The chairman of the Movement for Democratic Change- Renewal Team Samuel Sipepa Nkomo says the most popular opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai is not a democrat. He is violent and sponsors violence.
In an interview with NewZimbabwe.com, Nkomo said his party had not teamed up with other opposition parties like the MDC-T, Mavambo/Kusile/Dawn, the Zimbabwe African People’s Union and the National Constitutional Assembly because they had a feeling that any democratic forces for now exclude Tsvangirai.
The four opposition parties have issued statements signed by their respective leaders lately with the most recent being when the country marked its 35th independence anniversary and on Workers’ Day.
Asked to explain his party’s absence from these joint statements, Nkomo replied: “First of all, we were not advised on time by Simba Makoni. For us, we still have a feeling that democratic forces for now exclude Tsvangirai because we don’t believe he is a democrat. We believe he is violent; he sponsors violence which is the reason why we left him. So if Makoni is going to use Tsvangirai as a front, we cannot have somebody who is violent, who does not follow his constitution to be a front. So if Makoni wants that, we cannot be part of that.”
On Tendai Biti’s future with the party because of his move to the United States, Nkomo said Biti was in the United States for only four weeks.
“He is out there for four weeks. He is the secretary general of the party and he is coming back this week and when he has come back this week, what other questions are you going to ask?”
Asked if Biti’s departure would mean that the party would lose traction, Nkomo said: “Biti is but one of the members of the Renewal Team and so every member of the party is free to join or unjoin. But we accept that Biti is a powerful person. He is there in the Renewal Team and we appreciate his leadership but if, for any reason, he decides to leave, well, what can you do? The party will still go ahead. To say that if he was not there, we will lose traction, l don’t think so. I think we could perhaps just stumble one or two days but then we will still find our way and get through to where we want to go.”
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