MDC-T members 'snub' Tsvangirai in Masvingo

Some MDC-T members in Masvingo on Thursday snubbed a provincial executive council meeting addressed by their leader, Mr Morgan Tsvangirai, at Mucheke Hall, the state media reported.

Mr Tsvangirai was in Masvingo to meet the party's executive members that constitute the provincial council ahead of a provincial congress.This was Mr Tsvangirai's first meeting with his party's provincial council after the defection of the executive, led by Mr Wilstaf Sitemere, to join the MDC renewal team led by secretary-general Mr Tendai Biti.

Some insiders who attended the meeting, where media crews were barred, said the provincial council meeting was poorly attended.

They said some of the districts were either not represented or had only few representatives.

They claimed this was an indication that the party's structures were in disarray or totally non-existent.

Among the districts that had few representatives were Mwenezi, Chiredzi and Zaka.

"The provincial council meeting was not well attended to an extent that even Mucheke Hall was not full, unlike during similar meetings in the past. Some districts had only a few representatives or none at all," said a provincial executive member who attended the meeting.

MDC-T spokesman, Mr Douglas Mwonzora said; "This was not a meeting to vote, it was an information-giving one. However, according to us it was well-attended.

"I think the media is just angry that they were ejected out of the meeting and now want to create stories. The fact that some districts were under-represented does not matter because the meeting was an informative one."

Mr Mwonzora said during the party's provincial congress the MDC-T's organising department would make sure that all those in party structures attended. In his address to the meeting Mr Tsvangirai is alleged to have claimed that provincial executive members who defected to the renewal team were "bought."

Mr Tsvangirai is also said to have pleaded with party members to make financial contributions to beef up the party's coffers that were dry.

Masvingo businessman, Mr Bernard Chiondegwa, is now the new provincial chairman after Mr Sitemere and his executive left.

The MDC-T leader was accompanied to Masvingo by acting secretary-general Mr Tapiwa Mashakada, acting treasurer Mrs Theresa Makone and organising secretary Mr Nelson Chamisa.