MDC Alliance is about the presidency only

Published: 20 June 2018

THE Nelson Chamisa-led MDC-T yesterday ruled out further negotiations with its MDC Alliance partners crying foul over grabbed Local Government and parliamentary seats.

MDC-T chairperson Morgen Komichi said the alliance partners must be content with the seats they got.

"We want to be practical. When we say alliance, it is suicidal to put a candidate that is not popular when we are only left with less than 40 days before the election. We are just one family and in the spirit of the alliance, we are just one organisation and we want the spirit to win the elections," he said.

"Good alliance partners are those who will say let's look at the reality on the ground because there is no time to start marketing those people.

"In terms of decision-making, it will be prudent for an organisation to say whilst we would have wanted a certain person to stand in the alliance, will that person produce the desired results."

Komichi said it defied logic to field weaker candidates for the sake of observing the coalition deal.

"Yes, we did the right thing there is no time to start marketing other people. We encourage our partners to understand the bigger picture and it is about winning the elections. If you are playing soccer, you don't substitute a good player and replace with a weaker one.

"The manager will recommend the best player to replace a weaker player. In terms of popularity on the ground, in terms of areas where we had double nomination, the alliance partners are weaker compared to the MDC-T candidates," Komichi said.

MDC-T youth leader Happymore Chidziva weighed in saying the opposition party "breached" the agreement by just giving out seats to less popular candidates from the alliance partners.

"Our alliance is mainly on the president and there is no reason for people to cry over seats because what is important is to win the presidency."

But MDC Alliance spokesperson, Welshman Ncube disputed that there were weak candidates from the other partners.

"How did they judge the weaknesses of candidates? They don't know and whose CVs? After all at least two of the candidates whose seats they seized were very strong sitting women MPs of whom they replaced with a man who has previously lost 2 consecutive elections," Ncube said.

"One woman they removed in Mashonaland East had the full backing of traditional leaders and structures of the MDC-T on the ground and yet she was removed even after the traditional leaders had pleaded that she not be removed."

He added: "In any event, who removed their own weak candidates some of whom are barely literate and others are so under-resourced that I personally have had to help them fund their campaigns?"

"The truth of the matter is that the seats were seized for and on behalf of specific individuals for not so legitimate reasons. Dishonesty, deception and treating colleagues and allies with disdain, disrespect and contempt can never be water under the bridge," Ncube said.
- newsday

Tags: Alliance,