Arthur Mutambara - Movement For Democratic Change

Movement For Democratic Change

In 2005 the MDC split into two factions following a dispute over whether or not to participate in the March 2005 senatorial election. While MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai, Mutambara, and others opposed participation, Welshman Ncube and Gibson Sibanda led a faction that favored participation. Those supporting the senate elections won narrowly against the leader Morgan Tsvangirai's vote.Mr Tsvangirai later overruled & overturned the decision of the plebiscite citing two absent members had sent in postal votes that canceled the slender margin.

In February 2006 at a Congress of the breakaway faction Movement for Democratic Change Mutambara was elected as President of the party. Commenting on the election, Mutambara said, "My position was that the MDC should have boycotted those Senate elections. I guess then that makes me the anti-Senate leader of the pro-Senate MDC faction. How ridiculous can we get? That debate is now in the past, let us move on and unite our people."

The choice of Mutambara as leader was said to have been inspired by the fact that he is a Shona whereas Sibanda and Ncube are both Ndebele, but realized that only a Shona candidate could win an election across the whole of Zimbabwe. Mutambara is not a member of the House of Assembly and is therefore untainted by struggles within it.

The faction led by Tsvangirai described Mutambara's election as a nullity. In his MDC faction presidential acceptance speech, Mutambara stated, "We believe that our views on land reform in Zimbabwe are different from those of Western governments. Our approach is not driven by the interests of white farmers, but by those of all Zimbabweans, white and black. While we put the failure of the land reform program squarely on the ZANU (PF) government, we also acknowledge the complicity of some Western governments which reneged on agreements, and the inertia of white farmers in seeking pre-emptive solutions." However, David Karimanzira, a leading member of ZANU - PF, alleged that Mutambara was promoted by the West after Western governments decided not to continue backing Morgan Tsvangirai because the Zimbabwean people had allegedly rejected his party manifesto. He once called the African Union a "club of dictators."

Mutambara was arrested by the Zimbabwe police on 19 May 2006 while leading a march in support of his faction's candidate on the eve of the Budiriro by-election. He was also arrested on the 11 March together with the other MDC leaders from the other faction. He was released without charge two days later, only to be re-arrested on 18 March at Harare Airport en route to South Africa, where his family is still based, and where he is also a leading consultant. He was also released without charge after three days in custody.