HARARE – The beleaguered leader of the MDC Alliance Nelson Chamisa says he will not be part of the Thokozani Khupe led MDC-T’s extra-ordinary congress set for September this year.
He was speaking in an interview with a South African news television channel Sunday.
Chamisa has seen his political fortunes take a turn for the worse after the Supreme Court ruled recently his ascendancy to the helm of the main opposition on the back of founding leader Morgan Tsvangirai’s 2018 death violated the MDC constitution.
The courts have reinstated Khupe, Tsvangirai’s only elected, of the three deputies at the time, to assume the reins and prepare for an elective extra-ordinary congress to replace the ex-Prime Minister.
However, Chamisa has described the planned event as a Zanu PF congress and nothing to do with his party.
“The court ruled that the MDC-T must hold an extra-ordinary congress. We are not MDC-T, we are MDC Alliance,” he said.
“We have come together as the parties that had gone into different dimensions that were different and separate, you know the party that was led by Prof (Welshman) Ncube, you know the party that was led by former finance minister Tendai Biti.
“All came together when there were invited by President Morgan Tsvangirai, the late.
“What we now have is MDC Alliance and MDC-T are two distinct political parties that cannot be joined, that cannot be confused, and that belonged separately that participated in the 2018 election separately.”
Chamisa added, “Thokozani Khupe and MDC-T participated and got 45 000 votes, we participated and we got 2.6 million votes.
“So the distinction is very clear, so what Mr Mnangagwa is trying to do is to conflate the two so that he confuses it and he forces us to be part of what he wants through the political dialogue in the POLAD.
“I cannot attend a Zanu PF congress, that is an MDC-T congress which is a separate party.
“Those who would want to participate are the ones who are entitled to as a voluntary association.
“We are in the MDC Alliance, we are already re-tooling, and we are already regenerating our party making sure that we are ready for the next challenges and next battle.
“So, MDC Alliance is a stand-alone party.”
