The shelving of nomination processes by Mwonzora has drawn
scorn from the MDC-T extraordinary congress delegates and members of the
National Council of Masvingo province who view the move as the biggest betrayal
to the democratic principles and values of the party.
At a press conference held last weekend at the party’s
provincial headquarters in Rhodene, MDC-T delegates led by de facto chairperson
Festus Dumbu said that they would want to be given a chance to choose their own
candidate and not be dictated upon by either Mwonzora or Khupe.
The resolutions had initially affirmed support for Mudzuri
before being edited to leave out the name of their preferred presidential
candidate. Dumbu, however, told TellZim News that they had a candidate whom
they wanted and no one will rob them of a chance at nomination.
“We have our own candidate whom we would like to nominate
once given a chance. We will not put the name in our resolutions at the moment
but we do not want people who go against the National Council resolutions.
“The nomination process is not in the constitution but it
is a decision which was made by the National Council thereby making it a policy
which must be followed. No one individual has the power of going against the
National Council resolution be it Mwonzora or Khupe,” said Dumbu.
The Dumbu-led team said it had full rights to participate
in the nomination process to choose the late Tsvangirai’s successor as a
province and would not be bullied by power-hungry fraudsters.
“We call upon all members of the MDC to peacefully and vigilantly act now to save
our revolution from the jaws of power-hungry fraudsters threatening to derail
our movement by rigging their way to power.
“We owe this not only to ourselves but to our children, the
country and indeed to the undying spirit of Tsvangirai.
“We reject the planned abuse of the online National Council
nomination process aimed at ensuring that certain members of the Standing
Committee fraudulently put themselves into positions they prefer, ahead of
other deserving cadres.
“We are shocked that the Standing Committee thereafter
resolved to abandon the traditional practice of nominating candidates by
provincial councils in favour of an opaque virtual process by the National
Council whose composition is not known and whose sole purpose is to advance the
interests of some candidates.
“Masvingo has learnt of this intended unconstitutional
crude plan to convene a National Council for the purpose of selecting only two
persons who will then be allowed to contest at the forthcoming Extraordinary
Congress for the position of president of the MDC T Party,” reads the
resolution document.
Masvingo has raised concerns over the flawed Bulawayo
nomination process saying they were done without following proper procedure.
“The Bulawayo nomination process of November 8, 2020 was
grossly flawed and chaotic. It was held before the establishment of an
Electoral College and a properly mandated Independent Electoral Management
Board (IEMB) approved by both the National Executive and National Council as
required and mandated by the resolutions passed by those structures in the last
meetings held by them.
“Masvingo province will always be committed to democracy
and constitutionalism and to ensuring the extraordinary congress processes are
transparent, free, fair and credible.
“The Bulawayo provincial nominations should therefore be
declared null and void. The MDC extraordinary congress becomes a great
opportunity to show the whole world that we are a movement ready to manage all
the internal and national democratic processes which will usher real change as
desired by the people of Zimbabwe,” reads the resolution document. TellZim News
0 comments:
Post a Comment