News / National
Chamisa, Welshman Ncube clash?
21 Jun 2018 at 06:50hrs | Views
MDC Alliance partners have dismissed as having no force, value or effect an ultimatum by the Nelson Chamisa-led MDC-T party for their members to withdraw their candidature by end of business yesterday in constituencies where these were not endorsed by the main opposition party.
MDC-T national chairperson Mr Morgan Komichi said all Alliance partners who fielded candidates should withdraw them to pave way for his party's candidates whom he described as strong. The ultimatum also applies to candidates from Chamisa's MDC-T who filed papers as independents.
The ultimatum comes as members of Alliance have accused Mr Chamisa of deferring a meeting scheduled for Tuesday to discuss the issue of double candidates.
MDC Alliance spokesman Professor Welshman Ncube said the threats by Chamisa's MDC-T lacked merit. He said Chamisa's party had no powers to order candidates from partners to the alliance to withdraw their candidature without prior dialogue to end the impasse.
"If the ultimatum is also referring to official candidates, it has no value at all. We will only welcome a directive for our colleagues in the Chamisa group who stood as independents to withdraw their candidature. That is what is welcome," said Prof Ncube.
He dismissed the idea by the MDC-T that they unilaterally fielded their candidates. This was after Mr Komichi said it was politically suicidal to field "weak" candidates, in reference to representatives from other political parties in the Alliance.
"Weak in terms of what? How did they judge the weakness of candidates they do not know and whose curriculum vitae they did not have? After all at least two of the candidates whose seats they seized were for strong sitting women MPs, one of whom they replaced with a man who had previously lost two consecutive elections," said Prof Ncube.
"The truth of the matter is that the seats were seized for and on behalf of specific individuals, for not so legitimate reasons." A source in the MDC Alliance said Mr Chamisa was avoiding a meeting to resolve the issue of double candidates.
"He keeps saying he is busy. We were supposed to meet this week on Tuesday but he deferred the meeting to another day. He appears to be buying time," said one source.
Mr Komichi however downplayed the issue of double candidates saying they were determined to resolve the issue amicably.
"We are one. We will resolve these issues as one family," he said.
MDC-T national chairperson Mr Morgan Komichi said all Alliance partners who fielded candidates should withdraw them to pave way for his party's candidates whom he described as strong. The ultimatum also applies to candidates from Chamisa's MDC-T who filed papers as independents.
The ultimatum comes as members of Alliance have accused Mr Chamisa of deferring a meeting scheduled for Tuesday to discuss the issue of double candidates.
MDC Alliance spokesman Professor Welshman Ncube said the threats by Chamisa's MDC-T lacked merit. He said Chamisa's party had no powers to order candidates from partners to the alliance to withdraw their candidature without prior dialogue to end the impasse.
"If the ultimatum is also referring to official candidates, it has no value at all. We will only welcome a directive for our colleagues in the Chamisa group who stood as independents to withdraw their candidature. That is what is welcome," said Prof Ncube.
"Weak in terms of what? How did they judge the weakness of candidates they do not know and whose curriculum vitae they did not have? After all at least two of the candidates whose seats they seized were for strong sitting women MPs, one of whom they replaced with a man who had previously lost two consecutive elections," said Prof Ncube.
"The truth of the matter is that the seats were seized for and on behalf of specific individuals, for not so legitimate reasons." A source in the MDC Alliance said Mr Chamisa was avoiding a meeting to resolve the issue of double candidates.
"He keeps saying he is busy. We were supposed to meet this week on Tuesday but he deferred the meeting to another day. He appears to be buying time," said one source.
Mr Komichi however downplayed the issue of double candidates saying they were determined to resolve the issue amicably.
"We are one. We will resolve these issues as one family," he said.
Source - the herald
