Prscilla Misihairabwi-Mushonga facing calls to step down

MDC secretary-general Priscilla Misihairabwi-Mushonga is again facing calls to step down, while the party's youth leader Discent Bajila has sarcastically "apologised" for seconding her candidature to represent Matabeleland South in Parliament.

Insiders said all was not well in the Welshman Ncube-led MDC, as supporters continued to call for Misihirabwi-Mushonga to step down. The MDC Matabeleland South constituency has in the past expressed its disquiet over what it feels was an imposition of Misihairabwi-Mushonga as the women's assembly representative in Parliament.

They argued that she was not from the province.

Late Insiza MP and national executive member Siyabonga Malandu Ncube quit the party in protest, while the provincial chairperson Petros Mukwena had to be expelled for making noise over her imposition.

Insiders said MDC Matabeleland South constituency was again pushing for the recall of Misihairabwi-Mushonga, who has further angered members by daring them to push her out of the party.

"I don't mind those who think the revolution will be achieved by pushing me out," Misihairabwi-Mushonga dared party supporters on Facebook.

"The sooner they do it, the better and we all can lIve happily ever after. So, let's encourage them.

They may be the saviours we were looking for. They must know something we don't know — that our problems would just go as soon as this evil person Priscilla is banished. Please let's support their cause."

Bajila, who is the MDC youth assembly secretary-general, said he regretted supporting Misihairabwi-Mushonga.

"The most difficult words to say are ‘I am sorry'," he wrote on Facebook.

"Those of us who supported Priscilla Misihairabwi's candidature for MDC SG owe the people of Zimbabwe an unconditional apology."

Fortune Mlalazi, a party official, suggested that all was not well in the party, though spokesperson Nhlanhla Dube argued otherwise.
"What is happening in our once great movement of ours pains me," Mlalazi wrote.

"I am really convinced that indeed that was the people's movement and we were so united when we went and slept in the bushes in Gwanda, Plumtree, Lupane, Binga and Matobo.

"All this was done in a quest for the freedom of our people, but today is a sad story as comrades have turned against each other, including comrades I thought were real cadrés of the movement."

Dube, in an interview, however, said the party was not only united, but growing.

"The party is intact, functional and growing. Turmoil is as anathema in the MDC," he said.