MDC Renewal leader Tendai Biti has flashed signals suggesting that he is quitting politics.
Biti according to the Jonathan Moyo controlled State Media, appears to be considering life after politics following the expulsion of 21 Members of his faction, including himself, from Parliament this week. The 21 MPs were expelled at the instigation of the MDC-T led by Mr Morgan Tsvangirai for crossing the floor from the party on whose ticket they entered Parliament.
Mr Biti’s faction has indicated that it will challenge the decision in the courts. A member of his inner circle confided in The Herald, though, that Biti will not be heavily involved in the court challenge.
However, in an interview with The Herald at his Milton Park offices in Harare this week, Mr Biti appeared disillusioned with opposition politics and in particular, failure to coalesce to defeat Zanu-PF.
Clad in a dark grey suit that seemed to reflect his mood, palpable disillusionment ran through the responses of the usually loquacious Biti. “I have played my part as a Zimbabwean,” he said when challenged over his future.
“I have been in the trenches since my time at the University of Zimbabwe and played my part. I think that it is time that others played their part too, I have played mine.”
Asked whether that meant retiring from politics, the lawyer said, “I have not said that. I have just said I have played my part.” “The issue of the expulsion of the 21 members of Parliament is a tragedy for democratisation politics in Zimbabwe,” he said.
“It is also a tragedy for national politics. It is unprecedented in any part of the world that democratically elected members of Parliament can be eliminated as we saw on Tuesday.
“But the country will continue moving on and the challenge is how do we rescue and save our country?
“Just because 21 MPs were fired I don’t think we suddenly got US$40 billion in direct investment in the country. It won’t happen. So nobody except the forces of evil benefited from this. What it means is that unless we are able to focus on things that put bread on the table we are wasting time.”
Mr Biti described Mr Tsvangirai as having gone “way past his sell-by date” and surrounded by sycophants. The fiery opposition politician believes time has come for the transfiguration of national politics.
“We need to go beyond politics and craft a vision of Zimbabwean-hood because unless we do that, we are accelerating on auto-pilot to a position of oblivion, a position of nonentity,” said he.
“Zimbabwe’s politics is dominated by intolerance and by hatred.
“I shudder to open any newspaper because what you read there is hatred and vitriol and diatribe.
“But newspapers don’t create this, they are just a mirror image of the society that they are from — a reflection of what we have become, a miserable group of going-nowhere people stuck in hatred and bitterness.
“We need to convert these predatory and vicious cycles of exclusion into virtuous circles of inclusivity and that is the challenge and obligation on this generation.”
19 Replies to “Biti Flashes Quitting Politics”
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Problem is this sounds like a repetition of the referendum scenario were Madhuku was jeered and labeled a loser after the new constitution was adopted. We all know what happened next. My suspicion is that this will definitely backfire come 2018.However, I feel Biti himself is not without fault. What is the point of hanging on to a dictator’s parliamentary seats and party name. They should just have quit the party in protest when Tsvangirai refused to step down. As it stands now the renewal group now looks like a desperate group that survives on parliament paychecks.
Problem is this sounds like a repetition of the referendum scenario were Madhuku was jeered and labeled a loser after the new constitution was adopted. We all know what happened next. My suspicion is that this will definitely backfire come 2018.However, I feel Biti himself is not without fault. What is the point of hanging on to a dictator’s parliamentary seats and party name. They should just have quit the party in protest when Tsvangirai refused to step down. As it stands now the renewal group now looks like a desperate group that survives on parliament paychecks.
Nhai Biti; did you get tge $40 billion direct investment after rebelling from Tsvangirai……..even 1kobo or 1 naira??? So stop talking nonsense!!!
Nhai Biti; did you get tge $40 billion direct investment after rebelling from Tsvangirai……..even 1kobo or 1 naira??? So stop talking nonsense!!!
When MDC embraced zpuff in sept 2008 I knew the game was over back then
When MDC embraced zpuff in sept 2008 I knew the game was over back then
The problem with bro Biti is that he is childish and behaves like an adolescent girl.He cries hate when he speaks hate, cries cowadice by MDC-T when he want to benefit from cowarding MDC-T and cries inclusivity when he broke away from MDC-T. Tsvangirai has his weaknesses and strengths like any other person but looking at his weaknesse alone and deciding to break away was a very bad idea. Now he is disillusioned because the same problems that he left MDC-T for are also in the Renuwal or UMDC. Get real bro, dont be a sisi. Now he is contemlating quitting before his Renuwal baby is even concieved. Shame, shame, shame on you Biti.
The problem with bro Biti is that he is childish and behaves like an adolescent girl.He cries hate when he speaks hate, cries cowadice by MDC-T when he want to benefit from cowarding MDC-T and cries inclusivity when he broke away from MDC-T. Tsvangirai has his weaknesses and strengths like any other person but looking at his weaknesse alone and deciding to break away was a very bad idea. Now he is disillusioned because the same problems that he left MDC-T for are also in the Renuwal or UMDC. Get real bro, dont be a sisi. Now he is contemlating quitting before his Renuwal baby is even concieved. Shame, shame, shame on you Biti.
Biti sounds confused and disillusioned. If the 21 MPs were not expelled from parliament would Zimbabwe get $40 billion? It seems Biti & co have been used by their promoters and are now spent force and are now being thrown away like condoms. We thought with the impending by-elections Biti would be in the forefront in promoting his MDC Renewal project by selling his oranges to the voters. Anyway these sell outs got their money and have finished their assignment and can now move on and enjoy their loot. Vaka badara chikwereti. Biti has a very low opinion of the voters. He thinks voters are fools who cant see that he and his Orange Team wanted to remain in Parliament and the Senate as MPs and Senators on MDC T ticket while promoting MDC Renewal or UMDC interests and undermining MDC T interests. Good riddance to Biti and his oranges.
Biti sounds confused and disillusioned. If the 21 MPs were not expelled from parliament would Zimbabwe get $40 billion? It seems Biti & co have been used by their promoters and are now spent force and are now being thrown away like condoms. We thought with the impending by-elections Biti would be in the forefront in promoting his MDC Renewal project by selling his oranges to the voters. Anyway these sell outs got their money and have finished their assignment and can now move on and enjoy their loot. Vaka badara chikwereti. Biti has a very low opinion of the voters. He thinks voters are fools who cant see that he and his Orange Team wanted to remain in Parliament and the Senate as MPs and Senators on MDC T ticket while promoting MDC Renewal or UMDC interests and undermining MDC T interests. Good riddance to Biti and his oranges.
Biti and Tsvangirai are thinking the same way….”Mugabe will never Rig the economy” Biti now think 40Bln Dollars that were locked through the dirty illegal sanctions they invited on the Zimbabwean population…please you 2 stupid fools remove your illegal sanctions you asked to punish Zimbabweans…..now you failed your Regime change agenda you are splitting….living Zimbabweans in dire need of food……………
Biti and Tsvangirai are thinking the same way….”Mugabe will never Rig the economy” Biti now think 40Bln Dollars that were locked through the dirty illegal sanctions they invited on the Zimbabwean population…please you 2 stupid fools remove your illegal sanctions you asked to punish Zimbabweans…..now you failed your Regime change agenda you are splitting….living Zimbabweans in dire need of food……………
It was actually Biti and Mangoma who destroyed the democracy when they were bribed to accept ZANU PF demands during the negotiation process. The starting point in the negotiation was to remove AIPA and POSA but unfortunately these two greed individuals were given millions of dollars to concede to the demands from ZANU PF. Tsvangirai was nowhere near the negotiation. Bit must know that he is a political nonentity who was just riding on Tsvangirai popularity. Let us see how he is going to perform in the by-election. He is going to follow Gwisai’s route.
It was actually Biti and Mangoma who destroyed the democracy when they were bribed to accept ZANU PF demands during the negotiation process. The starting point in the negotiation was to remove AIPA and POSA but unfortunately these two greed individuals were given millions of dollars to concede to the demands from ZANU PF. Tsvangirai was nowhere near the negotiation. Bit must know that he is a political nonentity who was just riding on Tsvangirai popularity. Let us see how he is going to perform in the by-election. He is going to follow Gwisai’s route.
Talk about hate…It is you Tendayi who has rabid hatred for MRT person… and now after hoodwinking 20 people out of their livelihoods you are mulling quitting politics….hauzi bhoo Tindo. …
Yeah, this guy desperately needs to chill-out…he is experiencing a premature political burnout.
Yeah, this guy desperately needs to chill-out…he is experiencing a premature political burnout.
“We need to go beyond politics and craft a vision of Zimbabwean-hood …”
But you pulled out of MDC-T and created another party. What do you call that? Isn’t this “politics” at its crest?
“We need to go beyond politics and craft a vision of Zimbabwean-hood …”
But you pulled out of MDC-T and created another party. What do you call that? Isn’t this “politics” at its crest?