Media Conference Statement Senator Sekai Holland MP September 16, 2014 Welcome to our home. Thank you all for attending. This is a very important day for MDC, for our dear country Zimbabwe and for me as a woman of long standing in the struggle for a democratic Zimbabwe. 1. What has exhausted most founding MDC members is that we have experienced the repeated tailor-making of our Constitution to suit the personal needs of the Party leader. The first undemocratic change was the removal of Gibson Sibanda as Chairman and founding leader of the party in 2000 and his replacement by Morgan Tsvangirai as President, who then became the new Party leader changing the democratic leadership style brought in to provide exemplary leadership in the new trajectory to enhance the democratic project that so many have given their lives to establish in our country. 2. Then in 2006 the Constitution was changed to extend the time one could hold the post of President from two terms to unlimited. I was Secretary for Policy, Research and Ideology and it was my role to introduce that death nail to our young party. Now we see that in the coming Congress he is holding next month he plans to change the Constitution once more, this time to allow him to make leadership appointments himself instead of trusting the democratic choices of our Party members. 3. Violence as a means of control and oppression remains a central feature of the Party with accusations never investigated properly that it emanates from the presidents office. The failure to institute mechanisms to deal with such a central matter as violence which MDC members in their thousands have experienced remains a sore point for most and for me as a torture survivor, the issue of violence must be a priority to our politics to normalise. There has been no serious effort made to eradicate violence from within our Party to date, just as there has been a lack of support for the tens of thousands of members who have suffered from violence at the hands of the State and other opponents of our Party. 4. Senior women such as myself and Lucia Matibenga, the former unanimously elected Chair for Women in the 2006 Congress, who came into the MDC at its founding and brought a new element into the party have been treated with great disrespect and our potential contributions to the Party have been repeatedly blocked. I was publicly sacked from the position of Secretary for International Affairs in 2003 without any explanation or chance to defend myself. Lucia Matibenga was removed from her position by means of a completely unconstitutional sham election in 2006. Junior and inexperienced women without a track record in democratic struggles have been repeatedly appointed on the basis of personal favouritism and patronage. I need not elaborate on Tsvangirais own personal behaviour and attitudes towards women. Our silence on that score has been a huge embarrassment. 5. My criticism here is not due to any personal grievance however, but to illustrate a style of leadership that is totally unacceptable in our Party in its struggle for democratic transformation. Leadership positions should be filled according to experience and ability to contribute. Yet someone as talented as Elias Mudzuri, who was a major factor in our winning the 2008 election, was also unceremoniously sacked mere months after being appointed as a Minister. 6. Party finances have been abused for personal benefit and there has been no accountability to either of the senior Party organs, the National Executive and the National Council. Assets purchased for party work are now explained to members as owned by individuals. 7. Persistent leadership failures have led to the current divisions in our Party. As Chair of the Guardians Council, a role I reluctantly took on when Professor Gordon Chavundukas health failed, we worked hard to fulfil our mandate. After continued accusations and counter accusations of suspensions and counters suspensions I called a meeting on May 22 – 23 to update and brief my GC colleagues on our work over the year. The resolution was that GC establish whether the warring parties were willing to talk. To secure that response I instituted a process of mediation with a professional, experienced international mediator. That was ultimately rejected by Tsvangirai after an initially promising start and three weeks of intense talking. 8. It is clear that MDC-Tsvangirai has become the personal property of one individual. It is time to reject that and return to our founding principles. The MDC Renewal Team is where those who still adhere to the original values and principles of the party are regrouping. 9. I therefore on this note and occasion officially assume the role of Interim party President as directed by the National Council at Mandel. 10. This is a carefully considered decision over the past six months in close consultation with my family and colleagues in politics. I take this as stated in the Mandel Resolution on an interim basis, to offer my experience, to establish systems for the survival of the party and of the democratic project which Zimbabweans believe in beyond a single leader or its founding leaders. In light of this interim role our efforts will be for the period up to when the party successfully holds its truly democratic fourth congress in the original spirit of change. 11. The interim leadership will focus on healing the internal divisions, put mechanisms in place to resolve internal party challenges and strengthen our many policies that will put the opposition party back on track. We will build our entity into a model of what an opposition party must be. It is critical that MDC sets up the standards of a strong viable opposition party that can put our country back on its feet again. 12. We encourage all including those that feel left behind and excluded from the MDC over the last years, party structures, groups and individuals that broke away in the past to come together in this new constellation and work together for the good of Zimbabwe and our nation and for us together to break the old cycle of politics of negativeness and to create a new narrative in our politics as we tap into the best that we Zimbabweans are. Let me end by saluting the leadership of the Renewal Team so far ably and brilliantly led by our GC Secretary Dr Spepa Nkomo. I salute our Secretary General Tendai Biti for his resoluteness from his membership in the founding members group of ten in 1999 and to date when he still works to ensure that the democratic peoples project lives and grows. Thank You
Posted on: Wed, 17 Sep 2014 08:12:27 +0000
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