The recently elected James Gumbi MDC Masvingo executive is
weak, according to secretary general, Douglas Mwonzora.
“Masvingo should
have done better. There are a lot of people with good leadership qualities in
the province. Gumbi and Tongai Matutu were not the best to keep the party
afloat and win back the popular vote used to be enjoyed by the MDC,” Mwonzora
told TellZim News.
Under the Gumbi-led executive’s previous term, the party’s
visibility in the province was very low because all key people were based in
Harare and were out of touch with the structures.
As a consequence, Zanu PF won 25 out of the 26
parliamentary seats in the province and Mwonzora said the same tragedy was
likely to repeat itself in 2023.
“Gumbi does what he wants when he wants. He does not follow
procedure and it will be difficult if not impossible for him to unite the
deeply-divided province.
“Zanu PF will harvest all the parliamentary seats again in
2023 because we have no capable provincial leadership. Matutu had people and we
cannot dispute that. All those people can easily be lured to Zanu PF. The
people had high hopes but they were disappointed,” said Mwonzora.
Many members of the MDC were left disgruntled and dejected
after the disqualification of Matutu at the eleventh hour after Chamisa
reportedly invoked the party congress template where Matutu came short of the
continuous five-year membership threshold.
The Matutu team had to quickly find a replacement and Simon
Mupindu stood in but was defeated by Gumbi under murky circumstances, prompting
his loyalists to stage a mini protest denouncing the Gumbi victory.
Gumbi polled 1 040 votes against Mupindu’s 966 and after
being declared winner, Gumbi said what lied ahead was a huge task of uniting
people and he will work with everyone to reclaim the lost glory.
“The people have voted and I came out victorious. In every
contest, there is one winner and I am the winner in this case. This does not
mean we are shutting other contestants out, we are going to work as a united
front to build our party,” said Gumbi.
Meanwhile, the Matutu team has maintained its narrative
that the polls were rigged, vowing to organise parallel programmes.
“Masvingo we thank you for voting the Matutu team. We will
not surrender. We are the leaders of Masvingo while the Gumbi team are
imposters. We will not abandon the people who nominated us.
“As the leaders of Masvingo, we must not donate the
province to Zanu PF. Gumbi is a product of rigging and is illegitimate. We are
prepared to drive party programmes in districts and wards. Masvingo knows we
are the most popular team and will look to us to proffer strategies that will
dislodge Zanu PF in the province,” said the Matutu team in a statement.
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