Political Reporter
Members of the MDC Veterans Association have vowed to fight the MDC Alliance leader Nelson Chamisa whom they accuse of destroying the legacy of Morgan Tsvangirai and relegating senior members of the party to less influential positions.
A member of the Association who spoke to this publication, also accused Chamisa of meddling in the affairs of that body and causing friction.
“Chamisa is destroying the MDC Alliance from within. He is behaving like a man on a mission to destroy the opposition in Zimbabwe. Instead of working towards preserving the legacy of our late president Morgan Tsvangirai, he is actually destroying that legacy and he is persecuting and frustrating everyone who worked closely with Tsvangirai. We will not sit on our laurels but we will fight him as we restore the legacy of Tsvangirai,” said the source.
The source added that Chamisa’s meddling in the affairs of the MDC Veterans Association was worrisome as the Association was an independent body that should be allowed to run its affairs without interference.
“As we speak, huge cracks have emerged within the Association because of Chamisa. Last week, Chamisa used his proxies within the Association to suspend our secretary general Charles Musimuki for allegedly undermining the leadership and violating the constitution. If anyone was to be suspended for violating the constitution, then it has to be Chamisa because since his ascendancy to the helm of the party, he has violated various sections of the party’s constitution. Chamisa is just punishing Musimuki because he has a belief that Musimuki’s loyalty lies with Douglas Mwonzora,” added the source.
The source further accused Chamisa of trying to force some people into the Veterans Association as he want to have full control of that body.
“Imagine that Chamisa is pushing for people like Joanna Mamombe and Makomborero Haruzivishe to be included in the Veterans Association. We have been saying that these people cannot be regarded as the veterans of the party because they have not done anything outstanding to deserve the title of a veteran,” said the source.
Since its formation in 2008, the MDC Veterans Association had a love-hate relationship with the opposition party. In 2014, the MDC Veterans Association was at loggerheads with Chamisa, then Organising secretary and now party president, threatening to block him from being elected to the standing committee at the elective congress that year. Chamisa had branded the MDC Veterans Association a bogus association.
In 2015, the association was also at odds with party officials who were pushing for the disbandment of MDC-A on charges of fomenting divisions and seeking to hijack the opposition party’s programmes.
