Opposition MDC-T Presidency Up for Grabs as Mudzuri Joins 3 Others Seeking Election to Top Party Post
“If elected MDC-T president, I will bring back all those that have walked away or chased away from the MDC-T and form a united party to challenge Zanu PF in 2023. We need to focus more on the 2023 general elections than infighting in MDC-T."
MARYLAND — Engineer Elias Mudzuri says he will contest the post of president of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC-T) led by Thokozani Khupe, which is expected to hold an Extra Ordinary Congress in December to replace the late MDC founding president Morgan Tsvangirai, who died in 2018. Mudzuri, who was one of Tsvangirai’s deputies when he died of cancer of the colon, told reporters in Harare Friday that he is determined to revive the party that has been riddled by factionalism. He said, “If elected MDC-T president, I will bring back all those that have walked away or chased away from the MDC-T and form a united party to challenge Zanu PF in 2023. We need to focus more on the 2023 general elections than infighting in MDC-T. I will spend time reflecting on developments in my party. I am offering my candidature and will greatly serve and bring change in the party and country.” He becomes the third senior official seeking election in a congress ordered by the Supreme Court, which declared as null and void Nelson Chamisa’s leadership of the MDC. The latter is under MDC Alliance. The other likely contestants are Khupe, secretary general Douglas Mwonzora and chairperson Morgan Komichi. Acting MDC-T organizing secretary, Abednigo Bhebhe, claimed recently that Khupe and her colleagues are trying to manipulate the election process by dumping some people who were in the 2014 MDC structures, which the court deemed were eligible to seek posts and vote at the congress. Khupe and others say they are taking stern measures on Bhebhe, noting that he violated some party regulations by filing a court application to challenge the electoral process of the MDC-T. The Khupe formation has indicated that all people aligned to Chamisa’s MDC Alliance won’t be allowed to participate in the elective congress.