Mudzuri Announces MDC-T Presidential Bid
Elias Mudzuri, an MDC-T senior official on Friday announced that he will run for the party’s presidency at the court-ordered extraordinary congress to be held in December 2020.
Mudzuri’s elevation to the MDC-T vice presidency in 2016 by the then president Morgan Tsvangirai was quashed by the Supreme Court in 2020, making Thokozani Khupe the party’s interim leader.
The former Harare mayor told a news conference yesterday that if elected, he will bring back to the party those who have turned their backs on it or have been expelled. He said:
If elected as MDC-T president, I will bring back all those that have walked away or chased away from the MDC-T and form a united party to challenge Zanu PF in 2023. We need to focus more on the 2023 general elections than infighting in MDC-T.
I will spend time reflecting on developments in my party. I am offering my candidature and will greatly serve and bring change in the party and country.
Secretary-general Douglas Mwonzora and vice-chairman Morgen Komichi are also rumoured to be eyeing the presidency.
In late March this year, the Supreme Court upheld a ruling by the High Court which nullified the appointments of Nelson Chamisa and Mudzuri as deputies by Tsvangirai in 2016.
The court ruling effectively installed Khupe as interim leader and ordered her to call an extraordinary congress to elect new leadership.
Chamisa, who now leads the country’s biggest opposition the MDC Alliance, says he will not attend the MDC-T extraordinary congress.
