REINSTATED MDC secretary-general Douglas Mwonzora has
delivered stinging criticism of his long-time nemesis Nelson Chamisa and his
allies, saying they faced disciplinary action for failing to comply with
Tuesday’s Supreme Court decision rendering Thokozani Khupe as the rightful
leader of the party.
The Chamisa camp, most notably his deputies Tendai Biti and
Welshman Ncube, mocked the ruling, saying it did not affect their structures.
The Supreme Court on Tuesday ruled that Chamisa was not the
legitimate leader of the main opposition party, in so doing affirming an
earlier High Court decision.
Chamisa gained control of the party in a dramatic fashion
when the now late founding president, Morgan Tsvangirai, was on his deathbed in
South Africa. Tsvangirai succumbed to colon cancer in February 14, 2018. The
court said the party should revert to 2014 structures, which in principle
implies the firebrand youthful politician is relegated to a national council
member position while Khupe — who was elected MDC vice-president at the October
2014 congress — assumes the reins.
Mwonzora beat Chamisa in the race for the secretary-general’s
position at that congress.
The Supreme Court also ordered the party to hold an
extraordinary congress in the next three months.
Biti said the ruling was a nullity since it had been
overtaken by events.
Both Khupe and Chamisa held separate congresses last year.
They also separately contested the 2018 presidential election in which Khupe
performed dismally.
Biti further averred that the ruling was made in terms of
the MDC-T, which Khupe led, and not Chamisa’s MDC Alliance.
“The congress of May 2019 stands and cannot be affected by
any ruling and determination on a judgement affecting the MDC-T. We are MDC
Alliance. The next congress of the MDC Alliance is in May 2023, not anytime
before,” he said.
Ncube also dismissed the ruling.
However, Mwonzora, in an interview with the Zimbabwe
Independent said the two officials were offside.
“The chairman (Morgen Komichi) made it clear that we will
comply with the ruling. Then we heard some people say they will not comply and
that’s rather sad because we insist it should be complied with,” he said,
adding Biti and Ncube were “wrong and dishonest”.
“They are wrong and dishonest. The MDC Alliance is not a
political party, but a group of seven parties, of which the principal party is
the MDC. In terms of the alliance agreement, anyone who is the MDC president
automatically becomes the leader of the alliance. Similarly, it means that once
that person has lost the presidency of the MDC, he/she would have automatically
lost the alliance leadership,” Mwonzora said.
“In the MDC alliance, the seven parties retained their
statuses as individual parties. So Mr Biti’s party is the PDP (People’s
Democratic Party) and Ncube’s party is MDC Green. We were therefore surprised
to hear PDP people trying to comment on MDC issues. So the judgement affects
one of the parties which is a member of the MDC Alliance.
The interpretation by of the (alliance) agreement by Biti
is thus an awkward attempt to gain cheap political mileage by lying to the
people. Biti and Ncube are very senior lawyers and they must be honest to
Chamisa and to Zimbabwe,” he said.
Mwonzora added that failure to comply with the court’s
decision would lead to the party instituting disciplinary action.
“The MDC is a party of rules. We respect and advocate for
the rule of law and constitutionalism. We cannot accept lawlessness disguised
as politics. Gone are the days when people would break their own rules with
impunity. If we fail to obey court rulings while we are in the opposition, what
would happen if we are given state power?” Mwonzora said.
“So, if people fail to comply with the ruling, they will be
taking a conscious risk and would be careless because the party will trigger
its rules.”
However, Luke Tamborinyoka, the hitherto MDC deputy spokesperson
and a Chamisa loyalist, scoffed at Mwonzora’s suggestions.
“The ruling doesn’t mean anything to anyone, and Mwonzora
should know that. We cannot be bound by a decision of a captured judiciary. We
went into elections with our own insignia and Khupe went with her own insignia.
We have had separate congresses too, indicating that we are different entities.
How will such disciplinary action be effected? It’s a joke,” he said. Zimbabwe
Independent
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