'Committee led by Tsvangirai should resign to save MDC-T'

FORMER MDC-T members who contested the elections as independent candidates yesterday said the party should not waste time contesting the election result in court as it was to blame for the heavy defeat.They said the  morale shattering defeat, the third in a row, inflicted by Zanu-PF on MDC-T at the just-ended harmonised elections could signal an end to the Western sponsored party.

In a no holds barred interview yesterday former MDC-T legislator for Magwegwe, Mr Felix Magalela Mafa Sibanda, challenged the party leader, Mr Morgan Tsvangirai, and his standing committee to resign immediately, saying it was the only way the party could be saved.

"As things stand, the party is dead. All meaningful structures within it have been destroyed as the leaders were choosing their friends to run things without caring if they had the capacity. This alienated genuine members who voted for a party that seemed to offer better policies for the people," said Mr Mafa.

He said the standing committee should resign because it failed to uphold the party's constitution.

"The committee led by Tsvangirai should resign to save the party. They failed to adhere to the constitution that clearly states that anyone who wants to run for the National Assembly should have been an MDC-T member for at least five years while those running for council should have been in the party for at least three years.

Tsvangirai blindly let his deputies replace founder members like us with quislings who defected from Mutambara's MDC and Zapu 2000," said Mr Mafa.

MDC-T fielded candidates who defected from the Professor Welshman Ncube led MDC, who included former Deputy Speaker of Parliament Ms Nomalanga Khumalo, Mr Abednico Bhebhe, Mr Norman Mpofu, Mr Thandeko Zinti Mnkandla and Njabuliso Mguni, against stiff resistance by members.

"They took the electorate for granted. They thought people were stupid and would blindly vote for their candidates. They thought that even if they fielded a donkey it would win. I think the party lost because it opened the floodgates for infiltration and discontent by allowing these quislings to contest," he said.

"Mr Tsvangirai and his lot are hypocrites who do not deserve to lead the country. They rigged their own internal polls to kick out those they do not want and now they are going to court to protest against Zanu-PF accusing the party of rigging. They should take the same dose of medicine they administered to us like men. A new executive has to be voted in if the party wishes to remain a force to be reckoned with in local politics."

Former MDC-T councillor for Ward 14 Mr Phinias Z Ndlovu said the electorate was waiting for a new political party to take over from the MDC-T.
"The party is finished as a political force. They have tried and failed to win three times in a row. Their undoing has been personal greed and ignoring of its democratic founding principles.

The leaders have to ask themselves what is wrong, especially after having more than 57 people from the party contesting as independents," said Mr Ndlovu.

He said if the party continued on the self destructive path it seemed to have set for itself, it would contest the 2018 elections as a minority group, if it would still be in existence.

"The party has failed to deliver and the electorate is simply waiting for another stronger and better party to come up. As soon as that happens, it will be the end of   MDC-T. I am not leaving the party and I hope the leaders will see the light and start working with everyone to rebuild and contest again in 2018," said Mr Ndlovu.

Political analyst Dr Lawton Hikwa of the National University of Science and Technology, however, said the future of MDC-T would be determined by how the party would react to its loss.

MDC-T national spokesperson Mr Douglas Mwonzora could not be reached for comment on his mobile phone.