Nelson Chamisa under fire

MOVEMENT for Democratic Change (MDC-T) national organising secretary Nelson Chamisa has come under fire for manipulating party structures and imposing candidates in the on-going restructuring exercise ahead of the party's congress set for October. The congress was originally scheduled for 2016 but the party was forced to move the dates earlier after the movement disintegrated when former secretary-general Tendai Biti and a group of other party members broke away, leaving it crippled and needing to restructure.

Biti and other members aligned to him were 'expelled' from the MDC-T after they agitated for leadership change. The MDC-T is expected to complete the restructuring by September 30 with the congress running between October 28 and 31. The first two days will be for the women's and youth's congresses.

The reformation of the lowest party structure - the branch - ended mid last month and the party is expected to complete the restructuring of wards by the end of this week before moving to the district and provincial level between September 20 and 30. Party members are however, alleging that the process has been hugely compromised as the organising department which Chamisa heads was manipulating structures by imposing candidates into positions.

Chamisa is believed to be gunning for the powerful position of secretary-general at the congress and members feel that he was doing so to ensure that the congress is attended by those sympathetic to him. "We have big problems when it comes to restructuring the party. There is a template born out of our constitution which stipulates how the party should conduct its restructuring exercise but we have seen a deliberate will to ignore that template on the part of the organising secretary," said a senior party member who declined to be named.

"We are seeing a repeat of how candidates were being imposed during the preparations for elections last year. Chamisa is manipulating the restructuring exercise so that the structures are filled with his friends who will vote him at congress," the official said.

"Chamisa has that problem of interfering with lower structures because he has some interests which we all know but you do not do that in a democratic party. You must allow people at the branches and wards to elect their own representatives. He should allow people at the grassroots to have their own choices," another Harare-based official said.

Added the official, "People at the grassroots levels know those capable of running their affairs but are not being given the opportunity. Those in higher positions are busy building structures that support them. Why is it that they do not want people to be in charge of the grassroots?" MDC-T sources said the imposition of candidates was leading to the party being infiltrated by members of the MDC Renewal Team, the group of disgruntled party members fronted by Biti who were 'expelled' from the Tsvangirai led formation.

"The Renewal team is taking advantage of this culture of imposing candidates to send spies to infiltrate our party and this can lead to cracks in the future," another party member said. When contacted for comment by the Financial Gazette, Chamisa, however, dismissed the allegations saying they were lies peddled by those chasing his shadow.

"We have got over 10 000 branches and therefore for someone to micro-manage what is happening at branch and ward level is impossible. Branches are managed by ward executives and supervised by districts under the stewardship of a province. The organising secretary is at the national level. All I do is to wait for structures that would have been a creature of those branch and ward congresses," said Chamisa.

"So it is completely unfounded that I am imposing candidates. In fact, it is very reckless to even insinuate anything of that sort unless if somebody is shadow boxing and shadow chasing," he added. It is widely believed that Chamisa will stand against Mwonzora in a battle to succeed former secretary-general Biti. Acting secretary-general, Tapiwa Mashakada's name has also been thrown into the ring.

This is not the first time Chamisa has been accused of imposing candidates. He also came under severe criticism for related allegations around last year's harmonised elections. In the aftermath of last year's elections, Chamisa was roundly condemned by party members who accused him of making too many fatal mistakes that demoralised the grassroots who bemoaned what they saw as dictatorial tendencies, especially in the imposition of candidates. They also claimed that Chamisa wanted to run campaigns single-handedly without consulting others.