Gibson Sibanda

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Gibson Jama Sibanda (born 1944) is a Zimbabwean politician. He is Vice-President of the Movement for Democratic Change and has been a member of the Zimbabwe House of Assembly since the 2000 election. As MDC Leader Morgan Tsvangirai does not sit in the House of Assmbly, Sibanda has been Leader of the Opposition there.

[edit] Early life

Sibanda was born in Filabusi, Matabeleland, the only child of a miner who worked in South Africa. He is from the Ndebele tribe. He worked on the railways and was a trade unionist before going into politics as Welfare Secretary of ZAPU (being jailed by the Rhodesian government from 1976 to 1979).

In 1984 Sibanda was elected President of five amalgamated railway trades unions. He studied and obtained a Diploma in Industrial Labour Relations, and was the first Vice-President of the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions in 1988 before serving as President from 1989. He was a leading member of the initiative for the ZCTU to establish a political party in 2000, being unanimously elected as Vice-President at the inaugural congress.

[edit] MDC activity

In 2005 Sibanda was the leader of a faction within the MDC which advocated that the party should participate in elections to the Senate of Zimbabwe, which it had opposed. When the MDC National Council voted to support participation, MDC Leader Morgan Tsvangirai suspended Sibanda and his supporters such as Welshman Ncube pending a Congress in February 2006. Sibanda and his allies claimed to have suspended Tsvangirai from his post as Party President. On February 25, a congress of Sibanda's faction elected Arthur Mutambara as its President.