OPPOSITION MDC leader Nelson Chamisa has reportedly
triggered a fresh bid to elbow out senior party leaders suspected of plotting
to challenge him for the party presidency at congress next year, NewsDay has
learnt.
Insiders said Chamisa has called for extra-ordinary
meetings of the national standing committee, national executive and national
council this week at which he is mulling a push for the suspension of
secretary-general Douglas Mwonzora and vice-president Elias Mudzuri, cited as
two leading contenders for his position at the elective congress slated for
next year.
The opposition party was expected to go to congress next
February, but the elective indaba reportedly now hangs in the balance amid
reports that Chamisa wants it pushed to around October, as he seeks to
consolidate his position at the top and buy time to deal with his challengers.
“The standing committee, national executive and national
council were expected to meet for the last time this year on December 15 or
thereabouts, but the president (Chamisa) has called for extra-ordinary meetings
of these key structures next week (this week),” NewsDay heard.
“There will be a meeting of the standing committee on
Wednesday; the national executive could meet on the same day or Thursday before
a national council meeting likely on Friday. The main agenda of the meetings is
to push for the suspension of Mudzuri and Mwonzora basically because
internally, they have indicated their wish to challenge the president.”
Party spokesperson Jacob Mafume confirmed the meetings,
but, however, said they had been called to discuss “pressing national issues”.
“These are meetings that were discussed at last week’s
standing committee meeting and the agenda is known by all leaders. We will not
discuss anything that is not on the agenda. We are in a situation where the
country’s security sector has adopted a mindset that characterises the
opposition as a rebel organisation with parallel military structures,” Mafume
said.
“It is an alarming and scary mindset and as an opposition
party we cannot afford to ignore that.”
Sources said Chamisa wants to use anger among his
supporters stocked by reports that Mwonzora and Mudzuri approached Chief
Justice Luke Malaba and offered him an apology for the raucous behaviour
displayed by opposition MPs during the official opening of the Eighth Parliament
in September.
“Mudzuri and Mwonzora apologised to the CJ, but this
without Chamisa’s blessing and he is very angry with it. The issue was further
complicated by Speaker of Parliament Jacob Mudenda officially noting the
apology, but then requesting it in writing at a meeting of the Standing Orders
and Rules Committee,” NewsDay heard.
Contacted for comment, Mudenda curtly said: “I don’t know
about that (apology). The Speaker would have received an apology from who? I
don’t know about it.”
Walter Chikwanha, the Judicial Service Commission
secretary, was not available for comment yesterday, but a few weeks ago
indicated he wanted to consult Malaba on the matter.
Chamisa’s supporters have reportedly been using this to
have Mwonzora and Mudzuri sanctioned, but to no avail for now.
The MDC leader’s spokesperson Nkululeko Sibanda, while not
directly confirming the issue, said Mwonzora and Mudzuri would be better placed
to talk about it.
“This is an issue that the two leaders (Mwonzora and
Mudzuri) have been given clearance to publicly make comments on. The president
(Chamisa) is not commenting because it would appear that he is publicly pitting
himself against senior leaders in the party,” Sibanda said.
Both Mudzuri and Mwonzora were not available for comment
yesterday, but the former Harare mayor last month did not deny he had met
Malaba and apologised.
“That issue has not been made official or public. It will
be made public, just be patient a bit,” Mudzuri said then.
Mwonzora, however, told a rally in Mutoko on Saturday that
he would make a pronouncement on whether he will challenge Chamisa “at the right
time”.
“Let me say this as the secretary-general, there are some
people who are spreading lies that so and so are fighting, or this one wants to
take over from this one.
“We have a president called Chamisa. As a
secretary-general, I work under his leadership. Be wary of Zanu PF infiltration
to destabilise the party,” Mwonzora said.
“It is not the time. I have not sent any person to campaign
for me. I will speak for myself.”
The Manicaland Senator, however, said party members were
free to challenge for any position, as long as they have the support, but
warned “it is illegal to canvass for support before the congress dates are
announced”.
Sibanda claimed the ruling Zanu PF party was behind the
narrative around the push for the two senior leaders’ ouster plot.
“This is a narrative being created by Zanu PF. This is a
discourse from the enemy who would want to divert attention from the issues
that the president is dealing with,” Sibanda said.
Mafume added that the MDC congress was only due next
October, dismissing reports that it would be held in February.
“It is an argument based on an interpretation of the
constitution. But that provision only applies to an acting president, who would
have been in place for one year. We do not have an acting president, because
our current leader was given the mandate to complete his predecessor’s term. So
congress is due at the latest in October 2019,” he said.
This is not the first time that Chamisa has tried to have
Mwonzora, in particular, fired from the party.
Early this year, a motion moved by his acolytes was
reportedly only stopped after party youths from the notorious “Vanguard” jumped
to the party secretary-general’s side during a stormy meeting.
Sibanda defended his boss and declared he was willing to be
challenged.
“The president is a democrat, will remain a democrat and
all insinuations that he is against democratic processes is frankly
infuriating,” he said, adding Chamisa was aware of a plot to “exclude him from
politics by claiming he is excluding others”.
Mudzuri and Chamisa’s rivalry dates back to the MDC-T 2011
congress in Bulawayo, where the latter “waylaid” the former Harare mayor for
the position of national organising secretary.
Chamisa was at the time party spokesperson, while Mudzuri
was riding the crest of a wave after fronting the opposition party’s 2008
hugely successful campaign, but then lost to his younger counterpart.
Mudzuri also opposed Chamisa’s controversial rise to power
following the death of founding leader Morgan Tsvangirai in February this year,
but chose to remain in the party, while another then vice-president Thokozani
Khupe broke away.
Mwonzora and Chamisa came head-to-head for the party
secretary-general’s position at the 2014 congress, with the former Nyanga North
lawmaker winning the contest, albeit on the back of a single nomination, while
his opponent had swept the board in terms of provincial endorsements.
Since then, the two have become eternal enemies, party
insiders said. Newsday
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