It’s null and void, says MDC-T Bulawayo

By JEFFREY MUVUNDUSI 

BULAWAYO – The mainstream MDC Bulawayo provincial executive has come out guns blazing dismissing the supposed suspension of its president Morgan Tsvangirai and the party’s top hierarchy on Saturday by rebels calling for leadership renewal as a non-event.

Senior MDC leaders such as vice-president Thokozani Khupe, national chairman Lovemore Moyo, organising secretary Nelson Chamisa and spokesperson Douglas Mwonzora were suspended during the meeting, in a move that has  officially marked another split in the party.

“What transpired in Harare according to us the people of Bulawayo, is null and void,” Dorcas Sibanda, the acting Bulawayo party provincial chairperson told journalists during a press briefing yesterday.

Provincial secretary Regie Moyo and suspended provincial youth assembly chairman Themba Nyathi were the only two from Bulawayo who attended the disputed national council meeting.

“We are not going to recognise the decision which was made there simply because Bulawayo was not represented. Those who constitute the council from this city were not there. And for your own information, when the national council sits, it is the president and the national chairman who call for it (meeting),” Sibanda said.

She said Nyathi had no authority to represent Bulawayo since he is on suspension while Moyo did not consult other provincial members, automatically making their attendance null and void.

Sibanda described the second largest city as the party’s headquarters judging by the last elections where the MDC swept all Bulawayo parliamentary seats.

“As Bulawayo, the stronghold of the party, we want to state categorically that we are fully behind Tsvangirai and Khupe, until the national congress decides,” she said.

Sibanda, who took over the chairmanship’s post after the incumbent Gorden Moyo took a questionable sabbatical, which was described as political leave, said the province was not going to be derailed by petty issues which are clearly being orchestrated from the dark by Zanu PF.

“We are not going to lose focus. This is a Zanu PF cooked pot, Zanu PF has realised that they have failed to deliver. They failed to deliver in their 100 days target now they want to use MDC as the scapegoat and divert attention on  their failures,” the Bulawayo Central legislator said.

Speaking at the same event,  Bulawayo East legislator Thabitha Khumalo described the renewal team as persons suffering from meningitis.

“We are not here discussing individuals who are suffering from meningitis and as MDC Bulawayo province, we are not doctors, we are cadres that are fighting to free Zimbabwean people from slavery,” Khumalo said.

She said as a party,  they were not going to spend their time fighting each other at the expense of the struggle to remove Zanu PF from power.

“When we formed this party in 1999, our goal was to remove the dictator which is Zanu PF.

“As MDC Bulawayo, we have no time to worry about people who forget to jump off at a bus stop there were supposed to.

“We are not here to fight each other, but to take the Zimbabwean family to Canaan. If the kitchen is too hot get out,” Khumalo said. Daily News