THE messy turf war between MDC-T rival faction leaders
Thokozani Khupe, who is the party’s interim president, and secretary-general
Douglas Mwonzora has escalated in the aftermath of hotly contested nominations
to fill vacant legislative seats.
Khupe and Mwonzora forged a marriage of convenience to
jettison common foe Nelson Chamisa from the helm of the party and subsequently
its national headquarters, Morgan Tsvangirai House in Harare and the Bulawayo
offices ,but fissures have emerged between the two. There are reports that
Mwonzora wants to challenge Khupe for the presidency at the party’s
extraordinary congress tentatively set for October.
Chamisa, however, argues he was never kicked out of the
party since he leads a different party altogether, the MDC Alliance (MDC-A),
which has nothing to do with Khupe’s outfit.
Mwonzora’s camp has reportedly taken issue with Khupe’s
decision to nominate herself and her inner circle for proportional
representation seats, which fell vacant following her party’s decision to
recall some opposition MPs in Bulawayo.
Besides Khupe, other names set to replace expelled MDC-A
MPs are Lwazi Sibanda, Sipho Mokone, Molly Dorothy Ndlovu, Tamani Moyo, Yvonne
Musarurwa, Lindani Moyo, Chief Ndlovu, Nomalanga Khumalo and her spokesperson
Khalipani Phugeni.
Others are January Sawuke, Memory Munochinzwa, Gertrude
Moyo, Piniel Denga, and Teti Chisorochengwe.
Senior MDC-T officials this week said there was
disgruntlement in the party because Khupe made the nominations without
consulting anyone.
“She has shown that she is purely a factional leader and
doesn’t think anything outside her camp. She nominated herself and her close
associates to fill the vacant seats without making any consultations and this
has angered a lot of people,” a senior party official said. “Now she has handed
the impetus over to her rival Mwonzora who could now really take the fight to
her.”
Mwonzora, the source said, has also been helped by the fact
that the extraordinary congress, which was initially set to take place at the
end of July, has been postponed to a later date because gatherings of that
magnitude are not permissible under the current Covid-19 restrictions.
“This has come as a blessing in disguise for Mwonzora as it
gives him a lot of time to campaign, but even so he still has a lot of work to
do.”
Some party insiders said Khupe’s camp was plotting to get
rid of Mwonzora even before the congress takes place.
“Mwonzora’s biggest problem right now is that he is
hobnobbing with violent people and his rivals are plotting to expel him from
the party ahead of the congress and this will greatly affect his eligibility if
it happens,” a senior official in the party’s women’s assembly said.
“There are even growing calls for a neutral person to stand
instead of these top people whose ambitions work against the good of the party.
Khupe and Mwonzora surely can never work together. People make the mistake of
assuming that when Tsvangirai died, the party split into two camps led by
Chamisa and Khupe, but the real truth is that it split into three camps, the
third being led by Mwonzora.
“Mwonzora has always had a support base big enough to cause
problems and has always harboured presidential ambitions. So, his collaboration
with Khupe against Chamisa was purely driven by self-interest and it’s coming
out clearly now.”
Mwonzora denied a rift with Khupe, claiming to have “a
cordial working relationship” with her, although he could not deny he would be
running for the presidency.
“If I get the nomination, I will run,” he said.
Phugeni said: “There is no basis for that allegation. For
your own information, the president does not get involved in recalls and
nominations. It’s a process that is conducted by provinces spearheaded by the
national chairperson Morgen Komichi and the chairperson of the women’s
assembly, Dorothy Ndlovu.”
By-elections will be held for parliamentary seats that also
fell vacant following the recall of more MDC-A MPs who include secretary
general, Charlton Hwende, organising secretary Amos Chibaya, former chief whip
Prosper Mutseyami, and Highfields West MP, Happymore Chidziva who are
constituency members and can only be replaced via an election. Zimbabwe
Independent
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