MDC-Alliance leader Nelson Chamisa has vowed to fight
against the recall of his legislators from Parliament by the rival Thokozani
Khupe-led MDC-T.
Khupe recalled a total of 13 MDC-Alliance legislators from
Parliament, after she became the party’s interim leader following a Supreme
Court ruling.
This comes as the senseless wars consuming the MDC continue
to deepen, with neither Khupe nor Chamisa seemingly able to stabilise the
troubled party — to the obvious glee of Zanu PF.
Chamisa and Khupe have been battling to control the party
since the death of the party leader Morgan Tsvangirai in February 2018, in a
development that left the opposition party in disarray.
“… MDC-Alliance MPs can’t be forced to belong to the MDC-T
they defeated in 2018. We resist the illegal and unlawful recalls. Five fights
on —a legitimate people’s government, reforms, livelihoods and rights!
#corruptioniskillingus,” Chamisa wrote on micro-blogging site Twitter.
Zanu PF is however, on record denying any involvement in
the fight between Khupe and Chamisa.
The fresh batch of
recalls of the party’s MPs on Tuesday also came amid renewed efforts by some
worried MDC bigwigs to re-unite the movement’s leaders — who have been at each
other’s throats ever since Tsvangirai’s death.
Mudenda, announced the expulsion of the nine legislators
from the august House on Tuesday after re-instated MDC secretary-general
Douglas Mwonzora said they had ceased to represent the party’s interests in
Parliament.
Among those expelled
were some key lieutenants of Chamisa such as Amos Chibaya (Mkoba), Murisi
Zwizwai (Harare Central), and Happymore Chidziva (Highfield West).
The others were proportional representatives Bacilia
Majaya, Macharairwa Mugidho, Virginia Muradzikwa, Annah Myambo, Francisca Ncube
and Nomathemba Ndlovu.
The MDC’s interim
leadership has now recalled a total of 13 party legislators from Parliament —
following last month’s jettisoning of Chalton Hwende (Kuwadzana East), Prosper
Mutseyami (Chikanga Dangamvura), Tabitha Khumalo (proportional) and Senator
Lilian Timveos (Midlands), as Khupe continues to flex her muscles in the fierce
fight for the control of the party.
Commenting on the recalls, MDC-Alliance spokesperson
Fadzayi Mahere said the recall was a “violent onslaught” on the will of the
people, who elected MDC-Alliance MPs into Parliament.
“We take the firm view that State institutions, including
Parliament are being abused to reverse the will of the people and replace it
with an unholy alliance between (Mr) Mnangagwa and (Ms) Khupe. This great
reversal of the people’s will by Zanu PF is a continuation of the electoral
theft of 2018.
“The block recalls are a regrettable act of intimidation of
MPs who have refused to align themselves with the Zanu PF agenda. The thinking
is that our MPs will be guided by material interest not by their conscience,
however, unlike those who have chosen political expediency we firmly believe
that the majority of our MPs, who represent the true will of the people, will
be guided by conscience,” Mahere said.
She said, the MDC-T was targeting proportional
representatives, in a bid to create space for handpicking surrogates, including
Khupe.
“They want to hand her a free ticket into Parliament to
make her an opposition stooge in Parliament even though she has no mandate from
the people,” she said.
All this comes as
Khupe has deferred the much-anticipated and court-directed MDC extra-ordinary
congress, which was due to be held at the end of next month.
Khupe said the postponement had been necessitated by the
coronavirus pandemic, which restricts large gatherings.
The postponement
came a few days after MDC organising secretary Abednico Bhebhe implored both
Khupe and Chamisa to bury their differences and unite for the good of the
party.
“Our meeting today is founded on the reality of the
divisions sponsored by our own indiscretions and admittance of the fact that
there were two congresses — one at Stanley Square in Bulawayo and another at
Gweru — with two leaders who contested each other in the 2018 elections.
“It is our collective responsibility to bring the two
leaders to the table, whatever the stakes involved. It has taken us literally
forever to meet as a team, and I want to speak to our mandates as responsible
adult citizens on whom the whole nation reposes,” Bhebhe said while presenting
a report in the party’s standing committee last week.
“We need each other if this struggle is to be won at all. I
appeal that as leaders we cast our sights into the long run, ahead of the short
termism that manifested in the decisions, actions and choices we have taken so
far, both individually and collectively in small sub groups. I am appealing to
you as fellow trench men and women that we treat each other with one eye to
sustaining the struggle against a common enemy,” Bhebhe added. Daily News
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