United Movement for Democratic Change United Movement for Democratic Change United Movement for Democratic Change is a Zimbabwean political party founded in November 2014 as a merger of two parties descended from the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC): the Movement for Democratic Change – Ncube (MDC-N) headed by Welshman Ncube, which broke away from MDC in 2005, and the MDC Renewal Team led by Tendai Biti, which broke away from Movement for Democratic Change – Tsvangirai in 2014 in protest against what they saw as the ineffectual leadership and increasingly authoritarian tendencies of party chairman Morgan Tsvangirai. The party is intended as the core of
Robert Mugabe in power. Several Southern African states remonstrated with him at a summit in Harare in September 2001. In 2002, the British Commonwealth expelled Zimbabwe from among its ranks; Mugabe blamed this on anti-black racism, a view echoed by South Africa's President Thabo Mbeki. Mbeki favoured a policy of "quiet diplomacy" in dealing with Mugabe, and prevented the African Union (AU) from introducing sanctions against him. The Africa-Europe Summit, scheduled to take place in Lisbon in April 2003, was deferred repeatedly because African leaders refused to attend while Mugabe was banned; it eventually took place in 2007 with Mugabe in attendance.