POWER struggles have ripped the MDC-T faction apart ahead
of its extraordinary congress slated for September, with interim leader
Thokozani Khupe’s aides allegedly assaulted by party secretary-general Douglas
Mwonzora’s security staff at the Morgan Richard Tsvangirai House party headquarters
in Harare on Wednesday.
The fracas reportedly took place before the party’s
Wednesday standing committee meeting when Khupe’s aide, identified as Kudzanai
Mashumba, was allegedly assaulted by Mwonzora’s security.
This was after Mashumba attempted to conduct security
checks, including checking on where Khupe would sit, a move that angered
Mwonzora’s followers.
Mashumba could neither confirm nor deny the assault
yesterday, referring questions to party authorities.
“I cannot say anything to the media. I do not talk on
matters to do with the party,” was all
Mashumba could say. Sources who witnessed the incident,
however, confirmed the physical clashes.
“We were preparing for the standing committee and Khupe’s
aides came through wanting to do security checks and also to see where the
president was going to sit and other issues as per procedure,” one of the party
officials who witnessed the fracas said.
“One of Khupe’s aides made enquiries on the security
situation, but this did not go down well with one of the security personnel who
asked him why he was making such enquiries.
“An altercation ensued and Khupe’s aide was pushed to the
ground and assaulted.”
The Supreme Court recently recognised Khupe as bona fide
MDC-T interim leader following the death of party founder Morgan Tsvangirai in
February 2018.
The court also declared Nelson Chamisa, who now leads MDC
Alliance, as illegitimate MDC-T leader.
Although the court noted that the ruling was moot since it
had been overtaken by events, it nonetheless ordered Khupe to hold an
extraordinary congress to resolve the party leadership wrangle.
Soon after the ruling, Mwonzora, who is a senator seconded
by Chamisa’s MDC Alliance, dumped the youthful leader for Khupe.
He has since spearheaded the recall of 13 Chamisa MPs, but
observers accuse Mwonzora of angling to take over the party presidency at the
forthcoming extraordinary congress, whose dates have been shifted to September.
Former MDC-T vice-president Elias Mudzuri and party interim
deputy national chairman Morgen Komichi are also reportedly eyeing the
presidency.
After Mashumba’s assault, Mwonzora’s loyalists went for
Khupe’s other aide identified as George Rice and barred him from attending a
Press conference to announce resolutions made at the meeting.
“Around 2:30pm, there was again another incident when
Khupe’s aide only identified as Rice was supposed to attend the Press
conference, but was barred by the security personnel who claimed that Khupe’s
aides were not allowed at that Press conference,” a high-ranking party official
said.
“They kept on referring to the secretary-general as
‘president Mwonzora’ and that is when they were exposed. There were some senior
members of the party who were also barred from attending the meeting.
“The matter was taken to Komichi and he promised to act. He
was told that this kind of tension cannot proceed and those calling Mwonzora
their president must be stopped from doing that as well as attacking Khupe’s
aides.”
Rice confirmed the attack, but refused to shed more light. Contacted for comment, Komichi said:“I am not aware of any
incident. It was not brought to my attention.”
Several efforts to contact Mwonzora were fruitless as his
mobile phone went unanswered, but MDC-T acting spokesperson Khalipani Phugeni
said he had only read of the fracas on social media and was trying to verify
with the involved parties.
“I have seen something doing rounds and I have tried to
confirm with the parties involved, but I have not been lucky. Maybe I will have
something tangible tomorrow morning if anything like that happened,” he said.
The latest development, observers said, seem to confirm
serious leadership fights in the MDC-T cockpit ahead of the faction’s
extraordinary congress, initially supposed to have been held by end of July,
but now moved to September 4. Newsday
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