MDC-T national organising secretary Abednico Bhebhe has accused party interim leader Thokozani Khupe and acting national chairman Morgen Komichi of wiping out $7 million advanced to the party under the Political Parties Finance Act without the authority of the national executive.
Bhebhe has also accused the party leadership of tempering
with the 2014 structures and bring in their own list of participants ahead of
the extraordinary congress.
This also came as the MDC-T on Saturday held a national
executive council meeting virtually at a time two members had dragged the party
to court to push it to provide critical information and holding of meetings
ahead of the congress.
Party spokesperson Khalipani Phungeni could not immediately
confirm the Saturday meeting while Komichi was not picking calls.
But Bhebhe made the allegation in his opposing affidavit in
a case in which two disgruntled party members, Gilbert Kagodora and Nason
Mamuse have approached the courts demanding transparency in the way Khupe is
organising the extraordinary congress.
The indaba was ordered by the Supreme Court in March to
resolve the leadership crisis in the opposition.
The congress should be held using the party’s 2014
structures, according to the ruling that declared MDC Alliance leader Nelson
Chamisa illegitimate. It was not clear who participated in the virtual meeting
yesterday.
Bhebhe, who was cited as a respondent together with Khupe
(second respondent) and Komichi (third), but opted for own legal representation
in the case in which he spilled the beans on how the MDC-T leader and national
chairman have been making unilateral decisions without the authority of the
national executive as demanded by the party’s constitution.
“First respondent (MDC-T) opened and now operates books of
accounts without reference whatsoever to the national executive as is required
by the constitution,” said Bhebhe in his opposing affidavit.
“In fact, first respondent received from the government of
Zimbabwe, under the Political Finances Act, a whopping $7 million which second
(Khupe) and third (Komichi) respondent wiped clean outside the mandate and
framework of first respondent’s constitution.”
President Emmerson Mnangagwa in July gave Khupe $7,4
million, despite a Supreme Court ruling ordering the government to stop
disbursing the money under the Political Parties Finance Act until a legal
conflict over which formation is entitled to the money is settled.
High Court judge Justice Nyaradzo Munangati-Manongwa in May
granted Chamisa an interim relief order barring Mnangagwa’s government from
releasing the money to Khupe until the courts resolved dispute.
Bhebhe told the court that Khupe and Komichi were making
unilateral decisions without the authority of the national executive council.
He said that he would not oppose Kagodora and Mamuse’s applications because he
was well aware that the MDC-T should organise the extraordinary congress.
The court papers showed the discord in Khupe’s camp and
Bhebhe accused the leaders of trying to cherry pick who attends the congress,
while also availing a list of congress delegates to provinces for verification
without his knowledge. The organising secretary is ordinarily responsible for
the structures.
Bhebhe accused Khupe and Komichi of “irregular conduct” by
using unscrupulous means to “shut out” bona fide members from participating at
the party’s upcoming extraordinary congress. Newsday
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