elective extra-ordinary congress.

Tsvangirai, according to impeccable sources and a position paper in our possession, chaired a stormy meeting at his Highlands home in the capital where he was asked to step down for the survival of the party.

The meeting was attended by party vice-president Thokozani Khupe, secretary-general Tendai  Biti and deputy treasurer-general, Elton Mangoma.

The sources, however, said Tsvangirai rejected outright the suggestion to step down which would have seen  him walk away with a-$3 million retirement package, but agreed to call for an elective extraordinary congress. The embattled leader, the sources said, told the meeting that he would leave the presidency if defeated at the congress.

Biti, Khupe and Mangoma wanted Tsvangirai to immediately step down, with his vice-president taking over on an interim basis until the extra-ordinary congress is held later this year.

“Tsvangirai was offered $3 million to step down in favour of Khupe,” one of the sources said. “He refused and wants to be defeated at congress.”

Luke Tamborinyoka, Tsvangirai’s spokesperson, yesterday rubbished the reports of the meeting and offer of the

$3 million package.

“There was no such meeting,” Tamborinyoka said. “The only meeting taking place is the national standing committee today (yesterday). It is rumour mongering.”

Tsvangirai is blamed for his and the party’s humiliating defeat to President Robert Mugabe and his Zanu PF party in last year’s harmonised elections and his personal love shenanigans.

The fall-out over the humiliating electoral loss has been widening, with calls for Tsvangirai to step-aside growing into a crescendo.

Apart from former Harare mayor Elias Mudzuri who suggested that Tsvangirai resign and “be the Mandela of the party”, exiled treasurer-general Roy Bennett also said the former trade unionist must quit. Ex-Marondera legislator Ian Kay recently characterised Tsvangirai as a “rust bolt” that should be removed.

In a position paper authored by Mangoma in possession of The Zimbabwe Mail, the deputy treasurer-general candidly asked Tsvangirai to leave the presidency. The paper was to be presented at a strategic retreat for the party’s top leadership called urgently to discuss the issue of the extra-ordinary congress.

Titled Restoration of hope and confidence: A Cause for Leadership Renewal, Mangoma, while extolling Tsvangirai’s leadership since the party’s formation, asked how the opposition leader was going to put closure to the “issue of women in your life and ensure that these will not continue to erode your and the party’s brand”.

“There is no denial that Morgan Tsvangirai has embossed his name into the history books of this country. There is also no denial that he has played a pivotal role in Zimbabwe’s quest for democracy and socio-economic transformation,” wrote Mangoma.  “However, it is my humble submission that, at this juncture, it is time you consider leaving the office of the president of the movement. 2014 marks 15 years of Morgan Tsvangirai as president of the party. You have done the best that you could and continuing will result in diminishing returns and eating into your legacy. The party is in dire need for new ideas, new thinking, a new trajectory and new stimulus.”

Tsvangirai has been in the news for all the wrong reasons. The MDC-T leader has recently separated from his wife of one year Elizabeth Macheka, daughter of Zanu PF central committee member Joseph Macheka.

One of Tsvangirai’s former mistresses Nosipho Shilubane is reportedly writing a book detailing their relationship, claiming the MDC-T leader is a womaniser.

Mangoma said leadership renewal was an “inexorable truth” that the party would have to confront lest it is plagued by the same succession conundrum affecting Zanu PF.

“Since the outcome of the election, calls for leadership renewal have been made in different quotas and at different platforms,” the former Energy minister added. “It is my unbending resolve that leadership renewal, at this juncture, could be the only avenue to restoring the credibility of the party lest it risks being confined to history. At a time when confidence is plummeting, there is need for the MDC to freshen up, create fresh impetus and rally its troops to remain united and focused. However, this impetus cannot and will not be created if the leadership status quo is preserved.”

Mangoma said despite Zanu PF rigging the polls, the MDC-T leadership should shoulder the blame for “allowing the electoral fraud to take place”.

“The aftermath of the election has been a state of confusion, consternation and apprehension on the part of the movement. The party is grieving from a crisis of leadership legitimacy, crisis of expectation and above all a crisis of confidence, externally and internally,” Mangoma said.

He said the protest vote by party councillors in which some even voted Zanu PF mayors or openly defied Tsvangirai’s preferred candidates in September last year was a manifestation of the “manifest of the crisis of leadership and the crisis of legitimacy that is engrossing the party”.

“The repercussion of the election has also been met with personal and private issues of the party’s highest office being drawn into the public further calling into question the leadership credentials of the party, leaving the brand of the party in disrepute,” Mangoma said.

Besides leaving power, Mangoma told Tsvangirai that his continued stay would bring back the “ghost of 2005-2006 leading to a nasty war of attrition in the party, which will reach a peak either before, or in 2016”.

In October 2005, the then united MDC acrimoniously broke into two formations over participation in Senatorial elections with Tsvangirai apparently using executive power to refuse participation.

Mangoma also brought into question Tsvangirai’s integrity, adding it would be difficult for the embattled leader to extricate himself from the ghost of financial abuse related to his Highlands home.

He offers three scenarios to tackle leadership renewal in the party and Tsvangirai’s replacement.

Posted by Editor on January 25, 2014. Filed under AFRICA. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry