Chamisa Saves Mwonzora From Expulsion
MDC Alliance’s secretary- general Douglas Mwonzora survived the chop and escaped with a ‘last warning’ at the party’s national council meeting held on Friday in an outcome that came as a shocker as his head was believed to be on the guillotine.
Impeccable sources told the Mail and Telegraph that Mwonzora headlined the tense meeting as a litany of allegations of gross indiscipline were levelled against him.
“There meeting was more like a Mwonzora meeting because he was the topic of discussion as he was accused of all sorts of indiscipline including disrespect for the president (Chamisa) and secretly working with ZANU PF among other allegations, there was a general consensus that Mwonzora must go but Wamba (Chamisa) surprisingly had a final decision to let him stay but he warned him,” revealed our source.
Why did Chamisa save Mwonzora?
Given the tension that has developed between Chamisa and Mwonzora, there was no reason for the MDC Alliance leader to stop Mwonzora from being purged in a hitted national council meeting on Friday.
Insiders say Chamisa’s move was calculative because he realised that purging Mwonzora would pave way for his estwhile nemisis, Tendai Biti, who is the only capable candidate to take over since he has been readmitted into the party.
When Chamisa reshuffled the leadership of the party he kept Biti at bay and appointed him a ceremonial vice chairperson, a post that is less influential.
Sources say Biti’s appointment was meant to keep away from the throne. “Biti is very aggressive and once given an influential post he can wiggle his way to the throne so Chamisa had to play his balls carefully,” said the source.
“It is this fear that informed Chamisa’s decision to stop Mwonzora from being purged,” added the source: “Mwonzora is a better devil than Biti.”
“Chamisa realised that if he expels Mwonzora, Biti is the most qualified candidate for the secretary-general post and he knows that Biti is more power hungry than Mwonzora and he (Biti) also has a large following and is too vocal meaning Wamba will have problems in controlling the party. So he decided that it’s better to have a weakened Mwonzora than a strong Biti.
“The SG post is the most powerful position in the party and Biti as a former finance minister has links to fund his campaign. Remember Biti is the one who used to lead a a grouping within the party called Team Yamdara where he handled funds that came from a local business mogul (name withheld) during our last congress.Chamisa knows that Biti is an intelligent fool anogona kumhanya nechinhu (to take over),” explained the source.
The submission by our source renders Mwonzora ‘a necessary evil’ for Chamisa to maintain his political hegemony.
MDC Alliance spokesperson Jacob Mafume confirmed that Mwonzora was discussed but hastened to say an “amicable solution” was reached.
“Yes, the issue of party discipline came up for discussion.Senior leadership eventually gave guidance to junior members on the way forward.We are a democratic party capable of resolving our internal democracy,” he was quoted as saying.
-Mail and Telegraph