Correspondent|MDC Secretary for Information and Publicity for Bulawayo Province, Felix Mafa Sibanda, has raised up his hand and said he will challenge MDC president Nelson Chamisa at the party’s Congress in 2019.
Mafa, who is an MDC founding member as well as member of the oppositio party’s National Council, said his decision was with good intentions, as he believes that the incumbent party leader Nelson Chamisa is the “people’s president”.
He says he will only challenge Chamisa on condition there is no challenger by Congress time.
“If there is no challenger for the presidency, I will do so to legitimise the process so that internally and internationally will accept MDC as a democratic party, knowing very well that Advocate Chamisa is the people’s choice,” Mafa said.
“My standing against Chamisa will be for one reason, that is to prove that the MDC is a democratic party, whereby all posts are contested unlike in ZANU-PF.”
But there is a risk to challenging Chamisa, and Mafa seems alive to that reality.
MDC Deputy Treasurer-General, Chalton Hwende has already stated that there was a real threat of infiltration by ZanuPF into internal MDC issues.
In a statement on Twitter, Hwende said: “It (ZanuPF intrusion) started with War Veterans nominating their Preferred candidate for MDC Presidency. Zanu-PF and ZTV now want our Party to focus on Congress and they are busy propping up their preferred candidate. We are watching and we will never allow the MDC to be hijacked by Zanu-PF.”
@hwende
It started with War Veterans nominating their Preferred candidate for MDC Presidency. Zanu-PF and ZTV now want our Party to focus on Congress and they are busy propping up their preferred candidate. We are watching and we will never allow the MDC to be hijacked by Zanu-PF
Mafa said his intentions are clean. He “To avoid any doubt and clear any misconceptions about my intentions, I’m going to discuss this with Vice President Morgen Komichi so that there be no reprisals against myself.”
Meanwhile, MDC Vice President Engineer Elias Mudzuri has issued a statement saying the MDC Congress will be held on 28 February 2019 and all positions will be contested.