Zimbabwe's MDC-T faction announces rebranding to main faction's MDC Alliance

20 Septembre 2020

Harare, Zimbabwe, September 20 (Infosplusgabon) - Zimbabwe's Movement for Democratic Change -Tsvangirai (MDC-T) opposition faction party led by Thokozani Khupe has said it will adopt the MDC Alliance brand with immediate effect setting up another legal showdown with MDC Alliance led by Nelson Chamisa.

Armed with a March Supreme Court ruling that returned the leadership of the MDC to Khupe from Chamisa, pending an extraordinary congress, the former has been making recalls of local councilors and Members of Parliament.

However, the interpretation of the ruling has been disputed as it made reference to MDC and not MDC Alliance the banner under which MPs and local councillors participated in the July 2018 harmonised elections.

“We are actually the MDC Alliance,” MDC-T interim chairman Morgen Komichi said during their recent celebrations to mark the 21st anniversary of the party.

Later clarifying his comments in a local weekly, The Standard on Sunday, he said:

“Technically, the people we removed are MDC Alliance MPs and councillors so there will be a conflict of ideas if we use the MDCT name. The MDC-T is our name, but we are trading in elections as MDC Alliance. Imagine if we were to have an MP under the MDC-T banner, how will that MP relate to our MPs now known as MDC Alliance MPs?”

In a statement posted on Twitter, the MDC Alliance insisted on the party’s identity under its leader, Chamisa, and vowed to settle the “battle” politically.

“We are the MDC Alliance. We contested the 2018 election as the MDC Alliance under the Presidency of Nelson Chamisa,” MDC Alliance said.

“Our members were unlawfully recalled on account of being members of the MDC Alliance. This battle will be settled politically. Political power lies in the people.”

According to MDC Alliance sources, the new overture by Khupe is to avoid a situation which happened recently after she recalled former Harare Mayor, Herbet Gomba, only to be replaced by another councilor aligned to Chamisa in the follow-up by-election.

By also using the name MDC Alliance, Khupe, the source said is seeking to ensure that people loyal to her faction are put in place in by-elections held after making parliamentary or local council recall.

Bizarrely, the latest move by Khupe and her faction who got less than one percent of the July 2018 polls seems to confirm the long held suspicion that she is aligned to Zimbabwe President Emmerson Mnangagwa and his party ZANU PF.

This is because George Charamba, Mnagagwa’s spokesperson, in July said on Twitter in an argument with the Deputy Secretary for Local Government in the MDC Alliance, Jacob Mafume, and now Harare mayor:

“Except you have no party while pretending to be in organized opposition!!! Khupe amhanya nechinhu!! (she is now in the driving seat). Very soon you will be interdicted from using MDC-Anything!!! Watch the space!!!”

United Kingdom-based Zimbabwean academic, Alex Magaisa, took to his Twitter account to offer his opinion on the new developments.

“What has just happened should not shock anyone who has been following the MDC saga. It was foreseeable and it was written. The most important question is the response, which should be ready. There has never been a better time to demonstrate that people do not vote for party names,” he said.

MDC Alliance have also disputed the March Supreme Court ruling arguing that its late leader and founder, Morgan Tsvangirai, correctly installed Chamisa as his replacement as a 2014 National Congress gave him power to do so through a resolution Khupe was part of.

FIN/ INFOSPLUSGABON/ARD/GABON2020

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