Militant MDC Alliance youths have threatened to end the country’s 21-day national lockdown by taking to the streets to resist the planned takeover of their headquarters by MDC-T secretary-general Douglas Mwonzora.
By Desmond Chingarande/Moses Matenga/Nqobani Ndlovu
Mwonzora on Monday claimed he had taken over the MDC headquarters following the Supreme Court ruling last week declaring Thokozani Khupe as the acting president of the opposition party.
MDC Alliance national youth secretary-general, Stephen Siziba, yesterday told NewsDay that any attempt by Mwonzora to take over the party offices would be resisted.
“There is an attempt by a hostile one to capture Harvest House (MRT), first to manufacture concerns in the court of public opinion by Douglas Mwonzora and to test the feelings of the people’s movement,” Siziba said.
“The attempt to take over Harvest House (MRT house) will be resisted. We want to make it very clear in no uncertain terms that Harvest House is our headquarters and we are to defend it with our blood.”
Siziba added: “As the general secretary of the youth assembly I am mandated to communicate that position to Zanu PF that any attempt to take over will be the end of the lockdown.
“I am also communicating the party’s position to the democratic forces that we are prepared to surrender ourselves before we can surrender our party headquarters.”
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But Zanu PF distanced itself from the MDC leadership fights.
Meanwhile, former MDC-T vice-president Obert Gutu has revealed that the Khupe-led outfit derailed Chamisa’s presidential bid in July 2018 and vowed to block him again in the 2023 presidential polls.
“2018 for us was a brave statement. We said let us stop this young dictator from getting to State House, indeed we stopped,” Gutu said.
“2023 we will stop him because we know what he is. A dictator is dangerous, we want to stop that.”
Chamisa garnered two million votes, narrowly lost to President Emmerson Mnangagwa, but has refused to endorse the Zanu PF leader accusing him of rigging the polls. Khupe, came a distant third with a measly 45 000 votes.
Chamisa’s backers yesterday accused Gutu of working to sustain the Zanu PF rule of out his selfish desires, not the good of the people.
