Movement for Democratic Change (1999–2005) was not retroactive, Mugabe could still have maintained the presidency for two more terms. The most controversial part of the constitution was the land reform policies. It stated that, as in the Lancaster House Agreement, Britain would fund land reform from white settlers to landless black peasants. If Britain failed to compensate the farmers, the government would take the farms, without compensation. The party split over whether to contest the 2005 senate election, into the Movement for Democratic Change – Tsvangirai (MDC-T), the larger party still led by Morgan Tsvangirai, and the Movement for Democratic Change – Ncube, a smaller
Thabo Mbeki election in Zimbabwe prompted debate within the Commonwealth and led to a difficult decision to suspend Zimbabwe from the organisation. Mbeki supported Mugabe during this period. It is thought that Mbeki viewed Mugabe as "a victim of imperialist meddling and the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) as a Western stooge." The full meeting of the Commonwealth had failed in a consensus to decide on the issue, and they tasked the previous, present (at the time), and future leaders of Commonwealth (respectively President Olusegun Obasanjo of Nigeria, John Howard of Australia, and Mbeki of South Africa) to come to a