MDC Alliance councillors yesterday snubbed MDC-T interim
leader Thokozani Khupe, with 14 out of 71 councillors from Greater Harare
attending her party meeting at Morgan Richard Tsvangirai House.
Khupe's team tried to inflate the attendance figures, with
two officials, however, giving different figures.
Acting party spokesperson Khalipani Phugeni said 15
councillors attended the meeting, but Epworth Local Board chairperson Batanai
Masunda claimed 20 were in attendance, while sources insisted only 14
councillors turned up.
"It was a meeting called by the acting president to
deal with several issues as you have read in the media of cases of corruption
within local authorities, among other issues. She was reading the riot act and
warning those involved in corruption," Phugeni said.
An attendance register seen by NewsDay Weekender showed
that 10 out of 45 Harare councillors attended while Chitungwiza only had two
out of 21, while Epworth also had two out of a possible five city fathers.
The opposition was thrown into turmoil after a Supreme
Court "moot" ruling of March 30 declared Khupe the interim leader of
the MDC-T, saying Nelson Chamisa's appointment as party vice-president was done
unprocedurally.
Since then, Khupe
has gone on a warpath recalling MDC Alliance legislators from Parliament and
taking over party offices claiming she was the bona fide party leader. This is
despite the fact that her MDC-T party and Chamisa's MDC Alliance contested the
2018 presidential elections as separate entities.
Commenting on the snub, MDC Alliance secretary for
presidential affairs Jameson Timba said the move confirmed that the rival camp
had no basis to its claim of legitimacy without numbers.
"Khupe and Douglas Mwonzora (MDC-T interim secretary-general)
are learning very fast that political power and legitimacy are people rather
than court-driven," Timba said.
"Courts do not bestow political legitimacy. They
thought that by commandeering the whole State machinery with threats of recall
against the MDC Alliance deployees they would also commandeer people's
hearts."
MDC Alliance deputy secretary for local government, Jacob
Mafume, said party councillors who have defected to Khupe's camp would be
penalised. Newsday
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