The National Constitutional Assembly (NCA) led by Lovemore Madhuku has described the violence which characterised the MDC-T provincial elections as “an aberration to democratic practice”.
The NCA said the violence was against the principles of democracy and did not in any way distinguish the MDC-T from Zanu PF, which a lot of people had deserted because of its violent nature.
“The NCA is also concerned with what we have witnessed in the people’s alternative to Zanu PF, the MDC-T,” said the NCA in a statement.
“The kind of violence we are witnessing in the ongoing provincial congresses is an aberration to democratic practice.”
However, top MDC-T leaders deny their provincial elections were marred by infighting and violence.
MDC-T Deputy Chief Whip in the House of Assembly and also Bulawayo Central MP Dorcas Sibanda, denied her party’s provincial elections were marred by violent scenes.
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Sibanda, who won the MDC-T deputy chairperson seat for Bulawayo Province, said they were a party of “excellence” which did not believe in violence.
She blamed the violent clashes to infiltration by political forces not affiliated to the MDC-T who were bent on tarnishing the image of her political party.
“What we noticed during provincial elections in Bulawayo was that all those people who were making noise were strangers. We could not identify them as known members of the MDC-T and so we concluded that they were infiltrators trying to cause confusion within the MDC-T,” Sibanda said.
During the MDC-T provincial elections in Masvingo, MPs from a rival faction phoned NewsDay complaining about vote-rigging and lack of transparency in the electoral process.
Although the violence has been downplayed, the MPs who preferred anonymity said they were unhappy about the outcomes of the elections.
Last week, Tsvangirai went on a nationwide crusade in a bid to patch up widening cracks with the MDC-T which were worsened by the provincial elections.
Tsvangirai warned party members against violence and vote-buying and said a split should be avoided at all costs.