At least four people were seriously injured at Morgan
Tsvangirai House, the MDC-Alliance headquarters in Harare, in ugly intra-party
violence pitting supporters aligned to leader Mr Nelson Chamisa and those
linked to former secretary-general Mr Douglas Mwonzora on Saturday.
Property worth thousands of dollars, including a vehicle
belonging to Mr Mwonzora, was damaged.
The violence took place while the party’s Standing
Committee, chaired by Mr Chamisa, was holding a meeting at the headquarters.
Sources within the party yesterday said the fight erupted
after supporters aligned to Mr Mwonzora came to the head office after they got
wind that youths sympathetic to Mr Chamisa wanted to stop the former
secretary-general from attending the crucial meeting.
Mr Mwonzora has been in the eye of a storm within the party
for his outspokenness and calling for an extraordinary congress to select new
leadership after the High Court nullified the appointment of Mr Chamisa and
Engineer Elias Mudzuri as co-vice presidents three years ago.
This follows an application by the party’s Gokwe district
organising secretary, Mr Elias Mashavire, challenging the decision by the late
MDC-T leader Morgan Tsvangirai to unilaterally hand-pick his “blue-eyed boys”
to the lofty positions ahead of others in the contest to succeed him.
Since then, Mr Mwonzora has been accused of working with
former vice president Dr Thokozani Khupe, who is now leading another splinter
party — MDC-T.
At least three party activists and a passer-by were left
injured at Harvest House and filed reports of assault with the police.
Police spokesperson Assistant Commissioner Paul Nyathi
confirmed the skirmishes and said investigations were in progress.
“We have received reports on intra-party political violence
at Harvest House on Saturday. Youths aligned to different factions clashed and
left some injured. We have four people who have filed reports of assault
including a passer-by who was caught in the crossfire,” said Asst Comm Nyathi.
“We have one Bernard Nyaika, aged 35, who made a report of
assault. Other people who filed reports are Neighbour Login Masale and one
Blessed Mushonga, and a passer-by who was caught in the crossfire. As police we
are carrying out thorough investigations to establish what took place on the
day in question.”
Party deputy spokesperson Mr Luke Tamborinyoka was not
available, while Mr Mwonzora promised to call back but had not done so at the
time of going to print.
Last week, Mr Mwonzora launched a scathing attack on the
party leadership accusing them of paying youths to issue “irresponsible
statements”.
Meanwhile, MDC-Alliance Bulawayo province has been rocked
by fresh chaos over the co-option of some members into the provincial
executive, reports our Bulawayo Bureau.
The resolution to co-opt members into the province was made
after MDC-A leader Mr Nelson Chamisa buckled to pressure to include members who
lost at the provincial congress in May ahead of the party’s main congress in
Gweru in June.
Mr Chamisa was dragged into the fiasco with accusations
that he had sided with the group comprised of present provincial chairperson Mr
James Sithole at the expense of members from his deputy Professor Welshman
Ncube’s MDC party that was dissolved and merged with MDC-Alliance.
Sources said the Bulawayo Provincial Administrative
Council, popularly known as PAC, met in Bulawayo on Tuesday where they fiercely
disagreed on the co-option of more members into the women’s wing.
The sources said the wing’s chairperson, Ms Luba Masotsha —
believed to be an ally of Prof Ncube — proposed to incorporate more members
outside the stipulated 10 that was agreed on by the party.
“The party resolved to incorporate 10 members in each of
the wings to accommodate members who lost at the provincial congress. Masotsha
wanted to go further and incorporate 18 more members and put her people in the
top five positions of the province,” said a party source.
The suggestion by the women’s wing chairperson was resisted
by Mr Sithole and deputy Mr Felix Mhaka.
“Mhaka warned Masotsha against doing things that would come
back to haunt her as her actions were unconstitutional while Sithole supported
his deputy arguing that the women’s wing chairperson’s moves were illegal,”
said the source.
It was revealed that the opposition to the incorporation
runs deeper than claims of constitutionalism as there were factional fights
with tribal undertones in the province.
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