by Shongedzai Mugwagwa
Suspected members of the MDC’s Vanguard group attempted to disrupt a press conference in Harare held by a newly formed pressure group dubbed Defending MDC Tsvangirai Legacy (DMTL).
The rowdy youths had disguised as members of the media and when DMTL information Officer, Weber Chinyadza started to read out their press statement to the audience, the suspected Vanguards ran amok confiscating the press statement.
There was a standoff between the conveners and the MDC youths who accused DMTL of taking a dig into the party’s leadership and accused them of being a Zanu PF project.
The commotion lasted for some time with DMTL Chairperson, Edwin Dzambara warning the youths to desist from disrupting a democratic right other people are enshrined. The standoff was cleared when members of the Zimbabwe Republic Police sealed off the building.
DMTL has accused MDC Alliance leader Nelson Chamisa for hijacking and deviating from the founding values of the party which was formed by Morgan Tsvangirai and other like-minded cadres in 1999.
“We gather today to pronounce the birth of a political pressure group within the membership of the Movement for Democratic Change, a political organisation which all and sundry know was formed in 1999 under the visionary leadership of none other than the renowned Dr Richard Morgan Tsvangirai,” read the press statement.
The pressure group accused the current leadership of the party of deviating from the people’s party principles.
“Our coming into being is occasioned by our utter disgust and dismay at the deliberate and persistent efforts directed at the destruction of the people’s project.
“Our party was found on the ideals of ending Zanu PF rule but alas, such ideals are now a pipe dream in the face of a serious assault on the very tenets of democracy,” said the agitated Dzambara.
The group accused Chamisa of besieging every party structure to subvert constitutionalism.
“We are not blind to the fact that the MDC has been besieged by an unelected leadership which is consciously and persistently using very undemocratic practices to lead the organisation,” reads the press statement.
Chamisa is alleged to have incorporated into the party violent and dreaded G40 members who are in the party for revenge purposes. The agitated pressure group said the people were not happy with members like Jim Kunaka, Shadreck Mashayamombe and Kudakwashe Bhasikiti who used to butcher and harass them.
They called upon the true members of MDC to call for Chamisa to let a Congress take place and desist from copying Robert Mugabe playbook especially on the ‘no vacancy in the presidium’mantra.
The group has called for the leadership to restore the party to its normalcy and respect the constitution of the party. They are requesting the party Secretary General, Douglas Mwonzora to call for an elective congress in February 2019.
