FRESH divisions have emerged in the MDC Alliance in
Bulawayo with reports that some officials raided offices belonging to Professor
Welshman Ncube’s old MDC demanding keys and an inventory of property at the
premises.
MDC Alliance, a coalition of parties including Prof Ncube’s
MDC ahead of the 2018 elections, amalgamated after the polls to form one party
under Mr Nelson Chamisa.
However, the party has failed to gel particularly in
Bulawayo with sharp divisions laced with tribal undertones between a pro-
Chamisa faction pitted against members of Prof Ncube’s old MDC.
According to insiders, a group of MDC Alliance members
purporting to be from the security department raided the former MDC offices
along Herbert Chitepo and 13th Avenue claiming that they were being used to
hold parallel programmes to the MDC Alliance.
“There is general mistrust between members formerly from
Ncube’s MDC and those found under Chamisa. About three weeks ago, some members
claiming to be from the security department met an official locking gates to
the premises and accused him of holding secret meetings involving members of
the former MDC,” said a source.
It is said the mistrust has been heightened by clashes in
the election of provincial executive members and the recent selection of
national executive council members with allegations of tribal bias.
The officials from Prof Ncube’s former MDC are said to have
been systematically shut out hence the suspicion that they are holding parallel
meetings at the offices.
The source said the officials returned twice last week and
on the second occasion demanded keys to the premises.
“They came on Thursday and milled around the premises. They
were in the company of a man whom they said was from the security department in
Harare. They left and returned the following day claiming that they had been
sent by secretary general, Charlton Hwende, to seize keys to the offices as
they now fall under the MDC Alliance following the amalgamation of the two
parties. They also demanded an inventory of the property in the offices,” said
the source.
“After they were denied the keys, the group left saying
they would return on Monday with paper work from Hwende sanctioning their
actions but they did not return.”
MDC Alliance Bulawayo provincial spokesperson, Mr Swithern
Chirowodza, yesterday dismissed the reports.
“Everything is in harmony, the source is trying to plant
seeds of discord. Everyone is happy, there is no discord in the province, that
(the reports) is the work of detractors through rumour mongering,” he said.
However, insiders insisted that things were not well in the
party over a number of hanging issues.
“There is the hot issue of tribalism in the province that
affected the provincial congress and the recent selection of members to the
national executive council. The party is divided along tribal lines and until
Chamisa acts decisively on the matter, these tensions will explode in his face
one of these days,” said the source.
A recent meeting to elect members to form the party’s
national executive council turned violent as some disgruntled members accused
the provincial executive of tribalism in the selection process.
A senior party member accused Mr Chamisa of sowing seeds of
discord when he allegedly rigged the Bulawayo provincial elections before the
party’s congress last month to ensure his preferred candidates won. Herald
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