Political Reporter
The ruling Zanu PF party has received a boost after 10 disgruntled outgoing MDC legislators defected to the Party.
The 10 legislators, who crossed over to ZANU PF include Memory Mbondia, Brightness Mangora, Lindani Moyo, Lindiwe Maphosa, Bessy Ngoma, Peter Moyo and Winnie Kankuni, cited opposition leader Douglas Mwonzora's incompetence as the reason for their defection.
In a press conference yesterday, the MDC legislators, led by Lindiwe Maphosa from Matabeleland South Province, accused Mwonzora of bringing the MDC party down through his alleged poor leadership qualities and failure to pay nomination court fees for his MPs.
"Some of the leaders in the opposition like Douglas Mwonzora have turned MDC into a burial society. Can you imagine a president who goes into an election and pays his nomination fees without MPs and councillors?" Maphosa said.
"The leaders (Nelson Chamisa and Mwonzora) are coming from one party and trying to get a big chunk, but they are fighting for one thing, money.
"The parties have turned into some student activism without any vision. The CCC and MDC leaders do not know where they are going. Even the way they conducted their primary elections shows that they are not ready to lead the country," added Maphosa.
The defection of the 10 MPs is a major blow to the MDC party, which is already struggling to maintain its relevance in Zimbabwean politics.
Political commentator, (we are over using him)said that the defection of the 10 MPs was likely to further weaken the MDC party and boost Zanu PF's chances of winning the upcoming elections.
"The defection of the MDC-Alliance MPs is also a sign of the growing disillusionment within the opposition parties in Zimbabwe. More and more people are realising that the opposition parties are not capable of leading the country and have no alternative policies. This is evident in the fact that Zanu PF has already won about 92 wards uncontested in the upcoming elections because the opposition's disorder caused them to fail to field candidates," said.
Meanwhile, the defection of the 10 MPs is a major setback for the opposition and a boost for Zanu PF. It remains to be seen whether the opposition parties would be able to recover from this blow and mount a serious challenge against Zanu PF in the upcoming elections.
