Mwonzora accuses Zanu PF of punishing him for resisting 2030 Agenda

0Shares

MOVEMENT for Democratic Change (MDC-T) president Douglas Mwonzora is seething with anger after the High Court nullified the party’s 2022 congress that elected him president of Morgan Tsvangirai’s political outfit.

Mwonzora says Zanu PF was behind the ruling in order to pacify his calls for Zimbabweans to resist President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s 2030 agenda to extend his incumbency beyond the constitutionally permissible two terms that expire in 2028.

High Court judge Justice Hapias Zhou last week ordered Mwonzora to resign and pave way for a fresh congress within six months due to irregularities in the 2022 MDC-T Extraordinary Congress that catapulted him to the helm of the party.

Responding to the ruling, Mwonzora took aim at Zanu PF’s Mnangagwa and his 2030 agenda proponents.

“I want to say we are going to attenuate our fight against the 2030 agenda. We will never allow anybody to intimidate us against fighting the 2030 agenda.

“So, if there is a faction within Zanu PF which has a hand in this judgment, we say ‘tough luck’ to you. We are going to intensify our fight against the 2030 agenda. We will never allow the emasculation of our Constitution, we will never allow being bullied against defending our Constitution,” charged Mwonzora.

He said his party was a stakeholder of the 2013 Constitution of Zimbabwe, having participated in its drafting while Zimbabweans owned it after giving their opinions during the consultative process and referendum.

“The people of Zimbabwe are stakeholders, they spoke during the outreach programme about what they wanted in the Constitution. They spoke during the referendum on what they wanted in this Constitution. What they said they wanted in this Constitution was that a President must run the country for a maximum of 10 years, after which they must go home.

“We are saying, President Mnangagwa, after the expiry of your term in 2028, go home, and nothing is going to intimidate us from this path,” said Mwonzora.

Mwonzora claimed MDC-T had consummated a coalition with other progressive forces, including political parties, the church, civil society, and war veterans to push back against Mnangagwa’s ambitious plan to be “life president”.

Turning to the court’s ruling that MDC-T must hold fresh polls to choose new leaders, Mwonzora said he was ready to defend his position as leader through the ballot.

“…when the time comes, we will hold congress and l, as president of the MDC-T am willing to face anyone in a congress. I am willing to face Mudzuri, anybody, in congress, and we all know what the outcome of the congress will be. We know they will be defeated, Zanu PF knows that they will be defeated…,” Mwonzora added.

At the 2020 extraordinary congress, Mwonzora annihilated Thokozani Khupe, Elias Mudzuri and Morgen Komichi, who were also vying for the MDC-T presidency. Before vote counting could start, Khupe and Komichi walked out, accusing Mwonzora’s camp of using violence and a fraudulent voters’ roll. Mudzuri also left the congress shortly after.

Despite the protests, voting continued into the night, and Mwonzora was declared the opposition president with 883 votes, Khupe got 118 votes, Mudzuri scrapped 14, and Komichi a paltry 9 votes.

On December 18, 2022, the MDC-T held an ordinary congress where the party endorsed Mwonzora as its sole presidential candidate for the 2023 general elections. The congress also confirmed Chief Ndlovu as the first vice president and Paurina Mpariwa as the second vice president, both of whom were unopposed.

Mudzuri and three other applicants later filed a case in the High Court, challenging the validity of the 2020 congress and seeking an order for a fresh congress.

Last Friday, February 28, 2025, Justice Zhou handed a surprise ruling declaring that the 2022 congress was null and void arguing that it fell short of meeting requirements of the MDC-T Constitution.

“The purported National Congress held in December 2020 by the second respondent as the National Congress of the first respondent be and is hereby declared null and void for noncompliance with the first respondent’s Constitution,” part of the ruling reads.

The court ordered that a new national congress be held within six months, under an independent election commission as stipulated in the MDC-T Constitution.