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Prosper Dembedza Herald Reporter
MDC-T leader Mr Morgan Tsvangirai, yesterday forced his party supporters to chant slogans “yes president” whenever he made a point in a desperate move to command respect.

Addressing a handful of party supporters during a rally held at Chemhanza Grounds in Dzivarasekwa, Mr Tsvangirai said: “Whenever I talk, I want you to say yes president or thank you president because that’s the first step to ensure discipline in the party.”

The beleaguered opposition party is facing a potential split after its national council met in Harare last month and endorsed the decision to boycott the forthcoming 14 by-elections, a move that was fiercely opposed by its top officials.

Mr Tsvangirai told his supporters that the rally was not meant to campaign for anyone, but to advice his party supporters not to take part in any election unless electoral reforms were put in place.

“For the past years since we formed this party, we have been voting in our numbers but nothing was coming out of that because Zanu-PF was rigging elections,” he alleged.

“We as MDC will create another police force or another army, but all we would do is make sure that the police, the army and all these security institutions follow the constitution. So the police officers and soldiers should not be scared to lose their jobs if MDC comes to power.”

Mr Tsvangirai told his supporters that his party was being deprived of a chance to air its views on ZBC compared to Zanu-PF.

“There is this song called ‘Rambai makashinga’ which was being repeated day by day on ZBC (in the run-up to 2002 elections) and I was surprised when I started singing the song while I was going to take a bath before I said to myself, ahh this is dangerous, because that is how propaganda works,” he said.

Mr Tsvangirai said the election conditions in Zimbabwe must comply with SADC and AU guidelines.

He said according to research, 52 percent of Zimbabweans had no confidence in ZEC running elections.

The rally was also attended by senior party officials among them Mr Job Sikhala and Erick Murayi.