OPPOSITION MDC-T president, Thokozani Khupe has come out swinging, declaring she is in charge of the opposition party, in the aftermath of a High Court ruling that declared Nelson Chamisa illegitimate leader.<\/p>\n
Chamisa, with the help of a vigilante group known as The Vanguard, outfoxed his rivals to take power hours after founding leader Morgan Tsvangirai died of colon cancer in South Africa last February.<\/p>\n
High Court Judge, Justice Edith Mushore early this week handed down a judgment, in a case in which an MDC junior official had approached the court, questioning the manner in which Chamisa succeeded Tsvangirai and also the latter\u2019s decision to appoint the youthful politician to the position of vice president in July 2016.<\/p>\n
The Judge ruled that Chamisa\u2019s elevation by the late Tsvangirai, to the position of vice president, along with Elias Mudzuri violated the party\u2019s constitution.<\/p>\n
Justice Mushore, also ordered that all actions by Chamisa since his appointment as well as assumption of power was null and void before indicating that Khupe was elected at the 2014 congress should have succeeded the late former Prime Minister. The MDC was ordered to call for an extra-ordinary congress within a month.<\/p>\n
Khupe told journalists at a press briefing, Saturday that she would engage with the \u201cleadership that was elected in 2014\u201d effectively sidelining Chamisa.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe order goes back to 2014. There was a congress at which a leadership was put in place. That is the leadership I will be in touch with,\u201d said Khupe.<\/p>\n
At the 2014 congress Chamisa was reduced to an ordinary card carrying member after he lost the race for the position of secretary general to Douglas Mwonzora.<\/p>\n
He was subsequently appointed as a national executive member by Tsvangirai, before he was elevated to the presidium two years later.<\/p>\n
Khupe, Saturday said she has since instructed her lawyers to deal with the issue.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere is therefore an urgent need for dialogue between all parties mentioned in this court order, including the applicant on how we can implement it.<\/p>\n
\u201cTo achieve this we have instructed our legal counsel, to engage the other parties\u2019 lawyers, so that we can dialogue and together map a way forward,\u201d said the former Deputy Prime Minister.<\/p>\n
She added that the offer for dialogue was not absolute.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis offer is being made without prejudice but let it be on record that in the event that other parties are not forthcoming we are still to open to other legal remedies,\u201d said Khupe.<\/p>\n
While Chamisa has indicated he will push ahead with his party\u2019s congress set for later this month despite the order, Khupe said parties to the case have no choice but to abide by the order.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe judgment has raised legal issues to which I have a responsibility and to which my colleagues have responsibilities.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn this regard we have no choice but to find a way of talking around how to move from February 2014 as the court has nullified everything that happened after that. The judgment has placed me back as the leader of MDC-T. I therefore accept the huge responsibility,\u201d said Khupe.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe MDC-T was founded on principles of democracy, non violence, respect of the rule of law. That is the character of our great movement.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
OPPOSITION MDC-T president, Thokozani Khupe has come out swinging, declaring she is in charge of the opposition party, in the aftermath of a High Court ruling that declared Nelson Chamisa illegitimate leader. Chamisa, with the help of a vigilante group known as The Vanguard, outfoxed his rivals to take power hours after founding leader Morgan […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":8375,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,12],"tags":[113,615,88,393],"class_list":["post-8694","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-policy","tag-chamisa","tag-khupe","tag-mdc","tag-tsvangirai"],"yoast_head":"\n