KOMICHI, BITI SQUARE OFF OVER CANDIDATES

DAGGERS have been drawn between MDC-T national chairman Morgen Komichi and party secretary-general Douglas Mwonzora over selection of candidates in Goromonzi South constituency, where they ended up fielding two parliamentary candidates — Rueben Chikudo (MDC Alliance) and Thomas Mawodzeri (independent).

Mawodzeri filed as an independent candidate after Komichi allegedly snubbed him and signed for Chikudo, who had been disqualified by the party in a letter dated June 11 signed by Mwonzora.

According to Mwonzora’s letter, Chikudo had been disqualified for electoral malpractice and Mawonzeri had been given the greenlight to represent the party, but was allegedly dribbled by Komichi at the 11th hour who decided to sign nomination papers for Chikudo.

Contacted for comment, Komichi accused Mwonzora of jumping the gun in clearing Mawonzeri.

“If he (Mawonzeri) does not have a letter from me, he is not our candidate,” Komichi said.
“I will talk to Mwonzora about this. The letter was supposed to come from me. We investigated and proved that allegations against Mr Chikudo were unfounded and he is our candidate.”
But Mwonzora dug in, accusing Komichi of being ignorant of how the justice system operates.

“The letter advising candidates of such decision comes from the secretary general,” Mwonzora said.
“In the Mawonzeri case, I only communicated a decision reached by the party. We involved the arbiter-general and he gave us recommendations which we took to the appeals committee that decided to disqualify Chikudo. I simply communicated the position.”

He added: “There is always need to understand how the justice system operates. Evidence is analysed and decisions made. Once decisions are made, action is taken and this is what I did. The appeals committee chaired by vice president Elias Mudzuri, where Komichi and Murisi Zwizwai attended made an agreement to disqualify Chikudo and I communicated the decision.”

To add to the confusion, Mawonzeri defied Komichi’s order to withdraw his candidature last week.

MDC-T top officials have also come under fire from the MDC Alliance partners for ignoring the pact and imposing their own preferred candidates in areas reserved for coalition candidates. Newsday

Posted in: NEWS