Political Reporter

The MDC Alliance Commission of Inquiry that was dispatched last month to Bulawayo Province to probe the factional fights was captured and biased towards the Welshaman Ncube led faction, a member of the party has said.

A source within MDC Alliance told this publication that the members of the Commission led by that party’s vice president, Lynnette Karenyi Kore, arrived in Bulawayo and got a briefing from Gift Banda, who is aligned to the Ncube and James Sithole faction. The source added that Banda gave the four members of the commission some money and later booked them in hotels as a way of bribing them to produce a report favourable to the Ncube/Sithole faction.

According to the source, Banda, who was fronting for the Ncube/Sithole faction told Kore that Thabitha Khumalo, Swirthern Chiroodza and Helen Zivira were causing problems in Bulawayo, hence they should be suspended or expelled. Banda also compelled Kore to exonerate Sithole and put all the blame on Thabitha Khumalo and her faction.

The same source said that during Kore’s stay in Bulawayo, she was in constant communication with Ncube briefing him of what was happening. The source added that the final report of the Commission was then drafted with the help of Banda and was proof-read by Ncube before submission to the MDC Alliance National Standing Committee.

The source added that Ncube, with the help of Sithole, Bekimpilo Sibanda, Earnest Rafamoyo and Banda, was causing havoc in Bulawayo and was already putting up parallel structures as they prepare for that party’s 2024 congress. Ncube has already promised Rafamoyo and Sithole that he would facilitate their candidature for Nkulumane and Makokoba constituencies in 2023 elections.

The same source accused Ncube and all those he came with from his party of not wearing regalia inscribed with Nelson Chamisa’s name or his face, a sign that they are not loyal to him.

According to the source, the whole of the MDC Alliance leadership was compromised and cannot effectively deal with problems in that party as each one of them was a member of a certain faction. The source said that it was prudent for the party to decisively deal with factionalism if it wants to garner notable votes in the 2023 elections.

Efforts to get a comment from Bulawayo Provincial Spokesperson, Chiroodza, were futile as his mobile phone was not reachable.