Zimbabwe: Movement for Democratic Change (MDC)

Updated February 2000

The MDC was launched in September 1999 before a crowd of 20 000 supporters in Harare and held its first national congress in early 2000.

Backed by the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU) and other civil society organizations, MDC has challenged Zimbabwe's involvement in the DRC and draws attention to the state of the Zimbabwean economy, marked by high inflation and unemployment. The party claims that it has documented over 5 000 incidents of intimidation of its supporters between its formation and the parliamentary elections in June 2000.

Morgan Tsvangirai is the leader of MDC. Tsvangirai was formerly the secretary general of the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU).

The party regularly fields for all of the 120 elective constituencies in parliamentary elections. The MDC has emerged as the greatest threat to ZANU (PF) since independence.

Official website

MDC: [www] http://www.mdczimbabwe.org/ [opens new window]