The MDC-T recently held a disciplinary hearing against two of its senior legislators from Manicaland province, following accusations that they stirred up disturbances in Mutare two years ago.
Both legislators strongly deny the accusations. The two senior officials who attended a hearing two weeks ago in Harare are Giles Mutsekwa, the MDC-T MP for Mutare north, and Musikavanhu MP, Prosper Mutseyami. There were allegations that the two were behind violent scenes that erupted in Mutare during a party restructuring exercise, under the direction of national organising secretary Elias Mudzuri.
In 2009, MDC activists in Manicaland alleged that Mudzuri was putting up his preferred structures, in a bid to oust party leader Morgan Tsvangirai. The former energy minister denied the allegations. But that did not stop him from being harassed and manhandled by some party activists.
But after these events in Mutare, the standing committee of the party met in Bulawayo for a conference. One of the resolutions from the meeting was to reprimand both Mutsekwa and Mutseyami for failing to rein in activists from their constituencies who were blamed for disrupting the restructuring exercise.
This matter was dealt with in 2009 by the standing committee, which is the decision making body of the party. It was a case that saw both MPs being censured by the party and all was behind us until someone decided to bring it up again because of the jostling for posts for the forthcoming congress, a source in the party told us.
SW Radio Africa understands that Mutseyami has been backed by his province to seek election for the post of deputy organising secretary, meaning he would have to work with Mudzuri in the department. Both MPs attended a hearing two weeks and what they are waiting for now is the judgement. But as far as we are concerned we see this as more of a power struggle between known protagonists than anything else, our source added.
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