Everything about The Movement For Democratic Change totally explained
The
Movement for Democratic Change (
MDC) is a
Zimbabwean political party. It was founded in 1999 as an
opposition party to the
Zimbabwe African National Union - Patriotic Front (ZANU-PF) party led by President
Robert Mugabe. The MDC was formed from many members of the broad coalition of civic society groups and individuals that campaigned for a "No" vote in the 2000
Constitutional referendum, in particular the
Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions. The party split following the
2005 Senate election, with one faction headed by
Morgan Tsvangirai and the other by
Arthur Mutambara; the two factions subsequently won a combined majority in the
March 2008 parliamentary election and announced that they were reuniting in April 2008.
History
In February 2000, ZANU-PF organized a constitutional referendum. The proposed change would have limited future presidents to two terms, but as it wasn't retroactive, Mugabe could have stood for another two terms. It would also have made his government and military officials immune from prosecution for any illegal acts committed while in office. Additionally, it legalized the confiscation of white-owned land for redistribution to black farmers without compensation. It was defeated, after a low 20% turnout, by a strong urban vote fuelled by an effective
SMS campaign. Mugabe declared that he'd "abide by the will of the people". The vote was a surprise to ZANU-PF, and an embarrassment before parliamentary elections due in mid-April. This success fueled a meteoric rise in visibility to the very recently formed MDC.
In the 2000 parliamentary elections, the MDC won 57 of the 120 seats up for election. This marked the first time that an opposition party had achieved more than a handful of seats since the merger of ZANU and ZAPU in 1988. The MDC dominated in most urban centres and
Matebeleland. MDC won all seats in the two biggest cities,
Harare and
Bulawayo and lost only two in
Matabeleland.
This election was viewed by international observers from the Commonwealth,
Norwegian, and the
South African Parliamentary Delegation as not being free and fair. The MDC claimed the elections were rigged, citing state sponsored violence and some voter results figures that were unaccounted for. They took the matter to court. Some missions from Mugabe's allies such as the
SADC observers and the South African Ministerial Observer team held that the election was substantially free and fair. The election is currently being challenged in the Zimbabwean Supreme court.
Split
The MDC announced during mid-2004 that it wouldn't participate in any further elections in Zimbabwe, including the
2005 Zimbabwe parliamentary elections until it believed a free and fair vote could take place. However on
February 3,
2005, then spokesperson Paul Themba Nyathi told a news conference, "It is with a heavy heart that the MDC has decided to participate in the elections ... This is a decision based primarily on the demands of our people". A meeting of the party's decision making national council was called in October 2005 to decide on whether the party should participate in senatorial elections which were imminent. The national council resolved by a vote of 33 to 31 that the party should participate. Morgan Tsvangirai overruled the vote, arguing that it was no use contesting an election where the electoral field "breeds illegitimate outcomes and provides for predetermined results." He argued that the
Senate of Zimbabwe was part of the 17th amendment, which the MDC had opposed in Parliament. Tsvangirai stated then that the council was split 50/50 including the proxies sent by members of the National Executive
Sekai Holland and
Grace Kwinjeh. Those who favored participation went on to contest the elections, but lost heavily securing only 5 out of the 60 contested seats. It was reported that some of these candidates were brought into the city by the Central Intelligence Organization and driven to the nomination courts. The
National Constitutional Assembly - a coalition of pro-democracy civil society groups, also supported a boycott of the Senate elections, believing it was conceived only as the result of an undemocratic constitutional change.
After the Senate elections, the MDC split into two groups: one led by
Morgan Tsvangirai, and another by his deputy
Gibson Sibanda with the support of
Welshman Ncube,
Gift Chimanikire and spokesperson Paul Themba Nyathi. The pro-Senate group had one more member in the House of Assembly at the time of the split, however senior members of the pro-Senate faction subsequently defected to the faction of the MDC led by Tsvangirai including its Chairman Gift Chimanikire, Blessing Chebundo, the Member of Parliament for
Kwekwe, the Environmental Secretary and
Binga Member of Parliament Joel Gabuza, and Senate Candidate for Tsholotsho Sam Sipepa Nkomo.
A by-election for Budiriro constituency was held and was won by Emmanuel Chisvuure of the faction led by Tsvangirai he polled 7949 votes, and Gabriel Chaibva of the Mutambara faction polled 504 votes the combined votes was less than half of what they'd got in previous elections. Although the pro-senate faction had the bulk of its support in Matabeleland, it felt that it needed a Shona leader to reflect Zimbabwe demographics and chose the anti-senate academic Arthur Mutambara as leader.
It is widely believed that the split was a reflection of problems that had been in the party for a while. The Central Intelligence Organization took advantage of the divisions between the factions to attack member of the other faction. Cracks had also emerged along ethnic lines and between trade unionists and academics.
Notable party members
Morgan Tsvangirai faction
Arthur Mutambara faction
Welshman Ncube, Secretary-General
Gibson Sibanda, Vice President
Gabriel Chaibva, Spokesperson
David Coltart, Senator for Bulawayo South
Developments in 2007
On 3 August 2007 it was widely reported that two officials of the Arthur Mutambara faction had defected to the Tsvangirai faction, a week after talks to reunite the two parties had broken down.
At a media briefing, former Member of Parliament Silas Mangono and Masvingo Province Chairman Shaky Matake said they'd defected from the Mutambara faction.
An opinion poll in 27 September 2007 by the Mass Public Opinion Institute of Zimbabwe found that of the 22% of poll respondents who are supporters of the MDC, 21% backed the MDC faction led Tsvangirai and 1% expressed support for Mutambara's faction.
The poll takers acknowledged the survey was conducted mainly in the rural areas, traditionally a ZANU-PF stronghold, because the majority of the population lives there and the survey wanted to be representative of the Zimbabweans populations. It polled 1,202 of eligible voters.
South Africa's mediation between the MDC and ZANU-PF
The Southern African Development Community (SADC) mandated South African President Thabo Mbeki to mediate between ZANU-PF and the MDC in April 2007 to create conditions for free and fair elections for the 2008 polls. Mbeki appointed Sydney Mufamadi, South Africa's Minister of Provincial and Local Government, and director-general in the presidency, Frank Chikane, as the main mediators in the talks. All parties agreed to refrain from commenting on the progress of the talks in the media. Due to the media silence, it's relatively difficult to judge the progress of these talks, but both parties have agreed to constitutional amendments and the revision of certain key media and security laws. Critics say that these changes are superficial and the mediation seems to have had little impact on a practical level. The MDC faction led by Morgan Tsvangirai threatened to pull out of the talks if the conditions were not created in which free and fair elections can take place.
2008 election
Tsvangirai and Mutambara failed to unite on a single MDC candidate for the March 2008 presidential election. Tsvangirai ran for President while Mutambara backed the independent candidacy of Simba Makoni.
In the simultaneous parliamentary election both factions contested most seats, with the Tsvangirai faction winning 99 and the Mutambara faction 10, compared with 97 for Zanu PF, 1 independent, leaving 3 vacancies caused by deaths of candidates.
On 28 April 2008, the two factions of the MDC announced that they were reuniting, thus enabling them to have a clear parliamentary majority.
Further Information
Get more info on 'Movement For Democratic Change'.
|
External Link Exchanges
Do you know how hard it is to get a link from a large encyclopaedia? Well we're different and will prove it. To get a link from us just add the following HTML to your site on a relevant page:
<a href="http://movement_for_democratic_change.totallyexplained.com">Movement for Democratic Change Totally Explained</a>
Then simply click through this link from your web page. Our crawlers will verify your link, extract the title of your web page and instantly add a link back to it. If you like you can remove the words Totally Explained and embed the link in article text.
As long as your link remains in place, we'll keep our link to you right here. Please play fair - our crawlers are watching. Your site must be closely related to this one's topic. Any kind of spamming, dubious practises or removing the link will result in your link from us being dropped and, potentially, your whole site being banned. |
