MDC VP Elias Mudzuri says party structures should reject both Tendai Biti and Welshman Ncube as they once left the party to form their own political parties,

MDC VP Elias Mudzuri says party structures should reject both Tendai Biti and Welshman Ncube as they once left the party to form their own political parties, as the fighting for the three vice presidency posts up for grabs gets dirty.
Mudzuri, Biti, Ncube and Morgen Komichi are locked in a bitter contest to win the hearts of the MDC supporters ahead of the party’s elective congress that will be held on the 24th and 26th of this month in Gweru.
The MDC has three vice presidents but one seat is reserved for a woman leaving Ncube, Komichi, Biti and Mudzuri to fight for the two available seats.
Already Chamisa, who has no challenger, has been confirmed as the party president for the next five years but there is everything to fight for among his aides, with Mudzuri being the first to fire salvos at his rivals.
The MDC has opened the floor for campaigns and on Sunday the aspiring candidates presented their manifestos to the MDC Harare province in the first stop that will take them across the country before congress on May 24.
“I believe that I am a pillar of the organisation that never waiver, you cannot remove a pillar of the house,” Mudzuri said in an apparent dig at Ncube and Biti who once left the late Morgan
Tsvangirai-led MDC to form their own political outfits.Ncube and Biti both returned to the MDC just before last year’s elections, fulfilling Tsvangirai’s death wish as he wanted to see all opposition parties confronting Zanu-PF with one voice. However, as with many prodigal sons they are yet to fully gain the support of the party supporters.
Mudzuri on the other hand sees himself as Tsvangirai’s anointed vice president and is building his campaign around his unwavering loyalty.
On the other hand Komichi, who was appointed to become the party’s vice president by Chamisa, also touched on his loyalty as one of the key reasons why the party structures should back him. “You want a leader who is clear on the duties that he must do, to assist in the office of the president and to act in the absence of the president, as you do these duties you must do with loyalty, you don’t have to compete with the president. You need to be a consistent leader and stand and defend the president in times of turbulence. If you have not been consistent it will be hard to have the confidence of the president and I have been loyal throughout unlike others.
“A good leader is a good follower, this organisation has been in operation for 20 years and we are very clear on what we should be targeting now.
“The problem in Zimbabwe is that even if we have elections now the results will be changed, we now need to focus on finding solutions to deal with these people, they need to understand their role, we have a project that we must lead and also make sure that there is peaceful transfer of power from Zanu-PF to the MDC,” said Komichi.
However, Biti who left the MDC in 2014 after a nasty fallout with the late Tsvangirai said he is the right man for the job to deputise Chamisa.
“The 2019 MDC congress is going to be a very important congress. It’s an opportunity to start a new dialogue with the people of Zimbabwe. It’s an opportunity for the people of MDC to show the people of Zimbabwe that we are tired of being an opposition party. The party must focus on the rural areas. “We are an urban-centric party but to gain power we must go into the areas…we need to change strategy,” said Biti.
Ncube, who left the MDC in 2005 after disagreements with Tsvangirai and is a professor of law said the MDC structures must vote for him because he can help Chamisa in thinking and strategising.
“I will do all I can, all in my power to render assistance to…Chamisa. One of the important issues that have not been spoken about is the task of providing strategic direction, in other words the task of thinking, to think with the president, to think until it is hurting,” said Ncube.
Changing the way the campaigns are run, the MDC has opened the race with prospective candidates pitching their goals to party structures. Source – dailynews