A POLITICAL time bomb is ticking in the Morgan
Tsvangirai-led MDC-T, with his deputy, Thokozani Khupe, writing a stinging
letter last week accusing the former Prime Minister of being “unapproachable
and unilaterally” signing the MDC Alliance deal, which gave him excessive
powers, NewsDay has learnt.
In a letter in our possession dated August 21 and co-signed
by Khupe, party chairman Lovemore Moyo and suspended organising secretary
Abednico Bhebhe, they claimed that they decided to write instead of visiting
Tsvangirai to register their concerns for fear of further attacks.
The move by the trio emerged hardly a day after Tsvangirai
suspended Bhebhe following a three-hour extraordinary national executive
meeting in which Bulawayo East MP Thabitha Khumalo was reinstated to her
position, while deputy treasurer-general Charlton Hwende remained suspended.
The three were recently severely bashed at the party’s
Bulawayo provincial offices by party youths allegedly sent by Tsvangirai after
they spurned the MDC Alliance signing ceremony in Harare.
They added that they boycotted the MDC-T national executive
council meeting held in Harare on Friday over the same security concerns.
The latest move, which comes less than a week before
Tsvangirai’s scheduled trip to Bulawayo to officially launch the MDC Alliance,
is likely to further derail the envisaged coalition pact.
Part of the letter read: “We write this memorandum to
reiterate our concerns about the MDC Alliance co-operation agreement you signed
with other alliance partners on August 5, 2017 . . .
“We are, however, concerned about the seemingly centralisation
of power in one person, and method that was employed, which gave birth to the
alliance agreement, which is fraught with inconsistencies, as we were never
consulted regarding the substantive contents of the alliance agreement.”
Tsvangirai’s lieutenants said while they supported the
coalition pact, they were, however, concerned over the uneven distribution of
constituencies in the Matabeleland region and Bulawayo, among parties to the
MDC Alliance.
“In terms of Clause 3(c) of the Composite Political
Co-operation Agreement, the party which is strongest electorally in a given
constituency must field the candidate for the coalition. It is for this reason
that we are against the allocation of the seats that have been allocated to
other coalition partners from Bulawayo, Matabeleland South and Matabeleland
North. We are certain that the party is strongest electorally in these
provinces . . . ,” the top MDC-T officials said.
“More specifically, we are concerned about the formula or
method that has been used to come up with the distribution. Precisely, because
mathematically, the party has given away 45,7% of the parliamentary seats and
remained with 54%.
“Our concern is that even if the party is to win all the
contested seats, it may not achieve outright majority presidential victory.”
Efforts to contact Tsvangirai’s spokesperson Luke
Tamborinyoka, Khupe and Moyo were fruitless as their mobile phones were
switched off yesterday.
Bhebhe refused to comment, saying: “Why do you have to call
me when you have the letter?”
The three also raised concern about the party only having
to nominate the Speaker of Parliament with other legislative leadership
positions being given to coalition partners.
Khupe, Moyo and Bhebhe were also not happy with a clause
giving the post of deputy mayor for Harare and Bulawayo to the Tendai Biti-led
People’s Democratic Party.
Part of the contentious clause read: “The alliance party
with the second highest elected councillors shall nominate the deputy.”
The MDC-T bigwigs also raised concern over the distribution
of posts for chairpersons and deputy chairpersons of provincial councils and
also the setting-up of a Coalition Principals’ Forum and Coalition Liaison
Committee, arguing “in our view these committees usurp the functions of the
organs of the party”. Newsday
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