MDC Renewal leader Tendai Biti yesterday publicly apologised to MDC president Welshman Ncube and members of his party for the personal abuse he heaped on them following the 2005 split in the former labour movement.
PAIDAMOYO MUZULU SENIOR REPORTER Biti apologised in Harare during his speech at the signing ceremony for the reunification agreement of the MDC factions to form a new party United Movement for Democratic Change (UMDC). The parties made a last-minute change of name from Union of Democrats (UD) to UMDC.
Biti said the split in 2005 left them devastated to the extent that they resorted to personal attacks against Ncube and his colleagues who led the split following internal policy differences.
“Time answers all questions and at the time they (Ncube and company) left we did not know neither had we recognised the growing dictatorial tendencies,” Biti said.
“We would want to say we are sorry for what we said then. We called them sellouts and Zanu PF members then.”
Biti said the delayed “democratic transition started exposing some of the MDC leaders’ undemocratic tendencies” as they were now allegedly mimicking Zanu PF. Ncube, in his speech at the same occasion, said the opposition in seeking to simplify its narrative about the working class lost its agenda and ended up with the Mugabe Must Go mantra.
“Mugabe wants us to talk about his removal so that he can attack us as stooges of imperialism,” Ncube said. “We have to start on a different narrative that takes us to the origins of our struggle.”
Ncube said the reunified party should speak of economic reforms, as joblessness had increased from its 1999 levels with companies continuing to close.
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“The things we stand for are timeless, enduring. Only our resolve may be tested but the correctness of our cause cannot be disputed,” he said.
The UMDC will be co-led by Ncube and Renewal interim president Sekai Holland until its inaugural elective congress tentatively slated for August 2015.
