OPPOSITION National People’s Party (NPP) leader Joice
Mujuru has ruled out joining hands with the Morgan Tsvangirai-led MDC Alliance
ahead of next year’s general elections, describing the pact as the “devil from
hell”.
This flies in the face of recent claims by MDC Alliance
spokesperson, Jacob Ngarivhume, who two weeks ago, said Mujuru had requested
for a slot in the MDC Alliance.
“As was reported in the media, Mujuru’s NPP and other
players came after the launch of the alliance and requested to be part of the
alliance and this has resulted in the re-configuration of the proposed seat
allocations and resulted in the current delay in the finalization of the
negotiations,” he said then.
But, NPP secretary-general, Gift Nyandoro yesterday
rubbished the claims saying: “A suggestion of such nature flies in the face of
logic and resolutions made by the NPP national executive council on the set
conditions of joining a coalition. In our view, nothing has changed that would
warrant a change of the position taken by the party. Such allegations can only
be made by the devil from hell. We also challenge the devil to prove them.”
Mujuru said her party, which has already formed a parallel
alliance with other smaller parties, would only join an alliance with a neutral
name and would never be part of any brand carrying the acronym MDC, as that
would make her subservient to Tsvangirai.
Contacted for comment, MDC-T secretary-general, Douglas
Mwonzora, played down the fallout, insisting that Tsvangirai and Mujuru would
soon make an announcement after finding common ground.
“To us, the name is not a major thing. We have to consider
a number of things and come up with a balance. It’s a give-and-take game and I
can tell you that most of the issues have been ironed out and the principals
will soon make an announcement,” he said. Newsday
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