News / National
MDC-T woes mount
10 Sep 2020 at 02:28hrs | Views
THE Thokozani Khupe-led MDC has been dragged into another fight by the Multiracial Christian Democrats (MCD) over the recent recall of MPs and subsequent nomination of their replacements.
The Multiracial Christian Democrats (MCD) argues that the MDC-T is sidelining the smaller opposition party despite it being a major stakeholder in the 2017 electoral pact.
The development follows allegations Khupe and her acolytes breached the Composite Political Cooperation Agreement (CPCA) of 2017 when the MDC-T caused the gazetting of a notice of nomination to fill parliamentary seats after the recall of some legislators.
A fortnight ago, Zimbabwe People First (ZimPF) also wrote a letter to the MDC-T demanding $1 million the party was allocated through the Political Parties Finance Act.
ZimPF is demanding the cash for its role in mobilising voters ahead of the 2018 general election.
However, the MCD accuses Khupe of unilaterally making decisions and sidelining other parties to the CPCA.
The MCD chief convener, Mathias Guchutu told NewZimbabwe.com that a letter of complaint has been sent to the MDC-T outlining their grievances.
"Indeed, we delivered the letter last week Wednesday which was received by Morgen Komichi as the national chairman on behalf of MDC-T," said Guchutu.
In the letter gleaned by this publication, the MCD wrote; "It is our opinion that MDC-T's decision to unilaterally appoint proportional representatives (PR) without consulting alliance partners over the replacement of Manicaland and Midlands constituencies' PR representatives is illegal and can be objected at the ZEC (Zimbabwe Electoral Commission).
"Please note that although ZEC has given 14 days to lodge complaints, we feel as alliance partners we need to engage you first on the matter before we approach ZEC."
According to section 4 (3)(10)(e) of the cooperation agreement entered prior to 2018 harmonised elections, MCD was entitled to nominate a candidate to contest the Gutu Central parliamentary seat under the MDC-T banner, and have another candidate on the PR list of the MDC-T in the Midlands province.
A similar arrangement was entered into between the MDC-T and Zanu Ndonga, which was supposed to field a candidate in Chipinge Central and nominate one person as a PR representative for Manicaland and another to be seconded to the Manicaland provincial council.
Added Guchutu; "It's a cause for concern that the MDC-T did not even entertain the courtesy of, at least, informing the alliance partners of their notice to fill parliamentary vacancies following the recent recalls of MPs."
The Multiracial Christian Democrats (MCD) argues that the MDC-T is sidelining the smaller opposition party despite it being a major stakeholder in the 2017 electoral pact.
The development follows allegations Khupe and her acolytes breached the Composite Political Cooperation Agreement (CPCA) of 2017 when the MDC-T caused the gazetting of a notice of nomination to fill parliamentary seats after the recall of some legislators.
A fortnight ago, Zimbabwe People First (ZimPF) also wrote a letter to the MDC-T demanding $1 million the party was allocated through the Political Parties Finance Act.
ZimPF is demanding the cash for its role in mobilising voters ahead of the 2018 general election.
However, the MCD accuses Khupe of unilaterally making decisions and sidelining other parties to the CPCA.
The MCD chief convener, Mathias Guchutu told NewZimbabwe.com that a letter of complaint has been sent to the MDC-T outlining their grievances.
"Indeed, we delivered the letter last week Wednesday which was received by Morgen Komichi as the national chairman on behalf of MDC-T," said Guchutu.
In the letter gleaned by this publication, the MCD wrote; "It is our opinion that MDC-T's decision to unilaterally appoint proportional representatives (PR) without consulting alliance partners over the replacement of Manicaland and Midlands constituencies' PR representatives is illegal and can be objected at the ZEC (Zimbabwe Electoral Commission).
"Please note that although ZEC has given 14 days to lodge complaints, we feel as alliance partners we need to engage you first on the matter before we approach ZEC."
According to section 4 (3)(10)(e) of the cooperation agreement entered prior to 2018 harmonised elections, MCD was entitled to nominate a candidate to contest the Gutu Central parliamentary seat under the MDC-T banner, and have another candidate on the PR list of the MDC-T in the Midlands province.
A similar arrangement was entered into between the MDC-T and Zanu Ndonga, which was supposed to field a candidate in Chipinge Central and nominate one person as a PR representative for Manicaland and another to be seconded to the Manicaland provincial council.
Added Guchutu; "It's a cause for concern that the MDC-T did not even entertain the courtesy of, at least, informing the alliance partners of their notice to fill parliamentary vacancies following the recent recalls of MPs."
Source - newzimbabwe
