MD chairman Morgen Komichi (MK) has rejected compelling speculation that points to a delicate gap between the party's top leaders and says that party leader Nelson Chamisa works well with Secretary-General Douglas Mwonzora. Social media and other sources of information were on the market last week with unverified reports, including counterfeit party letters, claiming that Mwonzora was being attacked, and several other crimes & # 39; who allegedly had ambitions to take over the presidency at a convention scheduled for next year.
The big interview: BY XOLISANI NCUBE
Tomorrow Komichi
Komichi had an extensive interview with our senior reporter, Xolisani Ncube (XN), in which they discussed the alleged gap between the two leaders and other issues related to the party's performance in the 30 July elections.
Below are excerpts from the interview.
XN: There are reports that the party suspended its Secretary-General Douglas Mwonzora after a national council meeting on Wednesday, what is the correct position?
MK: Let me be clear and clear on this subject. You have asked for something that I think should be shut down once and for all. As the MDC chairman and a member of the standing committee, I would like to mention here and now that Douglas Mwonzora had not been suspended and that no one had raised a problem against our secretary general. We are aware that Zanu PF and his military operations are on a mission to establish a wedge between the President and the Secretary-General. We are aware of their activities. They did it earlier and now they have resorted to the same method to destroy the MDC. During the whole meeting, let me say this, no one has complained or even tried to file a complaint against our leader Mwonzora.
If you look at the letter yourself, it is fake. It was generated by the Zanu PF system for the sole purpose of creating division within the party so that we could start fighting each other. Our battle at this moment is against them and they know that. They now want to create a gap between top management, so that we shift our focus from core themes to our leadership. As far as I know, the MDC has no problem with Mwonzora.
For your own information, the person who has signed this false letter does not have the authority to write such a letter to a member of the standing committee. Even the signature is fake! This is an operation of Zanu PF that wants to push us into a crisis, but we will resist and stand as a united front. We have been deceived in the same way for using the same offices and now we are wiser.
XN: What went wrong in the July 30 elections that led to the party in parliamentary polls going so far?
MK: The elections of 30 July were witnessed, that is a fundamental issue that we must appreciate. As MDC we are happy that we have not lost this election, but Zanu PF has stolen it. They stole in embarrassing ways.
XN: But we have seen that your MPs perform poorly compared to your presidential candidate Nelson Chamisa and there are accusations that this was the result of institutional battles or internal misunderstandings.
MK: As I said, these elections were witnessed, they did not affect the presidential election, they also triggered the parliamentary vote and we have evidence to that effect. We have MPs like David Chimhini (Mutasa North) who were deceived. The electoral court refused to open the ballot boxes because they know that Zanu PF triggered the elections. They refused a recount and we challenge some of these problems.
XN: You and Mwonzora are accused of contributing to the loss by signing for double candidates in different constituencies. What is your reaction?
MK: That is nonsense, we have not signed up for double candidates. We have a situation where some candidates have falsified our signatures and some of them have abused our internal systems. We have a few candidates for whom we had signed but did not submit their papers. Do you know we did not have a candidate in Insiza North and why? This was because the candidate we had signed from our alliance partners did not travel to Gwanda on the nomination day. Do you know that we almost failed to treat a candidate in Mudzi because the person we signed for did not go to the court of appointment and thank God, we had a second option that we chose to go for? We have some candidates who were intimidated and had to be financed under the MDC Alliance by Zanu PF. Some were just stubborn and the ones we acted on.
It is not that we have intentionally done this thing, but we have explained to the structures what has happened. We fought a decaying system that used all possible chicanes to win the vote.
XN: But you can not talk about intimidation in areas like Harare South or Goromonzi West, what happened?
MK: In Harare South, we informed the other candidate that we had made a decision to support as a party [Shadreck]Mashayamombe, but he simply refused to cooperate. We do not know who influenced that decision, but the party had taken a position on the strength of the candidate and popularity within the area. In Goromonzi it is a matter of crime that is in court. The other candidate forged the signature and the case is in court. We did everything we could, but we fought against a system that used terror and money to play dirty.
XN: What do you think was the impact of Thokozani Khupe's escape on MDC Alliance's performance in the recent elections?
MK: To be honest, everyone in the party did not want to [Thokozani] Khupe to go. We wanted to be as united as we could and we did everything we could to make sure she stayed with us, but we did not succeed. As you know, when a person decides to go, no matter how much effort you put into it, she will go and she went. If you remember well, we sent emissaries, we did everything to bring her to the table, but she just wanted to go. As far as the impact is concerned, I think it was not so much because she did not manage to win a seat immediately, she tried it with all means, but the project of the people always prevails. So I think she did not have fun herself.
XN: Do you hope that she could come to work with other members in the MDC?
MK: We are open and she is a valuable person within the MDC family. As long as she is willing to be a part of the people, she is welcome. If the party decides to come back, that decision is open and would be welcome. Remember that we once had Welshman Ncube on the other side of the MDC and now we are working together to integrate all our alliance partners, so even Khupe is free to come back.
Right now, we are taking a step forward to ensure that we bring back the old MDC and rejuvenate the spirit of a new Zimbabwe. We also have other parties that were not in the alliance, but are willing to join the unified force. So I think everything is possible.
XN: How do you want to bring these competing parties and their structures together, especially since the MDC is preparing for the congress next year?
MK: By the time we go for a conference, we would have completed the entire process and we would open all messages for all members of the party. We are going to allow people to challenge for every job as a united family, so that we become stronger and bigger.
XN: There are reports that the British and the EU are pushing President Emmerson Mnangagwa to talk to MDC Alliance about the possibility of forming some type of GNU scheme. To what extent is this true?
MK: I have no information about that subject, I can not talk about that.
XN: The MDC alliance has threatened demonstrations. Do not you think that you endanger the lives of people in the aftermath of the shootings of August 1 by the army?
MK: Demonstrations are a constitutional issue and we do not negotiate about that, we are a law-abiding party and we know that when we demonstrate, we do this for a purpose. We must not take away our constitutional rights because we have people who violate the law by killing demonstrators. All our demonstrations were peaceful, so we would not allow an illegal act by Zanu PF to deny us our fundamental rights. If Zanu PF and his army want to break the law, it's not up to us to stop them. We would exercise our democratic right that no one has the right to take people away. What happened on 1 August is a reflection of a system that does not respect the sanctity of life and deals with illegal activities.
XN: What does the strategy of the MDC alliance look like given that Zanu PF has a majority in parliament and in the light of alleged division within the party towards the future?
KM: We are a party in history and we have managed to resist all bad plots against us for years. We have grown and increased in both membership and determination. We are the majority, to be honest, even by the own figures of the Zimbabwean electoral commission, we are the people and with the people. Do you know that we now control most urban local authorities? We have recovered what we lost in 2013. We increased our presence in the national assembly from 32 to 88 and we even reached a significant presence in the senate, we were 18 and now we are 24.
We will continue to work with the people until their stolen victory is taken back. Do not be fooled, Zanu PF has no future for someone in Zimbabwe, unless you are corrupt like them.
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