The opposition Movement for Democratic Change led by Douglas Mwonzora says it will contest the forthcoming parliamentary elections under the banner of the MDC Alliance, which has in the past few years been led by Nelson Chamisa.
Speaking at a press conference in Harare monitored by VOA Zimbabwe Service from Washington, Mwonzora said they would take drastic measures against Chamisa and his followers if they contest the elections as MDC Alliance.
He said the MDC Alliance belongs to his MDC-T formation and not Chamisa, who garned over two million votes in the 2018 presidential election using the Alliance.
Mwonzors said, “The period of being political cry babies is over. We don’t cry when things are going against us but we see people crying all over the social media and so on. And I saw Hopewell Chin’ono that rebel without cause saying this election is all about contesting Mwonzora. I’m not contesting this election. I’m a senator already.
"This election is about what the people of Zimbabwe want. It’s about who the people of Zimbabwe want and we are very open, anybody who wants to contest this election is free to do so but the name is ours and if anybody is inconvenienced by that it is because they didn’t read the signs, or they did not read the law and they didn’t heed the warning that was given by our chairman two years ago. What do we do to people like that? So, we are not their keeper.”
Chamisa contested the 2018 presidential election under the MDC Alliance while Mwonzora's predecessor, Thokozani Khupe, used the MDC-T, once led by former founding president Morgan Tsvangirai.
The MDC-T then led by Khupe filed a court application and won the right to use the MDC Alliance, a situation which resulted in Mwonzora becoming the party's president following what observers termed were rigged party elections.
The Supreme Court ordered the MDC-T to conduct the elections to replace the late Tsvangirai.