{{Calls by Zimbabwe’s MDC-T financiers and the party’s Rhodesian lobby for the ouster of party leader Mr Morgan Tsvangirai intensified yesterday with unrepentant white former commercial farmer, Mr Ben Freeth, saying Tsvangirai was “tired” and must pave way for someone “energetic”.}}
Mr Freeth, together with a group of white former farmers have been frantically trying to reverse the land reform programme and even took their case to the now defunct Sadc Tribunal ahead of its dissolution.
Mr Tsvangirai is facing a revolt from the party’s white handlers and Mr Freeth becomes the fourth such member after self-exiled treasurer-general Mr Roy Bennett, losing candidate for Marondera Central Mr Ian Kay and Mr Eddie Cross, who have all flashed the red card on the embattled MDC-T leader.
Mr Kay recently likened Mr Tsvangirai to a “rusty bolt” that needed to be replaced, while Mr Bennett blasted him for lacking leadership qualities, adding he “must now resign” to save the party from total collapse.
“If the former Prime Minister is tired — which he is certainly entitled to given all that he has endured at the hands of Zanu-PF, let him stand down and let someone who is energetic, God-fearing and not prepared to compromise on principle, take his place.
“I distinctly remember Tsvangirai being reported as saying that if he lost the election he would stand down. So why the change of mind? After six bites at the election cherry (2000, 2002, 2005, March 2008, June 2008 and 2013) he has surely had his chance!
“If we all manage somehow to get to 2018, can the people of Zimbabwe endure another debacle, another crash in the desert because of his lack of judgment as a leader? It is time for a new leader of the opposition,” Mr Freeth wrote for the South African blog, politicsweb, yesterday.
He criticised Mr Tsvangirai for his association philandering ways following the death of his wife Susan in 2009.
“Furthermore, he was not only compromising his reputation with messy love affairs but was also calling for the lifting of personal sanctions on the very people who were bringing Zimbabwe to its knees.”
Mr Freeth slammed Mr Tsvangirai for turning a blind eye to some clauses in the new Constitution that support the land reform programme, that democratised land ownership.
The new Constitution has sealed the land deal in Zimbabwe and it has clauses that demand that no political party in the future will reverse the land reform without putting the decision to a referendum.
Mr Freeth attacked Mr Tsvangirai for failing to protect white interests during his stint in the inclusive Government for four years.
Mr Freeth argued that Mr Cross supported his school of thought and quoted him as saying:
“We left Parliament two months ago — then holding a majority in the Lower House, have come back as the Opposition with 72 seats in a House of 270 Members. Unable to block legislation if we want to but providing a voice for the majority in this beautiful, but broken land.
After 13 years of struggle, five elections and four years of the Government of National Unity (GNU) we are no further forward than we were in 2000, in fact we are further back than we were then . . . ”
However, MDC-T spokesperson Mr Douglas Mwonzora said there were no plans to remove Mr Tsvangirai.
“It’s an internal matter. Anybody who says statements about the party in the Press must be aware of the obligations he has as MDC-T. I want to believe that while there was nothing wrong in criticising the party president, nobody is beyond the reach of the law in the MDC-T.
“But as a party, we do not just wield an axe every time, everywhere on everyone. We follow the due process,’’ he said.
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