Mwonzora, A Desperate And Jittery Power-monger - OPINION

This is an individual who is known to be in the habit of unashamedly contesting for power and suffering humiliating defeats.

One is reminded of his failed attempts to wrestle power from NCAs’ Professor Lovemore Madhuku in the mid-2000s and the MDC-Alliance’s Advocate Nelson Chamisa in 2019.

Just recently, at the Harare Provincial Council MDC-T members learnt with shock and horror that a small clique of sycophants linked to Mwonzora is nicodemously gap-filling party structures.

This clandestine move by this group of flunkies is meant to create fake delegates that are going to nominate and elect Mwonzora at the MDC-T Extraordinary Congress.

If it had its way, this group of fake delegates would have nominated Mwonzora in the presence of the whole standing committee so as to cleanse their illegal operation.

Of course, this was not a random error on their part but it was a deliberate plot to rush nominations in the absence of National Council guidelines and a universal template thereby giving Mwonzora an unfair advantage over other contestants.

By trying to use this council of fake delegates to ambush other unsuspecting leaders exposes Mwonzora as a man who will do anything to land the MDC-T Presidency by hook or crook.

It’s clear that Mwonzora is desperate to get a nomination even if it means creating bogus structures.

This will, of course, be in violation of the Supreme Court ruling which directed that the extraordinary congress must be held using 2014 structures only.

Of late we have seen a worrying trend where decisions of constitutional structures such as the national council and national standing committee are varied and vetoed by Mwonzora in favour of what he calls ‘strategy’.

A case in point has been the way in which the Secretary-General has handled the recalls issue.

Whereas the national council and national standing committee clearly directed Mwonzora to recall all MDC-T members who have renounced their membership by siding with the Chamisa group, the manner in which the Secretary-General has executed this leaves a lot to be desired.

Of particular concern are the strong allegations that Mwonzora is cutting deals with individual MDC Alliance legislators and collecting protection fees from some legislators.

The unilaterally handling of the issue involving Senator Phyllis Ndlovu all but confirms that Mwonzora has unlawfully usurped powers of all constitutional structures and organs of the party.

Sitting right next to him in the Senate chamber, the Secretary-General did not have the courtesy to inform his seniors Senator Komichi and Senator Mudzuri of his actions of retaining Senator Ndlovu back to the Senate.

It boggles one’s mind that legislators like Tabitha Khumalo, Muchairwa Mugidho, and Lillian Timveous were recalled from Parliament for the same crimes that Lynette Kore did yet she remains in Parliament.

What is also of concern is that MDC-T members and supporters have been consistently calling for the recall of Kore but the Secretary-General has repeatedly refused to recall her.

By so doing, it is clear that Mwonzora is creating a group of lawmakers that will forever be beholden to him for saving their political careers.

This also gives credence to rumours doing rounds that Mwonzora wants to make Kore her deputy in the MDC-T ahead of many senior and experienced members of the party.

This is what they call the Wasu project. Ironically, this is a man who has repeatedly accused Engineer Elias Mudzuri of tribalism for getting unwavering support from Masvingo province.

Of late, MDC-T members have consistently resisted Mwonzoras’ moves to oust Dr Khupe from the interim Presidency position even after intense lobbying by his emissaries.

Mwonzora is so desperate to be the MDC-T leader even if it means ousting Dr Khupe in an unlawful and unconstitutional manner.

Mwonzora appears to be so desperate to be in power and it’s clear that he fears a heavily contested Extra-Ordinary Congress where MDC-T stalwarts like Dr Khupe, Engineer Mudzuri, Senator Komichi and Hon Chimanikire are likely to give him a run for his money.

It is also ironic that Senator Mwonzora has been very vocal in accusing the Chamisa group of going into bed with Zanu PF G40 faction yet it is public knowledge that Senator Mwonzora has on different occasions claimed that the recalls are being guided by the Justice Minister Ziyambi Ziyambi.

And of late, it has come to fore that Mwonzora has been begging ZEC to delay the replacement of recalled legislators.

It is so unfortunate that Senator Mwonzora is so desperate for power to the extent that he’s cutting deals with Zanu PF.

As MDC-T goes to its elective extraordinary congress delegates must be mindful of this desperate and jittery power monger who until 2005 still thought that Bishop Abel Muzorewa should be the President of the country ahead of the popular Dr Morgan Tsvangirai.

By Marvellous Mungara