The shaky alliance between MDC-T rival faction leaders Thokozani Khupe and Douglas Mwonzora is under threat amid reports that the former angered her colleagues in the Supreme Court-created party over the recent nominations to fill vacant legislative seats. Khupe, who is the party’s interim president, stirred a hornet’s nest with her decision to nominate herself and her inner circle for proportional representation seats which fell vacant following her party’s decision to expel from Parliament MDC Alliance MPs. A senior party official said Mwonzora and other senior MDC-T officials were not amused because Khupe made the nominations without consulting anyone. The official is quoted as having said: She has shown that she is purely a factional leader and doesn’t thin
MDC Alliance leader Nelson Chamisa has suggested his predecessor Morgan Tsvangirai was poisoned to his death by then-President Robert Mugabe at cabinet meetings the two late top politicians sat in during the now-defunct inclusive government. The opposition politician made comments while addressing hundreds of mourners at a church service for late MDC Alliance national executive member and human rights activist Patson Dzamara on Thursday. The church meeting was conducted in Glen View, Harare. Chamisa also pointed out Dzamara, who had been diagnosed with colon cancer which later claimed his life, could also have been poisoned. Tsvangirai died in 2018 from colon cancer. The two were fierce anti-Zanu-PF figures. Dzamara is also brother to journalist-turned-activist Itai Dzamara who d
FOREIGN Minister Sibusiso Moyo has emerged as a centre of power in government and the ruling Zanu PF party, and now fancies his chances of becoming Zimbabwe’s next president. This was said by exiled former cabinet minister Jonathan Moyo while speaking at the Crisis in Zimbabwe’s Dialogue Series under the theme; “Zimbabwe’s prospects: transition, imperatives and stability” on Wednesday. The Zoom discussion was moderated by broadcaster, Violet Gonda. Jonathan Moyo, who is now in exile in Kenya following a military coup that removed the now late President Robert Mugabe from office, said calls were growing louder for SB Moyo to replace Mnangagwa as Zimbabwe’s next leader. “It’s being whispered widely, and the whispers are getting loud
It is with a heavy heart that I write this letter to you after the tragic news of the passing of a gallant son of the Republic, Patson Dzamara. Equally, I am saddened yet enraged by the callous murder of the MDC Alliance’s Hurungwe District Ward 4 councillor Lavender Chiwaya. My colleagues Hopewell Chin’ono and Jacob Ngarivhume have spent more than a month in detention while MDC Alliance Youth Organizing Secretary Godfrey Kurauone is languishing in jail. Fellow citizens, I was charged with incitement to commit public violence as defined in section 187(1)(a) as read with section 36(1)(a) of the Code alternatively incitement to commit public violence as defined in section 187(1)(b) of the Code as read with section 36(1)(b) of the Code. Or alternatively, incitement to participa
Zimbabwe’s main opposition MDC Alliance leader Nelson Chamisa has castigated President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s under-fire administration for orchestrating human rights violations to silence dissent in the wake of the ongoing Zimbabwean crisis. Speaking at the Rotten Row, Magistrates Court on Wednesday after denial of bail for MDC Alliance official Job Sikhala, Chamisa stressed that crackdown on dissent was a by-product of a stolen presidential election which has “begotten an illegitimate government exerting coercion to maintain its grip of power.” “Zimbabweans are under siege. The human rights situation is deteriorating. The political situation is a case of a crisis. “You can’t say it’s not a crisis when we have senior leaders of the oppos
Zimbabwe’s socio-economic and political crisis has received the attention of regional political players and civil society, with many calling for Sadc and the African Union (AU) intervention. Envoys sent by South African President and AU chairperson Cyril Ramaphosa to meet President Emmerson Mnangagwa and other stakeholders last week failed to meet the opposition as planned. Zimbabwe Independent senior reporter Bridget Mananavire (BM) spoke to MDC Alliance president Nelson Chamisa (NC) on the national crisis, as well as problems in the MDC Alliance. Below are excerpts of the interview: BM: South African envoys visited Zimbabwe last week and you did not get to meet them. What really happened and what reasons were given for the cancellation of meetings? NC: As the MDC Alliance we
SOME MDC Alliance bigwigs are said to be making a determined push to have the coalition's firebrand deputy national chairperson, Job "Wiwa" Sikhala, expelled for his radical political activities and dogged opposition to Zanu-PF and its government. The sources who spoke to the Daily News said senior Alliance officials had recently discussed Sikhala's jettisoning in the party's standing committee (SC) WhatsApp group of which the combative Zengeza West MP is a member. Contacted for comment, Sikhala would neither deny nor confirm the move to expel him saying if there were such moves he would respond to them after he had dealt with his current travails with authorities. All this comes as the government has come under intense local, regional and international press
MDC ALLIANCE leader Nelson Chamisa has slammed President Emmerson Mnangagwa over divisive leadership and labelling political opponents as terrorists who must be flashed out. This follows recent threats by Mnangagwa against the opposition following a foiled July 31 anti-government protest the national leader said was meant to forcibly remove him from power. "This business of branding and blaming, labelling, condemning citizens as bad apples or terrorist to be flashed out it is unacceptable, it is the leader who set the tone for amenity, peace and harmony," Chamisa said Sunday. Chamisa reminded his rival of the duties of a leader he said should be found uniting as opposed to antagonising his people. "The frequency of any nation is set at the top by the leader, by t
The arrest of MDC Alliance deputy national chair Job Sikhala has opened a can of worms within the party with accusations flying around furiously on who exactly sold him out. This comes as two party members who had been living with Sikhala; Stephen Chuma and Jim Kunaka openly accused each other of selling out the Zengeza West MP. MDC Alliance deputy national chairperson Job Sikhala will appear in court today after he was remanded in custody on Saturday. This follows his movie-style arrest on Friday in Tynwald where a truckload of policemen armed with assault rifles and batons invaded Tynawald North in search of Sikhala. He was hiding at a house former Zanu-PF MP for Hurungwe East Sarah Mahoka used to reside. The police are said to have violently knocked down the gate to gain ent
THERE was drama in the Harare western suburb of Tynwald North as armed police arrested firebrand MDC Alliance deputy national chairperson Job Sikhala in Hollywood movie-style. Sikhala had been on the run for weeks after he was put on the police wanted list among several other opposition political activists and civic society leaders for their role in the foiled July 31 anti-government protests. Around midday on Friday, the Daily News on Sunday witnessed a truckload of policemen armed with AK assault rifles and batons and in another white twin cab, ferrying plain clothes men invade the usually tranquil suburb of Tynwald North, searching for Sikhala. When they arrived at a house where former Zanu-PF MP for Hurungwe East Sarah Mahoka used to reside, a woman disembarked from the
