Mutare Correspondent

Clandestine machinations by rival MDC Alliance and MDC T have become the order of the day as the two parties attempt to elbow out each other in the control of Mutare City Council (MCC), the Harare Post has learnt.

A source privy to the goings-on in both parties confided in this publication that the seven vacant wards in Mutare had triggered intense plotting by both parties in bid to grab the vacant wards.

“There are seven vacant wards in Mutare occasioned by the recalling of the MDC A councilors by the MDC T. The MDC T has already started mobilising people to vote for their party in the forthcoming by elections. As it stands, the MDC T dominates the Mutare City Council and they want to continue with that dominance,” said the source.

The source added that the MDC T had planned to install caretaker councilors in the vacant wards so that they start taking control of the ground ahead of the anticipated by-elections.

 “The MDC T has plans to appoint caretaker councilors who are strong members of the party. They want the caretaker councilors to be in constant touch with the grassroots pending the expected by elections in the vacant wards,” added the source.

The source told this publication that the MDC T was gaining support in Mutare ahead of the MDC Alliance owing to perceptions that Chamisa had imposed his homeboy, Innocent Gonese and other undesirable personalities on them.

According to the same source, the MDC Alliance has planned a counter move where their councilors will move a motion to have Ward Coordinating Committees (WARDCOs) run the affairs of the seven wards until the next elections.

The same source added that the MDC Alliance is also planning to sabotage the caretaker councilors in the event that their plan of WADCOs fails.

The MDC Alliance and MDC T have been at each other’s throat since last year March when the High Court ruled that the former was not a political party but a group of political parties that had converged for the purposes of contesting an election.