MDC-T extraordinary congress a sham

By The NewsDay | Jan. 8, 2021 | 2 Min read

THE MDC-T extraordinary congress held last month which saw Thokozani Khupe trying to stop an election process in which she was a candidate makes perfect sense. Khupe should certainly have presented her arguments to the independent electoral body that was conducting the election with regards to the shambolic and violent way the election went. Obviously, […]

THE MDC-T extraordinary congress held last month which saw Thokozani Khupe trying to stop an election process in which she was a candidate makes perfect sense.

Khupe should certainly have presented her arguments to the independent electoral body that was conducting the election with regards to the shambolic and violent way the election went. Obviously, she was overcome by emotion and couldn’t follow due process.

However, there are arguments that have been raised regarding the need for a quorum as the congress did not meet the MDC-T constitutionally required quorum.

I have pointed out in an earlier opinion piece that where the congress does not make a quorum, the results of any of the congress activities will only be validated by an extraordinary congress, a view that is supported by Obert Gutu.

That said, and given that according to the MDC-T’s own official position, 3 000 delegates were supposed to attend the congress, the extraordinary congress of December 27 was certainly inquorate, hence it was a non-event.

One point Gutu may have missed is that the Supreme Court ruling nullified everything that had happened, so all those who were in MDC-T 2014 structures should have been allowed to participate in the congress, and if they did not participate, that affects the quorum, and if there was no quorum, the late former MDC-T leader Morgan Tsvangirai could not be replaced as prescribed by the Supreme Court.

Whether the Supreme Court will allow for an extension for the extraordinary congress to be reconvened is a matter that Lovemore Madhuku may want to present to the Supreme Court as the legal representative of the MDC-T, but my take is that the period given by the Supreme Court was with full knowledge of the MDC-T constitution, so the Supreme Court judges who made that decision knew very well that it would fall within that timeframe

We will be glad to hear Morgen Komichi, Elias Mudzuri and Khupe distancing themselves from Douglas Mwonzora’s ascendancy to power.