BY NQOBANI NDLOVU
THE MDC Bulawayo province has begun a process of dismantling its ward and district executive committees to replace them with polling-based structures as part of a restructuring exercise.
Provincial chairperson James Sithole said the restructuring exercise was in line with resolutions adopted at the party’s elective Gweru congress held in June this year. In Bulawayo, the restructuring exercise comes at a time the province is fraught with divisions emanating from the pre-congress days. To date, the province is still trying to douse the factional flames.
“In pursuant to our congress resolution, we are doing away with district and ward committees and replacing the structures with constituency coordinating committees or put simply polling-based committees,” Sithole said.
“Incumbent district and ward executives are being redeployed to the branches … branches will now have more powers and more superior than other structures with the provincial executive now playing more of an oversight role.”
Sithole said the restructuring exercise will also assist the provincial executive co-opt some members who lost the provincial congress into some structures in the hope of uniting the warring factions in the city.
“These changes are meant to strengthen the party. As a party, we have realised that it is an advantage to craft polling station-based party programmes (that target) where the voters are,” Sithole said, adding this will benefit the party “to reach all registered voters per polling station in every constituency”.
MDC Magwegwe district executive committee member Nicholas Moyo Godlwayo recently petitioned the party leadership to address simmering tensions in the city to avert electoral drubbing in 2023 or in by-elections. Infighting in the MDC in the city has been blamed for the party’s loss of the Cowdray Park local government seats to Zanu PF in a recent by-election.
