Douglas Mwonzora has said the Supreme Court judgement has
defined the leadership of the MDC.
“The MDC that was led by Morgan Tsvangirai has had its
leadership defined today. There’s no need to denigrate the courts anymore. The
courts have ruled as a result of an appeal filed by Advocate Chamisa himself.”
Police blocked access to the MDC Alliance headquarters,
Morgan Richard Tsvangirai House, in the lead up to the judgment to stop party
leaders access.
Responding to the judgment yesterday, Chamisa tweeted:
“It’s a purification moment. Dictatorship never wins.
Dictatorship always ultimately falls and so shall it be
with all those who connive with it. The people always win and the people shall
govern. Bigger after it all. Correctness never comes second best.”
Analysts described the ruling as “an academic judgment”.
“It is an academic ruling because we already have two
political parties, the MDC-T led by Khupe and the MDC Alliance led by Chamisa,
which all contested elections. So I don’t know what Khupe intends to do with
the judgment because she cannot have any standing to claim another opposition
party called the MDC Alliance,” Rashweat Mukundu said.
Another political analyst Eldred Masunungure said: “We have
to deal with the legal consequences and the political consequences and I think
politically, Chamisa is firmly in control of his party (MDC Alliance) and
legally, depending on what the ruling says regarding the distribution of the
property, who owns the then MDC-T property, who was entitled to receiving the
money under the Political Parties Finance Act? In terms of leadership, I think
Chamisa is still in control and will remain firmly in control of the MDC
because the party he leads is no longer the party which was under dispute last
year.”
Alexander Rusero, another analyst, said: “Legally, it is
nothing, but politically it plays well into Zanu PF and Mnangagwa’s
divide-and-rule scheming. While they will be battling with COVID-19, the MDC
will have something to run for and Chamisa will be having a political headache.
“It is a bizarre ruling considering what happened when the
two parties contested as two different entities in the 2018 elections. You know
Mnangagwa is a schemer and a shrewd politician and this will boost Polad
post-COVID-19 and it may be a way to whip Chamisa into line ahead of talks that
are imminent.”
Khupe started celebrating way before the ruling was
announced and for the first time in two years, posted on her Twitter page
appearing to be celebrating before the judgment was read out.
After the ruling, Komichi, who is the MDC Alliance
secretary for presidential affairs, read out a speech prepared before the
judgment, but obviously aware of the outcome, that the party reverts back to
2014 structures, where he was the party’s national chairman.
“All the actions of the present leadership, including the
holding of the Gweru congress while well aware of the present case, are
nullified,” he said.
“To that end, we advise all our members and structures as
follows; all suspensions and dismissals of any party members by the current
leadership between February 2018 and today are null and void. The affected
members are fully reinstated to their positions in the party.”
Komichi contested and lost the post of vice-president to
Tendai Biti and Welshmen Ncube at the party’s congress held last May.
“We are now going for an extraordinary congress for
purposes of electing a substantive president. Any member of the party is free
to contest this without fear or victimisation. The congress will be run by an
independent commission which, of necessity, will include the ZCTU [Zimbabwe
Congress of Trade Unions] and MDC secretary-general Douglas Mwonzora.”
He added: “The judgment has instructed us to prepare for an
extraordinary congress within three months using the 2014 structures. We must
now stop the blame-game and unite for the bigger picture.”
Komichi said Chamisa’s May 2019 congress had been nullified.
But Biti said the Supreme Court judgment had been overtaken
by events.
“The congress of May 2019 stands, and cannot be affected by
any ruling and determination on a judgment affecting the MDC-T,” Biti said
outside the Supreme Court.
“We are MDC Alliance. The next congress of the MDC Alliance
is in May 2023, not any time before. This is a judgment against an entity
called the MDC-T, we are the MDC Alliance.”
He added: “We are MDC Alliance, we contested 2018 elections
as MDC Alliance and it’s an alliance of seven political parties and whose
president is Chamisa. In that elections, Chamisa received 2,6 million votes.
“The MDC Alliance in May 2019 held its congress and Chamisa
was unanimously elected as the leader and some of us were elected there.
“The MDC Alliance has nothing to do with the judgment given
today that we have mayors, Members of Parliament. Those that were affected by
the judgment can proceed to do what they were ordered by the court. We will
respect the outcome of the people of the May congress in Gweru.” Newsday
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