News / National
Chamisa in dilemma
18 Aug 2018 at 02:54hrs | Views
Embattled MDC-Alliance leader Mr Nelson Chamisa is desperate to find a political home after it emerged that the agreement binding the fringe coalition allows parties to retain their individual identities after the polls.
Mr Chamisa voluntarily relinquished the leadership of MDC-T, which he purported to lead after he withdrew a court case which he sought to bar Dr Thokozani Khupe from using the MDC-T moniker.
As it stands, Dr Khupe is the legitimate MDC-T leader and opposition insiders said Mr Chamisa was now floating like a balloon looking for a political home and name. The situation had seen Mr Chamisa failing to rein in MDC-T secretary-general Mr Douglas Mwonzora, whom he accused of working to undermine the party's leadership. Mr Chamisa last week convened a purported MDC-T national executive meeting to charge Mr Mwonzora.
Mr Mwonzora yesterday said he was not charged by anyone or given a deadline by anyone to answer to disciplinary charges.
MDC-T vice president Engineer Elias Mudzuri confirmed that Mr Mwonzora was a free man facing no disciplinary action.
Said Mr Mwonzora: "I am not facing any disciplinary action. I have not been given any deadline or ultimatum by anyone." Eng Mudzuri supported him saying: "There is nothing like that.
"I don't remember seeing such a resolution. Who wrote him the letter? I don't think it's true and also remember that many false stories are being cooked these days."
Sources in the opposition circles intimated that Mr Chamisa was failing to pin down Mr Mwonzora because he was also facing a legitimacy crisis as MDC-T leader.
"Remember, he is a purported president because the so-called national executive that passed him off as the party leader was unconstitutional," said the source.
"In any case, that wrongly constituted national executive only agreed that Mr Chamisa should be the party leader for the purposes of the July 30 election. As such, he should be subjected to a congress for him to have powers to fire members or to draw them to a disciplinary hearing.
"However, all that has been overtaken by events. The underlining factor now is that he is no longer the MDC-T leader after he withdrew his court case that sought to bar Dr Khupe from using the name MDC-T.
"That withdrawal came with serious legal consequences for him because now he does not have a political party. He is facing a legal lacuna and he is just floating like a balloon without a political home.
"Effectively, he has no legal powers to recall or subject anyone to a disciplinary action. "Even those MPs in Parliament, he has no powers to recall them because the agreement was clear that the parties will retain their individual identities."
Another source said: "The alliance was just an electoral pact and now parties are reverting back to their original identities and Chamisa has nowhere to go. He has only two options. The first is to go back to court and seek to overturn the legitimacy of Dr Khupe as the MDC-T president or to form a new party completely with a new name."
Mr Chamisa voluntarily relinquished the leadership of MDC-T, which he purported to lead after he withdrew a court case which he sought to bar Dr Thokozani Khupe from using the MDC-T moniker.
As it stands, Dr Khupe is the legitimate MDC-T leader and opposition insiders said Mr Chamisa was now floating like a balloon looking for a political home and name. The situation had seen Mr Chamisa failing to rein in MDC-T secretary-general Mr Douglas Mwonzora, whom he accused of working to undermine the party's leadership. Mr Chamisa last week convened a purported MDC-T national executive meeting to charge Mr Mwonzora.
Mr Mwonzora yesterday said he was not charged by anyone or given a deadline by anyone to answer to disciplinary charges.
MDC-T vice president Engineer Elias Mudzuri confirmed that Mr Mwonzora was a free man facing no disciplinary action.
Said Mr Mwonzora: "I am not facing any disciplinary action. I have not been given any deadline or ultimatum by anyone." Eng Mudzuri supported him saying: "There is nothing like that.
"I don't remember seeing such a resolution. Who wrote him the letter? I don't think it's true and also remember that many false stories are being cooked these days."
Sources in the opposition circles intimated that Mr Chamisa was failing to pin down Mr Mwonzora because he was also facing a legitimacy crisis as MDC-T leader.
"Remember, he is a purported president because the so-called national executive that passed him off as the party leader was unconstitutional," said the source.
"In any case, that wrongly constituted national executive only agreed that Mr Chamisa should be the party leader for the purposes of the July 30 election. As such, he should be subjected to a congress for him to have powers to fire members or to draw them to a disciplinary hearing.
"However, all that has been overtaken by events. The underlining factor now is that he is no longer the MDC-T leader after he withdrew his court case that sought to bar Dr Khupe from using the name MDC-T.
"That withdrawal came with serious legal consequences for him because now he does not have a political party. He is facing a legal lacuna and he is just floating like a balloon without a political home.
"Effectively, he has no legal powers to recall or subject anyone to a disciplinary action. "Even those MPs in Parliament, he has no powers to recall them because the agreement was clear that the parties will retain their individual identities."
Another source said: "The alliance was just an electoral pact and now parties are reverting back to their original identities and Chamisa has nowhere to go. He has only two options. The first is to go back to court and seek to overturn the legitimacy of Dr Khupe as the MDC-T president or to form a new party completely with a new name."
Source - the herald
