Our seats are safe: MDC Renewal …Mwonzora illegitimate

MDC Renewal has described calls to expel members of parliament (MPs) aligned to it by MDC-T as a non-event, adding that those calling for it are illegitimate.

Last week MDC-T secretary general Douglas Mwonzora wrote to the Speaker of Parliament seeking the expulsion of MPs aligned to MDC Renewal, basing his application on the recent of expulsion of Didymus Mutasa and Themba Mliswa by Zanu PF.

In a statement MDC Renewal said the speaker of parliament made his ruling on the matter a long time ago, and that only Tendai Biti is legible to write to the speaker on any MDC related issue.

“…We are therefore shocked that at a time when Zimbabweans across the country are trying to find each other and a common ground for building national convergence and national consensus, our erstwhile colleagues, who were suspended on the 26^th of April 2014 by the Party’s National Council at Mandel Training Centre and subsequently expelled by a legitimate tribunal on the 27^th of June 2014, are now engaged in a futile attempt to recall democratically elected Members of Parliament.

“While it is common cause that the Speaker of Parliament has already made a determination that the matter of who constitutes the legitimate leadership of the Party, we wish to make it unequivocally clear that there is only one Secretary General of the Party and that is Hon. Tendai Biti and until a legitimate congress is held, only he can write to the Speaker of Parliament or any other body on MDC matters.

“These actions by our erstwhile colleagues show that they are now in bed with Zanu PF because the net effect of them recalling MDC MPs is that they are knowingly donating these seats to Zanu PF on a silver platter, given the fact that they have declared that they will not participate in any election in the absence of electoral reforms, which reforms have not happened,” read the statement. 

The Renewal Team added that Douglas Mwonzora was elected by an illegitimate congress and therefore has no authority to write to the Speaker of Parliament as he was also suspended and subsequently expelled from the party.

“He cannot claim to be the Secretary General of the Party as he was elected by an illegitimate, illegal and sham congress. As a matter of fact, we know that some of our colleagues that are still trapped in that undemocratic faction are beginning to acknowledge that the October 2014 Congress was a farce.

“As a solution to this, we want to assure our supporters across the country that our seats are safe and that the MDC Renewal Team will continue to execute the people’s struggle in all platforms both within and outside the August House. Our solution is that we will radically confront the Zanu PF regime using democratic and constitutional processes,” added the statement.-