MDC-T turmoil rages on
Tsvangirai cancels meeting with party chairpersons Bulawayo province push for Banda ouster
CRISIS ridden opposition party MDC-T has been forced to cancel a scheduled meeting of all provincial chairpersons which was slated for the party headquarters in Harare yesterday amid fears that leader Mr Morgan Tsvangirai might face a revolt over his recent move to appoint two more deputy presidents.
Mr Tsvangirai has for the past couple of weeks been faced with the difficult task of justifying the appointment of Mr Nelson Chamisa and Engineer Elias Mudzuri as deputy presidents adding to Ms Thokozani Khupe, bringing to three officials occupying the portfolio.
On Thursday, the party had to abandon a standing committee meeting after Ms Khupe clashed with Mr Tsvangirai after she questioned the appointment of the two new deputy presidents. It has since emerged that Mr Tsvangirai has been forced to cancel the meeting with the provincial chairpersons fearing that he could have faced another revolt and embarrassment reminiscent to what happened during the standing committee meeting.
Contacted for comment, the party’s national spokesperson Mr Obert Gutu said although he was not part of the organising team he had also heard that the meeting had been cancelled.
“For now I cannot give you an informed comment because I was not part of the meeting’s organising team but I also heard that the meeting was cancelled. Call me later, I might have a detailed comment,” said Mr Gutu.
Party insiders claimed that Mr Tsvangirai had been advised against holding the meeting to allow tempers to cool first as there were now fears that the party could split further.
“We hear the president now wants to first send out teams to the various provinces before convening the meeting with the chairpersons. Fears are that if the meeting had gone forward the chairpersons could have revolted therefore naturally weakening the party further,” said the source.
Meanwhile, a faction aligned to Mr Chamisa in Bulawayo is pushing for fresh elections in a move to oust chairperson Mr Gift Banda who is also the city’s deputy mayor.
Party insiders claimed this was a move to weaken Ms Khupe with speculation that Mr Tsvangirai could soon relinquish his post due to ill health following his recent diagnosis with cancer.
The faction which is led by the provincial deputy chairperson, Ms Dorcas Sibanda have previously clashed with the Khupe-faction in the city and are known to have been influential in challenging Mr Banda’s election, siding with expelled member Mr Matson Hlalo.
“We hear the faction want to raise the motion during the next provincial meeting, they are mainly targeting Clr Banda, the organising secretary (Mr) James Sithole and provincial secretary Ms Nomvula Mguni, all who have been viewed as Khupe’s people.
“They have been holding constant caucus meetings in Bulawayo South, where they have a stronghold. That very week when Chamisa was endorsed as deputy president they actually had an impromptu party in Bulawayo South. This is where the issue to oust the trio was raised,” said the source.
The sources revealed that the Khupe faction was not taking the threats lightly and were already mobilising their members with the aim of countering the move by passing a vote of no confidence on Ms Sibanda and Bulawayo East legislator and deputy party spokesperson Ms Thabitha Khumalo.
“Ms Sibanda already has a pending case where it is said she has been bunking provincial executive meetings for the past few months which is against the party’s constitution. So the Khupe faction is planning to put the motion as a counter to their move to get rid of Banda. It has also been noted that the Chamisa faction in Bulawayo was not as strong, as out of the 12 districts they only control Bulawayo South and Magwegwe,” said the source.
Efforts to get a comment from Clr Banda were fruitless.