Mwonzora clears his name

Embattled MDC Secretary General Douglas Mwonzora has cleared his name over allegations that he signed for an unofficial candidate to contest in the Cowdray Park Council by-election that the party lost to ZANU PF because of double candidates.

Mwonzora revealed that Chamisa knew that he was not involved the chaos. Mwonzora was speaking during the MDC Bulawayo caucus that took place on Monday.

Read the full statement below:

I want you to listen careful about what happened in Cowdray Park because it is clear that an innocent person is being crucified while the guilty left untouched.

The nomination court was supposed to happen on the 16 or 27th January during the violent protest. The National Chairperson came to me and said SG the nomination court is sitting tomorrow in Bulawayo what should we do.

I phoned Provincial Chairperson Gift Banda and asked if it was possible to conduct primary elections and Banda responded that it was not due to the volatile environment.

I then called the National Chairperson and asked if there was already a candidate and she said the candidate was already there.

I was then given the name of the candidate. I asked whether all due process was followed to come up with the candidate and I was told everything was done because it was an emergency.

ZEC then postponed the sitting of the nomination court. I then phoned the President (Nelson Chamisa) and we agreed that we need a primary election to be held.

I wrote a letter to Bualwayo instructing them to conduct a primary election. I then sent people to conduct the election. The President and I were given a report that people voted and some people came and stole the ballot papers.