By Staff Reporter
An attempt by the MDC Renewal Team to conduct a hearing for party president Morgan Tsvangirai flopped on Wednesday with one of the lawyers initially cited as part of the tribunal angrily distancing himself from the charade.
MDC Team spokesman Jacob Mafume confirmed the postponement of the hearing citing what he called “various complex legal issues” but Nehanda Radio understands lawyer Dumisani Mthombeni is not happy that Tendai Biti’s faction dragged his name into the issue without consulting him.
Biti and his colleagues claim to have suspended Tsvangirai and his entire standing committee. They have since slapped him with 17 charges of allegedly violating the party constitution and claimed to have put together a tribunal of three lawyers Dumisani Mthombeni, Tafadzwa Mugabe and Gift Nyandoro.
Mthombeni however has since written to Mafume registering his displeasure at being associated with the squabbles in the MDC factions.
“I found this to be extremely upsetting and equally unprofessional given the fact that, first and foremost, you never consulted me to inquire whether or not I was interested in presiding over such a process or if at all I wanted to be associated with it at any level,” he wrote.
“Secondly, you and your colleagues within your political party are well aware that I am not a member of your political party and have never associated with your political party at any stage,” he added.
Tsvangirai’s spokesman Luke Tamborinyoka has meanwhile reiterated their position that the former prime minister would not be attending a “kangaroo court” and “the resolutions that will come out of their meetings they don’t matter to us. The decisions of a kangaroo court cannot bind anyone.”
