Political Reporter

Fissures in the MDC Alliance came to a head, last week at a meeting in Matabeleland North Province, where re-admitted former Organising Secretary, Abednego Bhebhe and provincial vice chairperson Jabulani Hadebe traded blows and insults before they were restrained by fellow party members.

A source within the MDC Alliance told this publication that Bhebhe attended a provincial meeting in Matabeleland North Province, where he insinuated that he was tasked by that party’s leader, Nelson Chamisa, to use his expertise to create structures in the Province.

“During the meeting, Bhebhe said he was given a mandate by president Chamisa to merge MDC Alliance and MDC-T structures in the provinces so that we would have fully constituted structures. Bhebhe said he was criss-crossing the province mobilising people for Chamisa. However, he was interjected by Hadebe who accused him of being a sellout who once abandoned the party,” said the source.

According to the source, Hadebe told Bhebhe that he should not portray himself as a saviour of the party as he only rejoined the party after his expulsion from MDC-T. Hadebe angrily said he was aware that Bhebhe came back to the party so that he would contest for the Nkayi South Constituency, where he is currently splashing money to lure members to vote for him in the next primary elections.

Hadebe is also eyeing the same seat in the next harmonized elections. In 2018, he won primary elections by just eight votes, before he was defeated by ZANU PF’s Stars Mathe in the harmonized elections.

The source revealed that Bhebhe was angered by Hadebe’s assertions and angrily charged towards him with the intention to beat him. Alert members spent some time restraining the two as they were determined for a fight.

The source added that Bhebhe later took out a flier from his pocket written, “Bhebhe and Thokozani Khupe are a ZANU PF project.” He accused Hadebe of being the author of the defamatory flier. Bhebhe fumed that he was aware that there were people who were not comfortable with his presence in the party and accused Hadebe of employing dirty political tactics.

Whilst still in the MDC-T, Bhebhe was recruited by the MDC Alliance to spy on the former. The MDC Alliance sponsored his presidential bid after they had made a pact with him that he would subsequently handover the party to Chamisa upon his victory. However, the plot was unearthed before the congress resulting in Bhebhe’s expulsion.

Efforts to get a comment from MDC Alliance Matabeleland North provincial spokesperson Mhlonipheki Ncube were futile as his mobile was not reachable.