by Innocent Mujeri
The 17 year old relationship between the MDC and the Counselling Services Unit (CSU) has irretrievably broken with the former accusing the later of switching allegiance to ZANU PF, the Harare Post has learnt.
This follows allegations that CSU declined to admit the three MDC female activists who were allegedly abducted on 13 May, a move which irked Nelson Chamisa.
A contact at CSU who confided in this publication, said on 15 May 2020, the MDC National Youth Secretary for Welfare, Maureen Kademaunga, called the CSU at the middle of the night instructing them to admit Joana Mamombe,Cecilia Chimbiri and Netsai Marowa,who were allegedly rescued in Bindura after their alleged abduction.
“Kademaunga (Maureen) called our office (CSU) at around 1 am on 15 May 2020 informing us that she was bringing the three MDC officials for admission. The tone on Kademaunga’s voice was harsh and not polite. It was as if Kademaunga was demanding us to follow her instructions. We then told her that our offices opens at 8am and we told her to bring the patients the next day. She then shouted some obscenities and threatened us with unspecified actions before she hung up the call,” said the CSU source who preferred anonymity.
An MDC insider told this publication that Kademaunga was surprised by the CSU’s response as it was the first time to be treated as such by that Organisation. Kademaunga then called Chamisa narrating the treatment she got from CSU.
It is alleged that Chamisa immediately called Director of CSU ,Dr Frances Lovemore instructing her to admit the three activists. He was again told that the three MDC officials can not be admitted at CSU as there was no adequate beds for them.
The same MDC insider said the MDC Chamisa camp then held a caucus meeting at Morgan Richard Tsvangirai House on 20 May 2020 and the CSU’S refusal to admit the three MDC officials was on the agenda. During the meeting, Chamisa is believed to have fumed that the CSU have abandoned them for his political foes, ZANU PF.
“Wamba (Chamisa) was not pleased with the CSU’s treatment of our girls. All these years ,a help from CSU was just a phone call away but recently they showed us the middle finger. Cobra (Chamisa) was left convinced that CSU was now being run by ZANU PF or those in the Thokozani Khupe faction,” said the insider.
The caucus meeting then agreed to task some MDC youths led by MDC National Youth Assembly Chairperson, Obey Sithole ,to mount surveillance at CSU’s offices at Number 1 Raleigh Street,The Kopje in Harare with a sole task to record vehicle registration numbers and personalities who enter the CSU premises.
It has also came to the attention of this publication that on the same day that the MDC Chamisa camp held a meeting in Harare, Advocate Jeremiah Bhamu, the lawyer for the three MDC activists, visited the CSU’S offices demanding the registration number of a police vehicle that had visited the CSU’S office earlier that day.
The CSU’s officials, with instructions from their boss Dr Lovemore, refused to give Bhamu any information citing confidentiality reasons.
This also did not go well with Bhamu and other MDC officials who all along had a belief that all Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) in Zimbabwe were in their corner. Chamisa and other MDC officials were left convinced that indeed the CSU had switched allegiance or had dumped their faction.
Another contact in the MDC revealed to this publication that the strained relationship between the MDC and CSU started in 2018 when Chamisa ascended to the helm of that party. The CSU Director Lovemore accused Chamisa of squandering funds that have been raised by the CSO’s to bankroll his failed presidential bid.
It is also believed that Dr Lovemore confided in one of her close associates that she doubts the abduction story as it was marred with a lot of grey areas and inconsistent narratives. Lovemore is believed to have said the alleged abduction was MDC internal politics at play.
This might have prompted Dr Lovemore to deny the admission of the three activists at her premises as she didn’t want to be entangled in MDC factional fights.
The CSU has been an all weather friend for the MDC and over the years it assisted and treated the so-called torture victims of the alleged political violence. The same organisation previously harboured the so-called MDC activists who had fled from their places in fear of the so-called political violence.
Over the years, the CSU in conjunction with other CSO’s such as Amnesty International Zimbabwe, Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights (ZLHR) and Zimbabwe Peace Project (ZPP), compiled damaging reports which demonised the country and praised the MDC as a viable alternative to the Zimbabwean politics. However, the latest incident of denying admission of the alleged abducted MDC activists might spell the end of the relationship between the MDC and the CSU.
