Jonathan Mbiriyamveka
Douglas Mwonzora says his principle political end goal was to bring rational disputation to the national politics through dialogue.
Addressing the media Wednesday in Harare at the party headquarters, Mwonzora explained the name change from MDC-T to MDC Alliance, a name widely used by Nelson Chamisa faction.
“It is nothing new that we have the legitimate legal claim to the name MDC Alliance.
“This was announced some two years back by our chairman (Morgan Komichi) and those that failed to heed the courts and also the warning then they should not blame us.
“I cannot plan for my opponents either (Emmerson) Mnangagwa or Chamisa. I am not Chamisa’s keeper,” he said.
In a letter to the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) early this week, Mwonzora declared himself leader of the MDC Alliance.
Mwonzora told ZEC that only he and three other officials of his MDC-T party could confirm candidates “on behalf of the MDC, any of its derivatives and the MDC Alliance” ahead of by-elections slated for March 26.
The move appears aimed at upending Zimbabwe’s main opposition party, the MDC Alliance, which is seeking to regain seats it lost when Mwonzora recalled its elected officials, ironically accusing them of joining a rival party – the MDC Alliance.
Candidates for the various political parties contesting in 28 parliamentary seats and 105 council seats will be confirmed during the sitting of the nomination court on January 26.
“We are the owners of the Movement for Democratic Change name,” Mwonzora wrote in the letter dated January 3, but only released to the public on Tuesday. “Over the years, there has been so many derivatives put on it. However, the leadership of this party was defined by the Supreme Court in the judgement in SC 56/20. Pursuant to this judgement the party held its extraordinary congress on December 27, 2020, where I was elected the substantive president of the party.
“By virtue of the Composite Political Agreement signed on August 5, 2017, and the subsequent meetings of the MDC Alliance, I assumed the leadership of the MDC Alliance.”
The MDC Alliance, already aware of Mwonzora’s shenanigans, says it has not yet decided what name it will use during the elections. The party led by Nelson Chamisa is wary of mounting a court challenge, or rolling the dice with ZEC, fearing state institutions have been captured by the ruling Zanu PF party to aid Mwonzora’s disruptive political strategy.
MDC secretary general Charlton Hwende, responding to Mwonzora’s letter, tweeted: “I was one of the first four MPs to be recalled and the reason cited by Mwonzora and accepted by the Speaker of Parliament was that I had joined another party called MDC Alliance from the MDC-T. Now all of a sudden Mwonzora is again claiming to be MDC Alliance. He can’t have his cake and eat it.”
Many expect the MDC Alliance will rebrand and dump the MDC name and emblems, in the process pulling the rug under Mwonzora’s feet – but the party appears set to drag out its strategy until the eve of the sitting of the nomination court.
Supreme Court judges in March 2019 ruled that Nelson Chamisa’s rise to take leadership of the MDC-T, as the party was then known in February 2018, was “fundamentally flawed by gross constitutional irregularities.”
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