MDC Alliance name won't change

Opposition MDC spokesperson, Obert Gutu, has insisted that the opposition parties' coalition name - MDC Alliance - will not be changed.

This comes as other opposition parties, including Joice Mujuru's National People's Party (NPP), have been calling for a neutral name for MDC Alliance - a coalition of seven opposition parties.

In a Facebook post, Gutu argued that MDC is a brand, adding that it is unthinkable for one to suggest a name change for the alliance.

"It's utterly ridiculous to even think of changing the coalition name from MDC Alliance to any other name. MDC is the brand," he said.

The mooted grand coalition has been suffering serious major setbacks with clearly less than 12 months to go to the next elections. The coalition has been wobbling, with no distinct conclusion having been made, creating chances that it might not come to fruition in time.

While some of the misunderstandings are emanating from a party level, the squabbling is also being escalated to inter-party with differences around the allocation of seats and the name of the alliance taking centre stage.

In a statement recently, Mujuru's NPP, made it clear that it wants equal representation of all the political parties involved in the Alliance.

"NPP wants a coalition that has an all-inclusive; name, logo, symbol and slogan which are neutral and not derived from one or some of the coalescing parties," NPP secretary-general Gift Nyandoro said in a statement, which is viewed as a direct attack on the use of the name MDC Alliance for the coalition.

This alone, resulted in Mujuru forming her own coalition named the People's Rainbow Coalition with three other parties ahead of the 2018 harmonised election.

The naming of the coalition has added confusion among the opposition political parties that have also been squabbling on who must lead the coalition, as MDC seeks to be the torch bearer based on its support base and being the country's largest opposition party in Zimbabwe.

"We need to field our best foot forward regardless of one's former political party, remember we will be one new organisation. NPP wants all political parties to be treated equally during the whole negotiating process.

"NPP wants the presidential candidate for the coalition to be selected through a democratic process and all political parties to support the single candidate for local government, National Assembly and presidential in totality," Nyandoro said.