By Staff Reporter
The recent Supreme Court ruling ordering the MDC to revert to its 2014 structures and hold an extra-ordinary congress to elect a new leader in conformity with that party’s constitution has exposed the duplicity of the Nelson Chamisa faction.
MDC Deputy Treasurer General, Charlton Hwende, whose current position as Secretary General is a nullity, in a futile bid to distinguish the MDC Alliance from the MDC-T tweeted that, “the Alliance agreement that Mr [Douglas] Mwonzora is relying on collapsed when President MRT [Morgan Richard Tsvangirai] died. [Thokozani] Khupe pulled the MDC-T out and went on her own. We then formed a new party the MDC Alliance which has a constitution, a symbol and a leader.”
However, the Chamisa faction of the MDC (read MDC Alliance) held its 5th national congress in 2019. This is in sharp contrast with Hwende’s tweet, which falsely claims that the MDC Alliance is a new party. The question remains, how does a nascent party which was holding its inaugural congress hold a 5th congress?
Further, the resolutions to the Chamisa faction’s congress are titled, “Resolutions of the Movement for Democratic Change 5th National Congress Held at Ascot Stadium Gweru, Midlands, Zimbabwe.”
Militating against Hwende’s false contention is the fact that, the Chamisa faction commemorated the MDC’s 20th anniversary celebrations in 2019 under the theme, “Celebrating Courage, Growth and People's Victories.” How does a new party celebrate 20 years of existence? It is clear that MDC Alliance is the MDC of Tsvangirai, albeit via a different name. In this connection, Khupe did not leave with the MDC-T as contended by Hwende. The disingenuous claim that Khupe left with the MDC-T, and the Chamisa faction formed a new party, becomes superfluous.
Even more tellingly, one of the Chamisa faction’s congress resolutions, reads, “congress noted a High Court Judgement ordering the Party to hold an Extra-Ordinary Congress and resolved that the necessity and requirements of such Extra-Ordinary Congress have been fully addressed by this Congress.” The High Court judgement in question referred to the MDC-T of Tsvangirai, which Hwende inexplicably claims went with Khupe.
How does a new party, the MDC Alliance, make a resolution pertaining to another party, the MDC-T. It is trite to note that Hwende, and the Chamisa faction in general, are caught up in a twist trying wiggle out of the Supreme Court judgment which confirmed an earlier High Court ruling.
