It is all over in the media that you expelled the leader of the MDC Alliance, Advocate Nelson Chamisa from the MDC-T Party of 14 February 2018. Very interesting indeed, as your action shows you have not properly read and understood the contents of the Supreme Court judgement, in the MDC vs Elias Mashavira and Others (SC56/2020) of 31 March 2020, which requires the MDC-T to “go back and start from February 15, 2018” as reported in The Chronicle of 4 June 2020. I put the going back to date as 14 February 2018 as that was the day when Dr. Tsvangirai passed on.
You correctly note that the Supreme Court ruled that Advocate Chamisa was no longer President of the Movement for Democratic Change, and I do not think Advocate Chamisa has in any way masqueraded as President of the MDC. Let me remind you from the onset that the same judgement did not make any reference to the MDC Alliance. That judgement never said the MDC Alliance should stop functioning. The judgement only mandates you to lead the process for the holding of an Extra Ordinary meeting by 29 June 2020, failure which the National Chairman as at the time of the demise of the late Dr. Morgan Tsvangirai, former Speaker of Parliament Hon. Lovemore Moyo if he is interested, or his Deputy then, Senator Morgan Komichi in the event that Hon Moyo is not interest as seems to be the case, will have 30 days to implement the Judgement, failure which it becomes water under the bridge.
Now, mark this point Dr. Khupe, what will happen if the Extra Ordinary Congress does not materialise in the given time frame? The answer which is written all over the Supreme Court Judgement which have to be very analytic to understand is that your MDC-T which held its Congress in 2018 and the MDC Alliance led by Advocate Chamisa can choose to continue as they currently are. Do you think the Supreme Court wanted those two parties to collapse in the event that the Supreme Court judgement is not implemented within the stipulated time? That surely is not the case. If a re-union of husband and wife who had been living apart for two years fails to take place, the parties in the broken marriage are legally allowed to resume with the life that they had lived in the 2 years. This means, therefore, that you cannot stop Advocate Chamisa from doing what he needs to do with his MDC Alliance. A lot of harm can happen to a voluntary organisation if the leadership takes a snoozes, and the same will happen to the party that you lead.
What both you and Advocate Chamisa should have done is go back to your MDC-T which had its Congress in 2018 and talk to your colleagues in those respective institutions and say, what do we do in the next 120 days in the event that the Extra Ordinary Congress suggested by the Supreme Court succeeds, what do we do if the Extra Ordinary Congress does not succeed – that is what is called strategic planning, and that is fully permissible. If you haven’t done that, it’s not too late to go and talk to the MDC-T 2018 Congress Secretary-General Mr. Nixon Nyikadzino who you seem to be at war with and get your differences ironed out. Make peace while the sun shines. The Expulsion of Advocate Chamisa from the 14 February 2018 MDC-T is therefore null and void. Additionally, if the Supreme Court Judgement said all structures as at 14 February 2018 are eligible to participate in the Extra Ordinary Congress, you need another Supreme Court Judgement to exclude anyone who was in the relevant structures at the time of the death of Dr. Tsvangirai. And please note the explusion, if I may call it so, of Senator Mwonzora, Senator Komichi and Senator Mudzuri, was only from the MDC Alliance as they declared they were no longer in the MDC Alliance. They remain members of the MDC-T as it was composed at 14 February 2018, and only the appropriate quorum of the MDC-T 14 February 2018 Council as authority to expel anyone, if the Supreme Court Judgement allows for such, and all due processes have to be followed as per constitution.
Regarding the Extra Ordinary Congress, all processes have to be in line with the MDC Constitution, including the sitting of Provincial Councils to nominate candidates for the Presidency. Note that Section 6.2.6 of the constitution says that a notice convening an Extra-Ordinary Congress shall be sent to all members entitled to attend and to each branch by the National Council at least one month before the date of the meeting. There is therefore urgent need for a Council meeting of the 2014 MDC-T in order to kick start the process. Senator Mwonzora has been quoted in the media saying a date has already been set
There have been two factions of the MDC-T 2014 structures since the 31 March 2020. You lead one faction which includes Senator Mwonzora, Senator Komichi and others and your faction convened your own WhatsApp Council meeting to which other council members at the time of Dr. Tsvangirai’s death were not invited. That is very acceptable as long as factions, factions are common in politics worldwide. Similarly, you should not raise eyebrows if members of the other faction have their own meetings and make their own decisions, as long as their discussions are about themselves as a group, and they cannot dictate the planning of the Congress. Only the join Council as at 14 February 2018 can plan for the Congress under the supervision of Dr. Khupe by 29 June 2020, and after 29 June the National Council and standing committee can play their respective roles under the leadership of Hon Moyo should he decide to take the responsibility assigned to him by the Supreme Court, or Senator Komichi should Hon Moyo decline.
I hope that you, Dr. Khupe, will reflect on this free piece of advice as 29 June 2020 draws closer, bearing in mind that there should be no extension of the deadline to hold the Extra Ordinary Congress. The Coronavirus pandemic is no excuse for an extension because the judgement itself was handed when the pandemic had already started, and it was already know by then that the pandemic might take until the end of the year to be contained.
Finally, I read Senator Mwonzora has said you will recall 12 more legislators of the MDC Alliance – please just be ashamed of yourselves you guys. The MDC-T left by Dr. Morgan Tsvangirai which was not operational in July 2018 did not sponsor any candidates. The MDC-T led by your Dr. Khupe and the MDC Alliance led by Advocate Nelson Chamisa sponsored candidates instead.