OUT of greed for office, MDC-T’s Khaliphani Phugeni and his colleagues saw it fit to recall MDC Alliance parliamentarians and councillors, forgetting that the Supreme Court ruling came about because the constitution of the MDC had not been followed in electing a successor to the MDC founding president, the late Morgan Tsvangirai. The process to elect the successor, therefore, was supposed to be religiously followed.

By Kennedy Kaitano

The Supreme Court ruling was very clear, it gave an option for the party to hold an extraordinary congress and nothing more beyond that.

But out of greed for office, Phugeni and his colleagues went on to recall councillors, MPs and senators to create positions for themselves in Parliament and Senate. All this was done against the advice by seasoned politician Abednico Bhebhe, who was reported in the media as having stormed out of the bogus WhatsApp Council meeting.

By his own admission, Phugeni says it has not been possible to convene any council meetings during the height of the coronavirus pandemic, so how on earth does he justify the expulsion of members and the recall of legislators and councillors when constitutional meetings have not been held? How does Phugeni justify his position as a spokesperson of the MDC-T under such circumstances?

Phugeni, on one hand, wants coronavirus to ease for properly constituted meetings to happen and on the other, he is quick to jump into the position of secretary for information and publicity for a political party, and he also wants to jump to be a senator. It appears to me that Phugeni is an opportunist.

Now Phugeni can confirm that there hasn’t been an opportunity to hold appropriate meetings that should be held, why can’t he resign from his inappropriately assumed office and let the MDCT 2014 structures take over?

It must be noted that corona virus was no excuse for failing to hold a congress. In this digital era, e-meetings can be held.
The United Nations has had an e-General Assembly, so the coronavirus is no excuse for not having held the Supreme Court-recommended extraordinary congress.

It was just a case of incompetent leaders who could not think outside the square to make things happen. My suggestions along e-events were ignored and those who ignored should do the humble thing — accept failure and admit it was because of their lack of thinking that the Supreme Court order could not be implemented within the stipulated time frame.

Now that the Supreme Court timeframe given for the extraordinary congress expired, 2014 party structures should meet to decide the way forward.

The MDC-T led by Thokozani Khupe before the Supreme Court judgment can continue as it was after its 2018 congress and the MDC Alliance can continue as it was before the Supreme Court ruling, or if the parties see a need to reunite and work together again, let it be so.