Confusion rages on over ownership of the MDC Alliance brand

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Leaders of opposition parties that formed the MDC Alliance ahead of the 2018 elections have denied claims that they are backing Douglas Togarasei Mwonzora.

Mwonzora is claiming leadership of the alliance, an electoral pact entered into by the late opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai and six other opposition parties in December 2017, which is now being led by Chamisa.

On Thursday, Mwonzora held a meeting at Richard Morgan Tsvangirai House party offices as the leader of the alliance, but only two of the signatories of the MDC Alliance pact of 2017 attended the meeting.

Leaders of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), and the Welshman Ncube-led MDC accused Mwonzora of manipulating individuals into misrepresenting that they had attended the meeting on behalf of the parties.

Last month, Mathias Guchutu, leader of the Multiracial Christian Democrats party who claimed to be the convener of the Alliance, on July 12, wrote to Mwonzora informing him that the MDC-T had been expelled from the grouping for failing to abide by the principles of the alliance.

Guchutu, however, later withdrew the suspension, citing the need to pursue dialogue with Mwonzora.

He claimed that senior MDC-T party members called him for engagement following the suspension.

Guchutu attended Mwonzora’s meeting on Friday.

The MDC-T issued a statement after the meeting, but party spokesperson Nqobizitha Khumalo did not disclose the names of the principals of the alliance who were in attendance.

In the statement, Khumalo said the principals had acknowledged Mwonzora as the leader of the alliance and ordered Chamisa to stop using the Alliance name.

He said several principals had endorsed Mwonzora, but The Standard is reliably informed that only the MDC-T, Zimbabwe People First and Zanu Ndonga had representatives at the meeting.

Stephen Manzana, spokesperson and representative of the Zimbabwe People First, who attended the meeting said the party was yet to decide whether to join Mwonzora’s alliance or not.

He said the party could join Mwonzora’s camp if he was willing to share the funds allocated to the Alliance under the Political Parties Finance Act with the other principals.

“We were invited to the meeting by MDC-T president Mwonzora, but we are still at the negotiating table with both Mwonzora and Chamisa,” Manzanza said.

“We are not members of any alliance as yet. We will join the grouping, which offers the best to advance the interests of the general Zimbabweans.”

PDP spokesperson Jacob Mafume said the party was not represented in Mwonzora’s meeting and disowned Lucia Matibenga, who was named as the representative of the party.

Matibenga, leader of a splinter PDP group, was part of the Joice Mujuru-led electoral pact in the 2018 general elections, not the Alliance, which rival leader Tendai Biti was part of.

“Mwonzora is creating party leaders to advance selfish interests,” Mafume said.

“The so-called alliance is fictitious and bogus.

“The meeting was held out of desperation, dishonesty and craziness.

“He recalled members of Parliament from the MDC Alliance because they were not members of the MDC-T, now they are claiming its ownership.”

The MDC alliance principals, who were not part of the meeting, said they never received any invitation from Mwonzora to join him.

They, however, said they could not have attended the Thursday meeting even if they had been invited because they did not recognise Mwonzora as the leader of the Alliance.

Welshman Ncube-led MDC vice-president Edwin Mushoriwa said the party had no intentions to join any other alliance other than the one led by Chamisa.

“Mwonzora did not even bother to invite us because he knew that we would not attend. We do not subscribe to his cheap political tricks,” Mushoriwa said.

“We know that the meeting was part of Mwonzora’s multiple sideshows to derail the agenda for change. But as the MDC-N, we continue rallying behind Chamisa to push for democracy and constitutionalism and respect the people’s will.”

MDC-T spokesperson Witness Dube said all parties were represented at the meeting except for the Transform Zimbabwe led by Jacob Ngarivhume which had pulled out of the alliance.

He said principals of the alliance were bound by the agreement that set up the alliance.

– The Standard