PRESSURE is mounting on Nelson Chamisa and his close
allies, as more MDC stalwarts start to pull away from the charismatic
politician, in the simmering war for the soul of the country’s main opposition
party.
This comes as the Daily News On Sunday has confirmed that
authorities will release $7,5 million due to the MDC under the Political
Parties (Finance) Act to the group that is temporarily in charge of the party
following the recent court rulings — in a move which strengthens them
significantly in the unfolding battle for the leadership of the party.
It also comes as the Daily News On Sunday has it on good
authority that Chamisa and his associates are busy weighing three options, as
the ructions in the party continue to escalate — all of which present their own
unique challenges:
* Disregarding the recent High Court and Supreme Court
judgements which nullified Chamisa’s leadership of the MDC, and continuing as
if nothing has changed
* Respecting the
court rulings and preparing to contest positions at the extraordinary congress
which the courts said must be held soon, or
* Forming a new
party altogether — which would be completely divorced from the successful
political movement that was founded by the party’s much loved founding leader,
the late Morgan Tsvangirai
While all this is
happening, the Daily News On Sunday has also established that the group that is
temporarily in charge of the party is determinedly forging ahead with its plans
to hold the court directed congress, to choose a new party leader — piling
further pressure on Chamisa, who maintains that he still leads the country’s
main opposition.
This comes after the Supreme Court recently upheld last
year’s ruling by the High Court — which said Chamisa’s ascendancy to the
leadership of the MDC had violated the opposition party’s constitution and was,
therefore, null and void.
The ruling handed Tsvangirai’s then deputy, Khupe, the
interim leadership of the party as she was elected at the party’s congress in
2014 — while Chamisa’s other rivals Morgen Komichi and Douglas Mwonzora
reverted to being national chairperson and secretary-general respectively.
The court also ordered Khupe to hold an extraordinary
congress within three months. Yesterday,
Mwonzora told the Daily News On Sunday that they had now exceeded the required
quorum, which allowed them to proceed with the congress.
“The response for the congress is overwhelming. It will be
oversubscribed. Thousands of delegates have already confirmed their attendance
at the congress … much more than the quorum.
“For now, we are mostly interested in the delegates who
will be coming to the congress and not in everyone else … we will meet everyone
else after the congress.
“Although we have had limitations because of the health
situation, in terms of preparations we are at an advanced stage and we are
going to elect a new MDC president soon,” Mwonzora said.
On his part, Komichi said they would use the money due to
the opposition for participating in the 2018 elections to prepare for the
congress.
“We have claim to the money that is provided in Parliament
and we are going to use that money to prepare for the congress.
“We are mindful of the rule of law … the congress is going
to be held within the three months. We have a clear mandate from the Supreme
Court, and we have a overwhelming response.
“Everyone who was in those structures is going to come to
the congress,” the confident Komichi said.
Meanwhile, Justice
minister Ziyambi Ziyambi has confirmed to the Daily News on Sunday that the
government would disburse the money due to the MDC to the Khupe group.
“The money has not been released because of Covid-19, but I
think the claims by the Mwonzora group are correct. My understanding is that
the Alliance is a grouping of several parties and the MDC is the bigger party
in that Alliance,” he said.
In the meantime, Chamisa’s faction says it is aware of the
“machinations” of its former colleagues to secure the millions due to the
party.
“The law is clear, the party that would have deployed MPs
in Parliament are entitled to the funding. As things stand now, there are only
two parties that are entitled to that funding, that is the MDC Alliance and Zanu
PF.
“Any action outside this by whoever in government or
otherwise would be unlawful,” MDC deputy secretary general Jameson Timba said.
“We are, however, conscious of the political intentions of
Zanu PF, who are working with our erstwhile colleagues who left the party, to
stifle the operations of the MDC Alliance. But these political machinations
will be resisted,” he added.
In a sign of the trouble brewing for Chamisa, the
re-instated chairperson for Mashonaland East, Piniel Denga, has accused the youthful
politician of acting contrary to principles of democracy.
Denga contested for the leadership of the province at the
MDC’s chaotic congress that was held in Gweru last May, but lost to Anthony
Mutodza.
“After the Supreme Court judgment that said things were not
done according to our constitution, we have one group of leadership which is
calling for us to implement our own constitution.
“However, there is another group of leadership that is
afraid that if things are done according to our constitution they might lose
their influential party positions.
“This group of leaders is now going about labelling as Zanu
PF those who say let’s follow the constitution,” Denga wrote on Facebook.
He confirmed to the Daily News On Sunday that he had posted
the statement on his page.
“Did Zanu PF write our constitution for us? Is it not true
that Advocate Chamisa, through his lawyer in the Supreme Court case, agreed
that the constitution that was being used was the correct constitution of the
party?
“That is the same constitution that other leaders are
saying let’s follow in line with the Supreme Court ruling,” Denga added.
He said it was wrong for Chamisa and his allies to distance
the MDC Alliance from the MDC because they were still using the party’s
constitution.
“When was our party dissolved in terms of our constitution?
Why were primary elections in constituencies allocated to (Tendai) Biti’s PDP
and (Welshman) Ncube’s MDC not open to those from MDC T as was left by Morgan
Tsvangirai?
“Why did we hold the Gweru congress as the party’s fifth if
we have now become MDC Alliance?
“Why did Chamisa appeal against the High Court ruling if
the ruling had nothing to do with our party? Dishonest leadership will not take
the party anywhere,” Denga said further.
The former Mbare MP also claimed that he had taken Chalton
Hwende to task on whether they would not have accepted the court ruling had it
been in their favour.
“Hwende did not answer my question. As a response I started
seeing my message to him being circulated in social media groups.
“I was also removed from the National Executive WhatsApp
group and some leaders called me a sellout.
“If following our party constitution is selling out then I
accept being a sellout in that respect. I am selling out dishonesty,” Denga
said.
He also took a swipe at Chamisa for accepting Biti and
Ncube back into the party after they broke away from Tsvangirai, having called
him names.
“When these two came back to the party they were
celebrated, but no one asked them to renounce their Zanu PF membership as was
alleged when they split.
“No one asked them to take back their words against our now
late president. Biti called him “Gumbura’ and Ncube called him a dictator.
“These leaders said many unprintable bad words against our
party and our late leader. When they went away they took with them party assets
and money and everyone knows it.
“And everyone knows when they came back they did not bring
back what they took with them,” Denga also let rip. Daily News
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