By Paul Nyathi|Leader of the MDC Professor Welshman Ncube has hit hard on MDC-T members who are denigrating on the MDC Alliance coalition agreement and presenting themselves as candidates in constituencies reserved for other coalition partners.
Addressing a hugely disappointing MDC Alliance rally at Nyangeni Business Centre in Gwanda North on Saturday Ncube blamed the MDC-T supporters for deliberately dividing the people of Zimbabwe in order to push their own selfish aspirations.
Ncube who is the spokesperson of the MDC Alliance narrated how the idea of the Alliance was muted by the late MDC-T founding President Morgan Tsvangirai calling on members of the Alliance partners to respect the wishes of the late opposition leader.
“President Tsvangirai took time to go around the country consulting everyone on what should be done to defeat ZANU PF and everyone asked that we reunite as the founding members of the MDC of 1999,” said Ncube.
“It was in that spirit that we agreed to formulate the MDC Alliance coalition beginning with uniting the three splinter parties the MDC, PDP and the MDC-T hence the name MDC Alliance.”
Ncube then went on to explain the highly contested allocation of parliamentary seats amongst the Alliance partners expressing disappointment at the MDC-T members who are bulldozing themselves into constituencies allocated to other partners.
“We set down with Tsvangirai and agreed that the MDC-T will provide the Alliance Presidential candidate which is why he was the candidate and Nelson Chamisa took over from him,” he said.
“When we came to the issue of parliamentary candidates we agreed that these will be allocated based on the 2008 election results where the MDC had seven seats here in Matabeleland South.”
“We however agreed as a party to cede three of those to the MDC-T leaving the MDC with four constituencies including this very one.”
Ncube’s outburst came after members of the MDC-T called for a counter rally at the same time with the Alliance rally within the same area and called on its members to ignore the candidate presented by the Ncube led MDC. The members declared their own candidate as the one contesting the constituency.
Ncube said that the issue of who the MDC Alliance candidates will be, will be finalised on Thursday at the nomination courts.
“The true final candidates of the MDC Alliance coalition will be known on Thursday at the nomination court,” he said.
“Those of us with selfish agendas that stand against the wishes of the people of Zimbabwe will be exposed on the day and we shall know them,” said Ncube.
The MDC-T structures in most parts of the country have been turning against the MDC Alliance coalition agreement fronting candidates in constituencies reserved for other coalition partners resulting in fears that the Alliance might collapse before the elections.
ZimEye.com efforts to get a comment from the MDC-T National Chairman Morgan Komichi who is in charge of the party candidates identification process were not successful at the time of writing.