Newly-elected MDC secretary-general, Chalton Hwende claims that the party will never split again as happened when Welshman Ncube and later Tendai Biti left to form their own splinter movements with some Members of Parliament.
In an interview with Newsday senior reporter, Obey Manayiti, Hwende said that splits that happened in the past emanated from structural issues. He said:
We had a structural issue, which has its roots in the labour movement, our mother. The founding MDC constitution was heavily influenced by the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions constitution, which has a very powerful office of secretary-general. This is the norm in most labour movements.
We’ve addressed this structural issue through constitutional amendments, which basically re-calibrated the balance of power to reflect the political reality, that the president is the head of our party. Conflicts are inevitable.
In addition to the constitutional reforms, we are also working on developing robust conflict management and resolution framework, a systemic tool to manage internal contradictions in the party.
Ncube and Biti have since returned to the party and were elected vice presidents during the MDC elective Congress held at the end of May.