Chamisa, Khupe agree way forward

MDC-T faction led by Mr Nelson Chamisa will field its candidates in the forthcoming elections under the MDC Alliance name while the rival faction led by Dr Thokozani Khupe will stick with MDC-T.

The two factions are locked in a court battle over the use of the party’s name following an acrimonious fall out over the succession of the late founding MDC-T leader Mr Morgan Tsvangirai.

Deputy President of the Dr Khupe led faction, Mr Obert Gutu said they were going under the name MDC-T but will adopt new party symbols.

“We are fielding our candidates under the name MDC-T under Dr Khupe and I’m sure you have already seen our election symbol. It’s got an open palm and face of a young child in between raising the right hand,” said Mr Gutu.

He said their new symbol had already been accepted by Zec.

“Legally, we are perfectly in good standing in terms of the election symbol, there is a variation. We are absolutely on the right side of the law. There is nothing to stop us from doing that and indeed Zec has since accepted our party symbol,” said Mr Gutu.

PDP leader Mr Tendai Biti, whose party is a member of the coalition, said as a grouping of seven parties they would be using the name MDC Alliance for this election.

“The MDC Alliance is an organisation consisting of seven different political parties and as such we are contesting the elections as an alliance,” said Mr Biti. zimpapers