By Paul Nyathi|MDC-T Masvingo provincial chairperson James Gumbi has resigned from his position, very reliable sources within the party in Masvingo have told ZimEye.com.

Gumbi is reported to have submitted his resignation letter to the party provincial Secretary on Tuesday morning after he saw his efforts to impose his own choice of candidates in the province go up in smoke.

Earlier this year Gumbi had vowed that he was going to have the final say on who was going to be the candidates for the opposition paying no regard to the MDC Alliance coalition agreements.

Gumbi, who claimed that he influenced the late MDC-T founding leader Morgan Tsvangirai to appoint Nelson Chamisa and Elias Mudzuri as vice presidents in 2016, always indicated that there was no one within the party and Alliance qualified enough to tell him what to do when it comes to the selection of candidates to represent the party in the province in the upcoming elections.

Addressing aspiring MPs and councillors at party provincial offices in Rhodene in March Gumbi said the buck stopped with him. His antics took a drastic direction when he refused to present the MDC Alliance candidate for Chivi North to the MDC-T Vice President Mudzuri last week claiming that the candidate was not favoured in the electorate.

“I have the final say; I’m the one who put the final signature and no one even from national can tell me what to do,” Gumbi was quoted telling the MDC Alliance structures.

The sources indicated that Gumbi seemed to have this courage from the claims he made that he footed the late Tsvangirai’s medical bills as well as influencing the appointment of Chamisa and Mudzuri as VPs.

Gumbi’s moves threatened to shake the grass root support base of the party, leading to loyal party members turning against him in numbers resulting in his resignation from the chairman’s position in frustration.

ZimEye.com efforts to get a comment on the resignation from the MDC-T Secretary General Douglas Mwonzora were not successful at the time of writing though party sources in Masvingo insisted that Gumbi had resigned. Gumbi could also not be reached on his mobile phone which was continuously unreachable.