Mwonzora broke ranks with the MDC Alliance after the Supreme
Court ruled in March last year that Chamisa was not the bona fide leader of the
opposition party. He joined hands with Thokozani Khupe whom he later toppled at
an extraordinary congress in December 2020.
Since he took over as the MDC-T leader, Mwonzora has
reached out to President Emmerson Mnangagwa, saying he subscribed to politics
of dialogue.
He has accused Chamisa of working with G40, a Zanu PF
faction comprising of former ministers Saviour Kasukuwere, Moyo, Walter Mzembi,
among others.
But Moyo on Tuesday let the cat out of the bag, claiming
that Mwonzora’s beef with G40 stemmed from his failure to get funding to fight
Chamisa.
Moyo also disclosed that Mwonzora had been meeting Zanu PF
bigwigs when he was still MDC Alliance secretary-general, scheming to destroy
the main opposition party even before the 2018 elections.
He had been chatting with Moyo since February 2018 where he
inquired whether the late former President Robert Mugabe was indeed behind
Chamisa and the most revealing were the chats of April 12, 2018.
“I really want to fight this guy (Chamisa). I want to field
my team for Parliament and local government. Further, I want to prepare for the
2019 congress. Can you help me find a sponsor? I will definitely win. I have
the majority,” Mwonzora wrote to Moyo.
The MDC-T leader’s spokesperson Lloyd Damba yesterday
described the alleged chats as fake. “They are unauthentic. Do I need to say
anything more than that?” Damba said.
However, MDC Alliance deputy spokesperson Clifford
Hlatywayo said the new development should not surprise anyone as Mwonzora had
always worked with Zanu PF since the time he joined the MDC.
“The writing is on the wall. Everyone can see that Zanu PF
has been working with Dougie (Mwonzora) since coming into the movement in 2005.
He has been working with them to derail and delay change,” Hlatywayo said.
Political analyst Methuseli Moyo said if the chats were
true, they portray Mwonzora as an ambitious turncoat.
“The chats somehow confirm what Mwonzora’s critics have
always said about him, that he dines with their rivals the ruling party. It’s
difficult to conclude, but clearly his actions don’t seem to advance the
opposition agenda.”
Two weeks ago, Mwonzora secretly met Mnangagwa and asked
the Zanu PF leader to consider scrapping pending by-elections. He also proposed
a new dialogue platform between MDC-T and Zanu PF to be known as the
Parliamentary Dialogue Forum that would exclude Chamisa.
Mwonzora has repeatedly refuted allegations that he is a
Zanu PF puppet, but indicated his eagerness to work with the ruling party.
Newsday
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