HARARE – Nelson Chamisa says the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) has no plan to install three vice presidents should the party come into government, insisting the current structure would only exist in the party.
The MDC leader, speaking at a memorial service for the party’s founding president Morgan Tsvangirai in Buhera on Saturday, said the structure had been established by Tsvangirai who came from the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU) which has four vice presidents.
Chamisa is deputised by Welshman Ncube, Morgan Komichi and Elias Mudzuri, but the constitution of Zimbabwe only has provision for two vice presidents.
With the party’s elective congress due to be held from 24 to 26 May this month, the MDC has come under pressure to abandon the structure which some say goes contrary to its promise of a lean government.
“Some ask where the vice presidents issue came from. One of the ideas Tsvangirai brought up was the three vice presidents. In the ZCTU, from whose womb the party was formed, there are four presidents; we ended at three. Some ask what does this mean? In government we won’t have that, the government is supposed to be lean and mean. We’ll separate the government from the party,” Chamisa told thousands of people at the memorial held in Tsvangirai’s village in Buhera.
Chamisa vowed that post-congress, the party would take a deliberate step to deepen its cooperation with the ZCTU, whose leaders spoke at the event.
“The agenda started by Morgan Tsvangirai is not going to be betrayed. We remain going back to the centre, which is the ZCTU. The party was born out of the determination of the workers,” he said.
Tsvangirai’s eldest son, Edwin, was booed off stage after saying he wanted to thank the government for providing logistical support for the successful holding of the event.
“I want to thank the government, I want to thank the president…,” Tsvangirai said before he was drowned out by the jeering crowd.
He pleaded several times with the crowd to “please hear me out”, before abandoning his speech entirely.
Chamisa arrived at the Tsvangirai home and was escorted by police officers who cleared the path for him. The MDC leader credited the government for the gesture, saying for too long police had been used as Zanu PF security officers.
“I compete with Mnangagwa, but if he does good it must be acknowledged. Police officers are not Zanu PF, or MDC, they’re there to serve Zimbabweans. Let’s acknowledge what’s good, and condemn what’s bad,” Chamisa said, however avoiding the jeering that met Edwin.
The MDC leader, meanwhile, said Mnangagwa should sit down with the MDC to discuss the country’s future, warning: “We want our country to move forward. If you don’t want to dialogue, we’ll drag you do dialogue kicking and screaming.”
The memorial was attended by several diplomats, including the Head of Delegation of the European Union to Zimbabwe Timo Olkkonen and Angolan Ambassador Pedro Hendrik Vaal Neto.
Tsvangirai died from cancer at a hospital in South Africa on February 14 last year.
