[Let’s see how he does. Jan]

Opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai arrived at his party’s headquarters as usual on Tuesday, ignoring attempts by rivals to force him from office. “It is business as usual,” said Tsvangirai’s spokesperson William Bango. Differences over a weekend election for a new Senate have caused an unprecedented split within the MDC, the only party to have seriously challenged President Robert Mugabe’s increasingly autocratic 25-year rule. Tsvangirai ordered a boycott of Saturday’s poll, but a narrow majority of his party’s national executive voted in favour of participating. Rivals led by Tsvangirai’s deputy, Gibson Sibanda, fielded 26 candidates “ just seven of whom won seats in the 66-member Senate.Tsvangirai this week rejected a letter from Sibanda informing him that the party’s disciplinary committee was suspending him. He has since ignored instructions to vacate his office and return all party property except two cars allowed for personal use.Tsvangirai maintains only the party’s annual convention, scheduled for February, has the authority to remove him. Party spokesperson Paul Themba-Nyathi said Tsvangirai violated party rules by insisting on the boycott. His refusal to step down was “further defiance of the national disciplinary committee and would be dealt with accordingly”, he said on Tuesday. Bango said there were no attempts to prevent Tsvangirai entering party headquarters in the capital, Harare.

Just 19,4 percent of the 3,2 million eligible voters cast ballots on Saturday “ the lowest turnout for a national election since independence from Britain in 1980 “ according to the independent Zimbabwe Election Support Network. Tsvangirai claimed most voters heeded his boycott call. Independent observers said general apathy, ignorance about the role of the Senate and voter fatigue after bruising elections in March for Parliament’s lower house also affected turnout. The labour-backed opposition won just 41 of the 120 seats up for grabs in that election amid allegations of intimidation and vote- rigging. Mugabe appoints an additional 30 members in the lower house. Tsvangirai argued participation in Saturday’s poll would only give credibility to another tainted vote. His rivals said the party should take advantage of an opportunity to increase the opposition’s voice in the legislature. Mugabe himself abolished the Senate in 1990. His critics charge the institution was only restored to increase Mugabe’s ability to doll out jobs and perks in Zimbabwe’s ailing economy. The new house has no veto powers over legislation passed in the lower house. The US state department this week called the Senate election a “non-event”.

From The Pretoria News (SA), 30 November
Source: WWW.ZwNews.Com