9 MDC Alliance councillors ditch Chamisa, join Khupe

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GOKWE mayor Never Gwanzura, Kadoma deputy mayor Tendai Kokera and four Gokwe councillors as well as three Kwekwe councillors have officially crossed the floor from MDC Alliance led by Nelson Chamisa to the Thokozani Khupe-led MDC-T.

The four Gokwe councillors are Machinda Mtembedzi, Darlington Mudondo, Tichaona Muhora and Charity Mungwani.

Kwekwe councillors, who also ditched the Chamisa-led party, include Eric Rukavairo (ward 11), Silas Mukaro (ward 1) and Joshua Tinago (ward 11).

They made the announcement at a meeting held at Gokwe centre over the weekend.

The nine councillors said that they had decided to join MDC-T as a way of continuing the people’s mandate since they were elected in 2018. The nine councillors pledged to honour the leadership of MDC-T.

The MDC-T Midlands north 2014 provincial structures met in Gokwe to brief each other on the progress made in the preparation for the extraordinary congress which is set elect a replacement of the late founding leader Morgan Tsvangirai.

It was at this meeting that the councillors declared their allegiance to MDC-T.

The meeting was chaired and facilitated by 2014 provincial chairperson Sedwel Bhebhe, who highlighted the importance of the delegates to participate in the extraordinary congress processes.

Kwekwe Urban ward 11 councillor Joshua Tinago told NewsDay that he and two other councillors were fully behind Khupe.

“I am happy that my other comrades, Eric Rukavano and Silas Mukaro, openly revealed that they belonged to the MDC-T,” he said.

Kokera, who was the MDC-T deputy provincial chairperson in 2014, said he was going back to MDC-T as it was the party that seconded him during the 2018 general election where he was elected councillor and subsequently voted deputy mayor.

Mtembedzi, popularly known as Comrade Evergreen in Gokwe, who was Midlands North provincial deputy chairperson for the youth in the 2014 structures and currently the acting provincial chairperson, said: “It is not like I am rejoining MDC-T, but the fact of the matter is that I have simply did what the Supreme Court judgment ordered me to do.

“I want to uphold the Supreme Court judgment, hence, my decision to ditch MDC Alliance and move to MDC-T. All we want is to respect our party constitution, nothing else.

He added: “All the councillors in Gokwe belong to MDC-T which is led by Thokozani Khupe as the acting president and Chamisa does not have any councillor who is aligned to him.”
Presidential aspirants Douglas Mwonzora and Khupe attended the meeting and took time to present their manifesto to the province.

Mwonzora said: “I am a constitutionalist and always want to uphold the party constitution. As you know, I was seconded to Copac (Constitution Parliamentary Committee) by the late president Morgan Tsvangirai to represent the party in the Constitution-making process and the results speak volumes about my capabilities.”

Khupe chronicled her history and how she worked with Tsvangirai and her achievements as the deputy Prime Minister.

–NewsDay