In opposition parties, everyone wants to be KING
• Understanding the hunger for power in opposition circles
Brian Rungano Temba
The announcement by MDC-T deputy president Dr Thokozane Khupe, that she has fired Douglas Mwonzora from the party, days after her suspension summaries the nature of opposition parties in Zimbabwe.
Everyone wants to be king.
Forget the allegations and the technical constitutional citations, it is all lawyer talk and fault finding.
The politics behind the split is yet to be fully told, but history is instructive.
Whenever there is a split in the MDC-T, it is never on a matter of principle but power.
This is why everyone who leaves the party goes on to form their own.
Tendai Biti – PDP, Job Sikhala –MDC99, Welshan Ncube –MDC Renewal, the list remains long.
The constitutional violations being accused of both ends of the battle field are gross.
However, what stands out is that it all began when Dr. Khupe lost the race for party president by a man she had suspended.
Mwonzora in the letter of suspension accused Dr Khupe of the following.
– Making false reports of embezzlement of party funds worth ZWL $6 million in December 2020 and again in April 2021.
– Challenging Extraordinary Congress in August 2021 on false grounds.
– Undermining National Council and making false allegations against it.
– Failed to discharge duties as Deputy President of the MDC-T.
– Held meetings with parties hostile to MDC-T with the intention to prejudice MDC-T.
Khupe’s allegations on Mwonzora
Dr Khupe today laid down a barrage of constitution violations by Mwonzora and they are as follows.
– Mwonzora is an illegitimate president who is a product of a rigged Extraordinary Congress which did not form a quorum
– The appointment of a second deputy president by Mwonzora is unconstitutional.
– Appointments of Treasurer General and Information Secretary were not within Mwonzora’s power. Mwonzora only had power to appoint deputy Officers of Congress.
– Mwonzora cabal dissolved the Bulawayo Provincial structures and have since not restructured them.
– Perpetrators of the Violence at the Extraordinary Congress have not been dealt with, they are being protected by Mwonzora.
– 13 months since the Extraordinary Congress at HICC no other structures were dissolved save for Bulawayo Province.
– The restructuring of all 9 790 MDC-T branches nationwide is long overdue and constitutionally have to be done 2 months before an ordinary congress.
Presidency
Dr Khupe is clearly making moves to begin restructuring the party in preparation for 2023 elections. Her biggest obstacle is Mwonzora and his loyalists.
Last week, she declared with Bulawayo province their official split from the MDC-T that has suspended her and her spokesperson Mr Khalipeni Phungeni.
She also cited the grounds of this split being that Mwonzora had applied to ZEC to run in 2023 elections as president of MDC-A, an name that Chamisa’s party confessed to dropping upon full consultation with their supporters and structures.
According to Dr. Khupe, Mwonzora is said to have taken in Lucia Mativenga of the PDP party and former vice president Joyce Mujuru’s People’s Rainbow Coalition.
He is also said to have roped in Shupikai Mandaza of Chamisa’s MDC-A.
These allegations are infantile, on both ends.
It is a pettiness arising from the fact that in the MDCs, all its tributaries are not used to having many strong politicians.
Whenever someone starts feeling a sense of strength, they decide to become the leader.
Such mentality is the reason why it is hard to trust any of the MDC members with any state power.
They look like the type which would destabilize the country with incessant fighting.
If you cannot keep a small party like the MDC, how can you keep a country of 16 million people united?
This further confirms the reality on the ground, that as far as institutional order and strength goes, ZANU PF is the only political party around.
The rest are student union alumni groups, which exist solely to massage egos of adults who are struggling to cure themselves of college memories.
Since the first MDC split, none has ever been precipitated by service delivery fails in local authorities they have controlled for two decades.
Which shows that they do not love the people, but they love power at all expenses.
Beneath the fight and confrontations is Western money, which they abuse to finance their lifestyles.
No wonder they invited sanctions to Zimbabwe, their love for money is borderline dangerous.
Hard to trust them with the land between Limpopo and Zambezi.
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