MDC Renewal Interim leader quits over vicious Biti and Mangoma fights over presidency

Interim MDC Renewal leader Sekai Holland announced Saturday that she was quitting amid reports of continued vicious infighting between Tendai Biti and Elton Mangoma over the presidency of the party.The development comes at a time reunification talks with the MDC formation led by Welshman Ncube have also been formally suspended.

Interim leader of the new Renewal Team quits the party
Led by secretary general Tendai Biti and treasurer general Elton Mangoma the group broke away from the mainstream MDC-T after its disastrous showing in the 2013 elections with Holland assumed the leadership on an interim basis in April last year.

In a statement, Holland said she wanted to concentrate her efforts on a civic organization known as Zimbabwe Peace Trust.“My appointment as Curator under the Mandel Resolution was for a limited time. As a Curator one has to make sure that the people who appointed them learn from them,” she said.

“I do not for a moment have regrets about leaving the MDC-T because I believed and still believe that the democratic struggle needed rethinking, fresh ideas and a reconnection with the ideals of the liberation struggle as well as Pan-Africanism.”

Elton Magoma
Mangoma sparked the revolt after he asked Tsvangirai to step down and allow leadership renewal, blaming the veteran opposition leader for the MDC-T’s loss to President Robert Mugabe and Zanu PF in 2013.

Biti then called for a national council meeting as violence ensued with the assault of Mangoma by party youths aligned to Tsvangirai. The gathering asked Holland to lead the formation in her capacity as leader of the Guardian Council.

The former Zimbabwe Finance Minister, Tendai Biti
On Saturday, she said over the past nine months of her “curatorship”, she has learnt that the young leadership in the party is confident and aware of the goals of the struggle.

“We have a robust and fired-up young leadership that, I think at this juncture, is aware of the work that they must do.“I am convinced more than ever that I have done my part to create a foundation for them to take the party forward,” she said.

However, there have been murmurs of a vicious power struggle within the young party between Mangoma and Biti amid reports that the former finance minister had abandoned ship.

The disquiet came just after Tsvangirai asked Parliament to declare vacant 21 legislative seats held by members of the Renewal Team but won under the MDC-T ticket. New by-elections will be held on June 10.Holland said she would continue to advise young politicians and work to build the infrastructure for lasting peace in the country.“Zimbabwe is a well-endowed country and our people are very aware of their rights,” she said.

“We just need the right infrastructure, so it is up to us the older generation to work hard and make sure the dreams of these young ones are realized in our lifetime.“The Zimbabwean dream can be real and our people can achieve it. We just need to concentrate our positive efforts towards -the right things.”

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