No Ndebele VP for Chamisa

MATEBELELAND could lose out of one of the MDC's vice president slot as one of MDC leader Nelson Chamisa's three deputies will be a woman after the party resolved to set aside the position for female candidates yesterday.

The MDC national council meeting did not discuss the need to reserve one of the VP posts for Matabeleland as was the norm.

Chamisa has been nominated unopposed by 11 out of the 12 party provinces, with the South African branch yet to vote ahead of the May 25 to 26 Congress to be held in Gweru, where the former minister will most likely be confirmed as the late Morgan Tsvangirai's successor.

However, the race for his three deputies has a crowded field with Tendai Biti, Morgen Komichi, Welshman Ncube, Tracy Mutinhiri, Lillian Timveos, Lynette Karenyi and Paurina Mpariwa having received nominations.

The decision by the MDC national council, which met in Harare yesterday, means that one of the heavyweights between Biti, Komichi and Ncube will fall by the wayside.

Mutinhiri, Timveos and Karenyi confirmed in an earlier interview with The Standard that they accepted nominations and are ready for the contest.

MDC spokesperson Jacob Mafume said the meeting did not discuss the need to reserve one of the VP posts for Matabeleland as was the norm, but said delegates were aware of the need for ethnic balance.

"That was never considered, the congress delegates are aware, they have done this election many times," he said.

"They are aware of the need to balance out the party and we are confident that they will come up with a position that will make sure that leadership of the party is evenly distributed in terms of the regional considerations."

Officials nominated for posts have been given up to Wednesday to indicate whether they are contesting.

"All nominees have up to Wednesday to indicate whether they are accepting the nomination or not," Mafume said.

MDC Alliance president was recently sucked into a tribal storm at the party's Bulawayo structures who accuse the opposition leader of presiding over a provincial congress marred with irregularities and ethnic bias.

In the "chaotic" Bulawayo congress, party vice president Professor Welshman Ncube was snubbed by the province which did not nominate him to retain the post at the national congress slated for next month.

Instead, the structures nominated Mr Tendai Biti, Mr Morgen Komichi and Ms Lillian Timveous for the vice presidency and nominated Prof Ncube for the secretary general's position.

However, according to insiders Prof Ncube has been nominated by seven out of the party's 12 provinces, while Mr Biti has eight, Ms Timveous has six, and Mr Komichi has 11 nominations.

Other nominations for Mr Chamisa's deputy include Ms Paurina Mupariwa, Engineer Elias Mudzuri, Tracey Mutinhiri and Mr Karenyi Kore who all have one nomination each.

Prof Ncube was snubbed together with former members of his MDC party that he led before he joined Mr Chamisa as none of them were nominated for any position.

The disgruntled party members say Mr Chamisa showed bias as he presided over the elections of the youth, women's and main provincial wings.

"For example, in the youth structures where more than 800 youths were supposed to participate, only about 150 were allowed to vote. No one can win when the electoral college is 150 as that number can only account for two party districts. By presiding over such a sham process, Chamisa oversaw the breach of the party constitution in favour of what has been viewed as a tribal agenda," said an insider.

Bouncers belonging to Mr Chamisa are said to have been hired to block people from voting and many feel results were predetermined.

 In the election for the main wing, party sources said party districts like Mpopoma and Emakhandeni were not allowed to vote despite the fact that their structures were in order.

 "There was a systematic frustration of people from voting. The election was dragged deep into the night and some members were forced to go back home without voting. If you try and tally the numbers in the polls you discover that there was a lot of cooking of figures," said the source.

"Chamisa's strategy was a dual one, first he wanted to include his allies and on the other hand targeted perceived enemies who opposed him at the 2014 congress where he was beaten by (party secretary general Douglas) Mwonzora. Look at what happened in other provinces with the likes of Murayi and Chimhini, they were all targeted by Chamisa and pushed out."

"Even if you look at the Prof Ncube issue, it is clear that the Bulawayo nomination was meant to embarrass him. Never has it happened in the history of the party that a vice president is snubbed by the province he hails from only to be nominated by other provinces."

MDC Alliance national spokesperson Mr Jacob Mafume dismissed any alleged irregularities and tribal divisions.

"The Bulawayo congress and all our other provincial congresses have gone on smoothly, as of today we have not received any formal complaints in terms of our constitution over any irregularity. Winning candidates and the losing candidates have all pledged to work together. Should we receive any complaints or any specific irregularities it would be dealt with in terms of our constitution and it would be dealt with before the main congress," said Mr Mafume.

Last Tuesday, MDC-Alliance secretary-general, Mr Douglas Mwonzora who had expressed intention to challenge Mr Chamisa's presidency at the congress said he withdrew from the race because the playing field was not even.

Mr Mwonzora launched a scathing attack on his party and the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions for failing to address concerns that he raised.