News / National
MDC-T turmoil spills into student body
19 Jun 2014 at 12:30hrs | Views
The on-going turmoil in the MDC-T party on Wednesday manifested itself in the Zimbabwe National Students Union (Zinasu) with a press briefing on the Day of African Child ending prematurely as union leaders traded insults.
Zinasu president, Gilbert Mutubuki, and his spokesperson, Avoid Masiraha, were involved in a scuffle in front of journalists, accusing each other of belonging to different factions of the beleaguered MDC-T and that the statement prepared for the press was politically sponsored.
Mutubuki refused to read a prepared speech claiming it was prepared by politicians who wanted to use the union for their own benefits, a statement which resulted in a scuffle and a premature termination of the briefing with Masiraha accusing his boss of fronting for the MDC-T renewal faction.
As soon as chaos erupted in full view of the media, other members of the union walked out of the conference, embarrassed by the behaviour of their leadership, leaving Mutubuki and his spokesperson to quarrel for not less than 20 minutes.
Zinasu was actively involved in the formation of the MDC in 1999, a party which is now split with party secretary-general Tendai Biti pushing for the ouster of founding leader Morgan Tsvangirai.
During the scuffle Masiraha tried to force Mutubuki to read the speech, but the latter stood his ground saying: "As African children we cannot act like this, as the president I have the right to address the press conference to push for our interests, but what I see now is that most of the people in here are not students, but intruders. They are politicians and some are being used by politicians to drive wrong interests."
Masiraha said the union was now in disarray.
"He (Mutubuki) wants to put it as if we all belong to the renewal party, which is wrong. The truth is that the union has lost its focus and mandate and we cannot carry on like this. If we have to restructure then we will do so," he said.
Zinasu president, Gilbert Mutubuki, and his spokesperson, Avoid Masiraha, were involved in a scuffle in front of journalists, accusing each other of belonging to different factions of the beleaguered MDC-T and that the statement prepared for the press was politically sponsored.
Mutubuki refused to read a prepared speech claiming it was prepared by politicians who wanted to use the union for their own benefits, a statement which resulted in a scuffle and a premature termination of the briefing with Masiraha accusing his boss of fronting for the MDC-T renewal faction.
As soon as chaos erupted in full view of the media, other members of the union walked out of the conference, embarrassed by the behaviour of their leadership, leaving Mutubuki and his spokesperson to quarrel for not less than 20 minutes.
During the scuffle Masiraha tried to force Mutubuki to read the speech, but the latter stood his ground saying: "As African children we cannot act like this, as the president I have the right to address the press conference to push for our interests, but what I see now is that most of the people in here are not students, but intruders. They are politicians and some are being used by politicians to drive wrong interests."
Masiraha said the union was now in disarray.
"He (Mutubuki) wants to put it as if we all belong to the renewal party, which is wrong. The truth is that the union has lost its focus and mandate and we cannot carry on like this. If we have to restructure then we will do so," he said.
Source - Zim Mail
