United Democratic Movement (UDM) president Violet Mariyacha has been summarily booted out as the party’s leader by the party’s national executive committee (NEC) for various reasons among them joining President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s political dialogue with opposition parties.
Announcing the removal in Harare on Wednesday, acting party president Eddington Makono Mugova said Mariyacha was a naïve leader who lacked seriousness in leading the party.
“The national executive committee of UDM met on April 22, 2019 to reflect on the progress and challenges that the party was encountering. The NEC also reflected on the continuing suffering of the nation.
“It was resolved that the party should fill the yawning gap in lack of national vision by politicians, lack of mission by those occupying public offices and lack of values by the leadership” Mugova said.
Following a dismal performance by Mariyacha in the 2018 elections, Mugova said the president disappeared and appointed her proxy in Patrick Mugadza.
“Given our unsatisfactory performance during the 2018 elections due to various challenges, the NEC could not exonerate the then president Viloet Mariyacha and her appointee Patrick Mugadza. She used us and disappeared from the political scene before election results were announced and went back abroad.
“This resulted in the NEC appointing Eddington Makono Mugova as party interim president until congress. We realised that individuals quickly jumped to POLAD meetings for personal benefits, not national interests” he said
Mugova described Mariyacha as a naïve leader who lacked seriousness and said his party has asked President Mnangagwa to meet with MDC’s Nelson Chamisa since he garnered more votes.
“She was a naïve and lacks seriousness. Apart from this, as UDM we asked ED (Mnangagwa) to meet Chamisa without fail at the earliest convenience, since Chamisa garnered over 2 million votes and controls many local authorities. UDM realises that the economy cannot be separated from politics” he said
UDM is among minority political parties that lost in the 2018 elections that are in the Political Actors Dialogue (POLAD) called by President Mnangagwa to chat the way forward in national development.
By Caroline Nyamayaro
