By Paul Nyathi|MDC-T President Nelson Chamisa is reportedly being pressured by party members to make efforts to rescue prolific Harare West parliamentarian Jessie Majome from disregarding the party and contesting reelection in the constituency as an independent candidate.
Highly placed MDC-T sources who would not be named told ZimEye.com that the party leader has been put under pressure by some top female leaders of the party to engage Majome and persuade her to reverse her decision to contest as an independent candidate.
According to the sources, the female top party leaders have summoned Chamisa to ask Majome’s challenger to the Harare West constituency young Joanna Mamombe to withdraw her challenge and instead be seconded into the party women’s quota proportional representation list for Harare province.
“There is correspondence to the President from senior women leaders pressuring him to meet with both Majome and Mamombe for him to mediate between the two and strike a compromise,” said the source.
“The women are concerned that the party can not lose the experience and capabilities that Majome posses and so have asked Chamisa to intervene,” said the source.
Party Deputy Treasurer General Charlton Hwende however accused Majome of arrogance claiming that she is deliberately avoiding talking to the party leadership on the matter.
“Those worried by Jessie Fungayi Majome’s complaints about our candidate selection system, the National Chairman Morgan Khomichi who Chairs the Directorate yesterday tried to call her several times by the time I left Harvest House she had not returned his calls,” he said in a statement.
“The party is ready to discuss and solve all legitimate concerns by any candidate. Primary Elections are due this week so we still have time to find each other. What the party can not do is to avoid primaries ultimately the people must decide,” said Hwende.
ZimEye.com had at the time of writing not been able to get hold of the MDC-T National Chairman Senator Komichi who is in charge of the candidates selection process.
Speaking in a press conference on Monday, Majome ruled out any possibility of her reversing her decision.