By- MDC-T leader, Douglas Mwonzora’s spokesperson, Lloyd Damba, said that the secretary for projects Norest Marara is not yet eligible to contest the party presidency.

This follows reports that Marara wants to challenge the current MDC-T leader Douglas Mwonzora at the congress set to be held before the 2023 general elections.

But speaking during an interview with NewsDay’s Taurai Mangudhla, Damba said Marara was not part of the 2014 structures but merely a friend of the late MDC-T leader Morgan Tsvangirai. He said:

It has never been our culture for any single individual to nominate themselves to any particular position in the party.

I saw on social media that he declared his candidature for the position of party president, but I doubt if he is qualified to stand for that position or any other position in the national standing committee because one needs to have been in the party structures for a continuous period of five years.

The current structures are those built on the remnants of the 2014 congress structures which we used at our extraordinary congress on December 27, 2020, but Marara was not part of these structures, only that he was sympathetic to the MDC through his friendship with our late leader Morgan Tsvangirai.

Now if friendship with our late leader is the constitutional qualifying factor then definitely he is qualified.

Asked about when Marara officially became an MDC-T party member, Damba said:

It was only in October 2020 that he volunteered to join president Mwonzora’s campaign team which was called the Donkies and that is how many people, myself included, got to know him in political circles.

From the records he has produced on social media for everyone to see, he only applied to be a member on August 16, 2022, and he paid his backdated subscriptions.

On January 10, 2022, when he wanted to be allowed by his Harare Central District to contest for Parliament he had to pay a candidate fee to the National Elections Directorate of US$100.

Now if you go by his narrative, then it means he is not even supposed to be spoken of as a candidate because he is not qualified.

One can only become a member after he has been admitted into the party and his admittance into the party as per his records is August 16, 2022, and for the past 22 years, he has not been a member but a sympathiser.

We will be happy to invite you, members of the media, to inspect the records because they are still in our vaults and the same was used for the 2020 extraordinary congress.