• Mwonzora says the building belongs to the party, vows to do everything to protect it.
• “We are the official opposition party”: Khupe
• MDC T appoints new leaders in the National Standing Committee

Tafadzwa Nyikadzino

MDC T Secretary General Douglas Mwonzora revealed that the Morgan Tsvangirai House, also known as the Harvest House is not a private property, saying the building is fully owned by the party.

Mwonzora made these revelations while addressing journalists after the party’s standing committee held its first meeting following the Supreme Court ruling which ordered the party to revert back to its 2014 structures.

“We saw in the court some people claiming that Harvest House is theirs. We reiterate that Harvest House belongs to the Movement for Democratic Change as a party and we will do everything that is in our power to safeguard our property. We want to make it clear that the Harvest House is not a private property owned by a company, it is a property that is owned by the party and we will be able to prove that when the time comes in the courts of law” said Mwonzora.

Two documents have been circulating on social media recently,  which were alleged to have originated from Harvest House Pvt Ltd, a company which claims the ownership of the hotly disputed property where its directors, Ian Makoni and Timothy James Neill said the MDC Alliance were the rightful occupants of the building.

But Mwonzora has vowed that the MDC T will provide proof at the ample time to show that the building belongs to the party and not individuals.

Mwonzora also revealed that there was a smooth hand over-takeover of the building from the MDC Alliance and also claimed that he informed its leader, Nelson Chamisa of the development at the time it happened.

“The Harvest House on the 4th of June 2020 and at 5 o’clock experienced a hand over-take over which involved security guards at this building. Three security guards came in to relieve the two who were on duty so they signed the hand over, take over in a book that we call the occurrence book. This is the book that is at the reception were we recorded the hand over take over, it was smooth and without incidence and we reiterate that Advocate Nelson Chamisa was informed of that occurrence that is why in my statement that day I referred to him. I referred the letter that had been written by the acting president to him and specifically referred to him. In all the court papers he did not file papers to dispute that,” said Mwonzora.

There have been reports that the Khupe led faction seized Harvest House with the assistance of the army and the police. But Mwonzora dismissed these reports, saying the security forces came at the scene after 45 thugs led by MDC A Secretary General Charlton Hwende and Danford Ngadziore tried to break into the building through the back door.

“There is a lot of propaganda which has sucked in some countries due to images which were circulated by our colleagues. Charlton Hwende, Danford Ngadziore and 45 thugs came to this building and tried to enter via the back door. They broke the door at the back and the police who were on patrol intervened and called for reinforcement. We view it as malicious to suggest that the takeover of this building involved the army and the police”.

“The army has been patrolling the streets of Harare since the declaration of the lockdown. 60 metres from where we are towards parliament are offices of Army. When the noise was generated, they were naturally attracted by that but they specifically refused to intervene in the dispute. And this was confirmed by the employees of Harvest House who took us to court, Washington Gaga, Zvavamwe Shambare, Kudakwashe Matibiri, Edith Munyaka and others. They took us to court and specifically said the police refused to intervene in the takeover of Harvest House that is in their affidavit. They also said the army refused to intervene in their affidavits’ said Mwonzora.

“We are the official opposition party”: Khupe

Meanwhile, MDC T acting President Thokozani Khupe told reporters that her outfit was the official opposition party in the country whose aim is to serve the people of Zimbabwe in line with the party’s founding values.

Khupe, who has been accused of working with ZANU PF to destroy the country’s main opposition party told journalists that her leadership’s main thrust is to correct mistakes which were made by the party in the past and move forward towards building a better Zimbabwe.

“Let us reflect back on what happened, and let us correct our mistakes. In life you have to admit that you made a mistake and use those mistakes as a stepping stone to correct them. We are now up on our toes, up on our feet, we are standing and we are rearing to go. We want to make sure that Zimbabweans have a better life. Our desire as the opposition is to make sure that we are an opposition which is going to make sure that we build. We want to make sure that we become a government in waiting for real” said Khupe.

“As Mdc T we want to be a responsible leadership, a leadership which is going to make sure that we work together as a nation so that we fight this scourge called coronavirus. That’s why we called on our members of parliament so that we make sure that they attend parliament, so that they are able to deal with issues to do with Coronavirus. People want food out there. People want a better life. So this can only happen when people seat around the table, when members of parliament go to parliament to raise those particular issues”.

“We are now working from the Morgan Tsvangirai House. This is the leadership which will take Zimbabwe Forward” she said.

MDC T appoints new leaders in the National Standing Committee

To cement her power, Khupe has appointed new leaders in the party’s National Standing Committee. The following are the newly appointed leaders in the committee

Elia Mudzuri – Deputy Nationa Chairperson
Gift Chimanikire – Deputy National Organising Secretary,
Abednigo Bhebhe – National Organising Secretary,
Chief Ndhlovhu – Deputy Treasurer,
Kaliphani Puge – Deputy National Spokesperson
Shakespear Mukoyi – Chairperson of the Youth Assembly
Manasa Tsvangirai – Secretary for elections
Gandi Mudzingwa -Deputy for elections,

After the announcement, Mwonzora said his the party has nullified all the decisions made by Nelson Chamisa, including agreements he reached when he was at the helm of the party. He also said that the party is going proceed with withdrawing Members of Parliament who defected to the Chamisa Led faction, saying they seize to represent their interests in parliament.

“We are going to proceed with recalling those who have defected to the other party but we will deal with this on a case by case bases. We are not a vindictive leadership, we are not their simply to cause misery to people, we are there to safeguard the interests of the members of the MDC. So those who have joined the membership of other parties cannot continue to represent our members in parliament” he said.

“The high court ruled that we can continue with our recalls. The interdict which stopped us from recalling was dismissed by Justice Chitami. They have appealed against it but they are appealing against nothing because they did not have the order in the first place. As things stand, nothing stops us from recalling our members of parliament and replacing our members of parliament. We will exercise that lawful option” said Mwonzora.