The state has employed various tactics to dismember the MDC Alliance including sponsoring a ‘fake’ opposition party, the party’s Vice President, Professor Welshman Ncube, has said.
According to Prof Ncube, these tactics involve taking away their Members of Parliament, sponsoring a rival faction and even handing it their share from the Political Parties Finance Fund while using Covid-19 regulations to restrict their political activities.
But the MDC Alliance believes that despite all these state machinations, they are the legitimate opposition party that was chosen by the people during the last elections.
In an interview with CITE on the Breakfast Club, Monday, Prof Ncube said the MDC Alliance has had to manoeuvre itself against Zanu PF and the state for its political space.
“It’s been quite tough, let’s remember that the official point of Zanu-PF and the military-led government is actually to dismember the MDC Alliance that defeated it in 2018, at least in the presidential election. There have been systematic efforts to dismember MDC,” he said.
Prof Ncube declared that the party led by Douglas Mwonzora was also a part of the state’s chicanery as it received support from the military-led government to elbow the MDC Alliance out.
“They have basically taken our MPs and given them to other political parties. They have taken our properties such as the Harvest House and given them to Douglas Mwonzora. They have taken our money, which we are definitely entitled to. There can be no ambiguity about that because the law simply says that a party which wins more than five percent at an election is entitled to a certain proportion of the political party’s money,” he said.
The MDC Alliance vice president noted how the hypocrisy of these tactics was astounding.
“At the beginning, they were claiming this money belonged to the MDC-T and they openly brazenly gave it to Mwonzora. Now Mwonzora is trying to reconstitute another party altogether and is still calling it the MDC Alliance,” Prof Ncube said.
“The government gazette last week states that the money will be paid to the MDC Alliance and this is a new MDC alliance led by Mwonzora, not the MDC Alliance led by Nelson Chamisa which in fact won those votes.”
Prof Ncube noted the MDC Alliance, “was made up of the MDC-T that time led by Chamisa, PDP led by Tendai Biti and the MDC led by myself, Zanu Ndoga, MCD, ZimPF led by Agrippa Mutambara, Transform Zimbabwe led by Jacob Ngarivhume.”
These leaders, Prof Ncube said, were still in the MDC Alliance led by Chamisa except for Ngarivhume who left.
“Most of Ngarivhume’s leaders remained in the MDC Alliance but he left with those who wanted to and Ngarivhume is certainly not with Mwonzora. Zanu Ndoga is certainly not with Mwonzora. So who is with Mwonzora? Seemingly, there is only the MCD but they continue to call themselves the MDC Alliance although they created a new entity,” he argued.
Prod Ncube added that when it came to the political parties’ money, the law is very clear as it spelt out that if the MDC Alliance led by Chamisa was for some reason not recognised, then no one could receive a share of funds.
“If you don’t recognise the MDC Alliance that contested the election in 2018 and for whatever reason, you say it no longer exists or didn’t exist or you claim that it didn’t have a legal personality of its own and therefore cannot claim any money, no one then will be entitled to that money,” said the vice president.
“The Political Parties Act does not say constituency elements of an alliance would then be given that political parties money. Either that money belongs to the MDC Alliance led by Chamisa which contested that election or it doesn’t belong to anyone. That is the bottom line.”
He also lamented how the state has used Covid-19 regulations to restrict the MDC Alliance.
“Covid-19 regulations were made for the MDC Alliance, but for everybody else, they can do their politics including the Mwonzora of this world but we cannot. The moment any of our people do political activities the state descends on them,” Prof Ncube said, adding the party had hundreds of party members facing criminal charges for violating Covid-19 regulations.
“Barring these obstacles we are ready. What really matters is we are with the people. As long as we are with the people in the communities. We sometimes don’t even need the big rallies. We do interact all the time at branch level in their communities and with traditional leaders at all levels across the country.”
