Abedinico Bhebhe, the acting organising secretary, was
shown the door during a national council meeting held virtually “for grossly
violating the constitution of the party [by] supporting another political party
other than the MDC-T”.
The meeting also endorsed acting president Thokozani Khupe,
interim secretary-general Douglas Mwonzora, acting chairperson Morgen Komichi
and former Energy minister Elias Mudzuri as candidates for the presidential
election to be held next month.
Bhebhe’s expulsion meant that he was disqualified from
contesting for the presidency. One of the contestants accused Khupe and
Mwonzora of playing dirty ahead of the extraordinary congress that was ordered
by the Supreme Court early this year.
He said the two engineered a resolution by the MDC-T
national standing committee (NSC) to suspend provincial nominations during a
strategic retreat held in Nyanga last week.
Initially, Khupe and Mwonzora are said to have been pushing
for the nomination of only two candidates to contest for the presidency, but
Mudzuri and Komichi were drafted in after they protested.
There is also a plot to reshuffle the standing committee
after the congress and dump Mudzuri, who is a presidential appointee. Komichi
is also expected to be sacrificed after the congress.
The presidential candidate, who spoke on condition of
anonymity, said he was unhappy about the new nomination process.
“It is a departure from both tradition and procedure in the
party,” he said. “The national committee has five representatives from each
province.
“The provincial nomination committee has about 140
representatives from each province, which forms the provincial council mandated
to sit and nominate the presidential candidate.
“These people per province cannot be replaced by the
national council. Nomination by the national council is invalidated in terms of
the practice and constitution.”
He added: “We also note that the so-called national
council, which purportedly met over WhatsApp has expelled Bhebhe.
“It must be stated categorically that according to the MDC
constitution, a standing committee member can only be expelled by a two-thirds
vote of the national council in a secret ballot. There is no substitution for
this provision in the constitution of the MDC.”
He accused Khupe and Mwonzora of manipulating the process
to choose a substantive leader of the party under the cover of Covid-19
restrictions.
The official alleged the register to be used by voters at
the congress was being kept a secret by the two.
He said over-reliance on virtual meetings was meant to
conceal that the people, who are attending their NSC and NC meetings were not
part of the 2014 structures.
“There is no register of voters for the congress. A lot of
people, who are in the 2014 structures have never been invited to attend even a
single meeting,” he said. “This is causing tension in the party.
“People are also being threatened with recall and expulsion
if they raise any objections like what Bhebhe did.
“It is surprising that we have not met physically so that
we know who is who, who is still with us and those that have left or died.” He
said there were ways the party could meet safely and make important decisions.
The official added: “Why should we fear Covid-19 to
assemble about 150 members of the national council or 76 for the national
executive committee yet we are planning to hold a physical congress where over
4 000 delegates are supposed to attend?
“The Zanu PF politburo is meeting here and there, with over
100 people, the MDC Alliance national council is also meeting notwithstanding
Covid-19, what is only important is respect of social distancing.
“It is fallacy that the MDC-T cannot meet physically now
for just 150 people, but is looking at a venue for 4 500 people. There is a
hidden motive.”
High Court judge Justice Webster Chinamora last week
reserved judgement in a case where two MDC-T members Gilbert Kagodora and
Naison Mamuse are seeking an order to force Khupe to release key information
about the congress.
Meanwhile, Mwonzora defended the move to expel Bhebhe and
dismissed accusations that he was manipulating the election process.
“First and foremost, we have acted above board in
accordance with the law,” Mwonzora told The Standard. “Bhebhe himself participated
in virtual meetings. “If he thinks that we acted unlawfully, he can find
recourse in the courts or any other remedies.
“The other thing is that we held the meeting virtually
because of fear of exposure to Covid-19. “Secondly, it’s less expensive to hold
virtual meetings and, thirdly, those who have wanted to use violence were
unable to use that violence.”
He said the virtual meetings were also meant to ensure that
MDC Alliance supporters do not disrupt the congress. “I think people just want
to blame, instead of using the provincial councils for nomination we have
escalated the nomination to a much higher organ of the party and no one can
challenge that,” Mwonzora said. Standard
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