MDC-T leader Mr Morgan Tsvangirai recently decided to form a coalition with four smaller opposition parties, shutting the door on Dr Joice Mujuru’s National People’s Party (NPP) with whom he recently signed a Memorandum of Understanding.
The four political parties that have agreed to work with the MDC-T are are MDC (Welshman Ncube), People’s Democratic Party (Tendai Biti), Transform Zimbabwe (Jacobe Ngaruvhume) and Zanu Ndonga.
A formal announcement on this development is likely to be made next Saturday.
The coalition to be named MDC-Alliance was announced by Mr Tsvangirai on Friday at his Highlands (Government) residence following an abortive national executive meeting at Harvest House.
Under the mooted alliance, Professor Welshman Ncube’s MDC would field candidates in all the 13 Matabeleland South constituencies.
Prof Ncube is likely to get another seat in Bulawayo.
Mr Biti’s PDP has been given four seats in Harare.
The contentious issue, however, is that of the four one is Kuwadzana East where MDC-T vice president Nelson Chamisa is incumbent MP.
Mr Chamisa is reported to be fuming over the issue.
Mr Biti will also get Harare East.
Transform Zimbabwe and Zanu Ndonga would get one constituency apiece with Ndonga earmarked for Chipinge South while MDC-T would have the pleasure of fielding candidates in 190 constituencies.
It is understood that Mr Biti was bidding for 20 constituencies.
He is tipped to land the secretary general post in the proposed alliance.
Mr Tsvangirai’s decision, highly placed MDC-T sources say, shocked the party’s bigwigs.
“There was a meeting at the Government house where Mr Tsvangirai is staying on Friday where he announced that coalition talks with National People’s Party had collapsed and were not being pursued any longer and that MDC-T was instead proceeding to announce a coalition with lesser parties and that the announcement will be done on 5th August,” said a source.
“Mr Tsvangirai further announced that all candidates for Parliamentary seats would be nominated rather than emerging from primary contestations after consensual consultations between leaders of all parties. He (Mr Tsvangirai) said at the presidential level, parties in the alliance would converge on an MDC-T logo with his image which obviously means that he will be the sole candidate for the alliance to contest for presidency. MDC-T would raise candidates in 190 constituencies. He added that individual parties will contest using their own logos and will only use the MDC-T logo on the presidential candidate.
“More or less about the same time, Joice Mujuru was still harping about the coalition talks which means that she may not have been alive to the MDC-T’s decision. What is more interesting is that the MDC-T hierarchy was not aware of this decision which triggered a very negative reaction principally from MDC-T vice presidents Thokozani Khupe, Nelson Chamisa and Engineer Mudzuri. Ms Khupe in contesting this unilateral decision warned that the parties that would have won constituencies in their names would grow big headed to a point of refusing to submit to the alliance which is to say the result will create a momentum of its own in a way that would wreck the alliance,” party sources said.
Neither Mr Chamisa or his fellow MDC-T deputies and spokesperson Mr Gutu could be reached for a comment. state media
