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Principals' meeting: The facts
Movement for Democratic Change (MDC)
July 20, 2011

The Prime Minister of Zimbabwe, the Right Hon. Morgan Tsvangirai, did not "smuggle" the issue of Professor Welshman Ncube to sit in the Principals' meeting as falsely reported by The Herald yesterday.

Citing its usual "sources" who are obviously senior officials in the Ministry of Media, Information and Publicity, The Herald reported in its usual biased manner that the Premier on Monday brought up the issue of Professor Ncube for discussion because he sought to prepare the ground for "unity discussions" with the other MDC formation.

The reason the Prime Minister attempted to "smuggle" Professor Ncube as a Principal, the newspaper claimed in its warped logic, was also because the mainstream MDC has lost ground in the Matabeleland region and is now desperate for unity.

For the record, it was President Mugabe who brought the issue of Professor Ncube into the discussion at the Principals' meeting on Monday. The President told the meeting that the Professor Ncube-led political formation was seeking to have its President included in the meetings even though it maintained that Professor Mutambara may remain in his position as Deputy Prime Minister.

It was then agreed that this was an internal party issue which was still before the courts. Professor Mutambara was then urged to talk to his colleagues to sort out their internal party conflict, which was, in any case, still before the courts.

It is mischievous for anyone to suggest that the PM brought the issue up for discussion because he wanted to assist the so-called unity talks, which seem to exist only in the pages of The Herald and nowhere else.

In fact, it is journalistic and political truancy, to suggest that the mainstream MDC has lost support in Matabeleland when in fact the facts speak for themselves.

It is a matter of public record that on the 26th of June 2011, an unprecedented multitude turned up for the MDC peace rally at White City stadium in Bulawayo in one of the biggest gatherings ever seen in Matabeleland. The party the Prime Minister leads is now stronger in this region than it was in March 2008 when it became the biggest political party in the country.

Zimbabweans know only too well which party has lost support in this region where the party the PM leads won all the parliamentary and council seats in the second largest city in the country. The thousands of people who turned up at White City stadium without coercion did so because they knew that it was mainly the mainstream MDC headed by the PM which could bring hope and real change in their lives.

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