By Nkosana Dlamini
THE MDC-T led by former deputy prime minister Thokozani Khupe has ruled out prospects of a re-merger with the Nelson Chamisa led MDC in the wake of electoral defeat by the former allies in the just ended national elections.
Khupe and some party loyalists broke away from MDC-T February this year after Chamisa, who was co-vice president, seized control of the party following the death of founding leader Morgan Tsvangirai same month.
They failed to win a single parliamentary seat while Chamisa and his coalition partners salvaged 63 from 210 parliamentary seats that were being contested for.
Linda Masarira, spokesperson of the Khupe led MDC, told NewZimbabwe.com Saturday poll defeat was not enough to evoke any thoughts among its leaders to retrace their steps to the original party.
In her comments, Masarira described the mainstream MDC as a bunch of politicians who have broken principle by accepting donations from former President and opposition nemesis Robert Mugabe.
“We are a principled party and we are not moved by being given money by either factions of Zanu PF unlike our erstwhile comrades who have been dining and wining with the other factions of Zanu PF,” she said.
She was referring to the electoral endorsement given to the MDC Alliance by the National Patriotic Front, formed among former Zanu PF politicians who were elbowed out of the party when Emmerson Mnangagwa seized power from Mugabe November last year.
“We will only work with people who share the same vision with us, who are not compromised, who are untainted,” Masarira said.
“We will not manipulate the people of Zimbabwe to support us whilst we are receiving money from Zanu PF corners.”
Masarira added, “We can only come together when the other MDC faction which has got plenty of lawyers start abiding by constitutionalism.
“The MDC Alliance has the most number of lawyers than any other political party in Zimbabwe but does not subscribe to the constitution of this land or the constitution of their own party.”
The MDC’s continued failure to upstage Zanu PF in national elections has been blamed on its continued splits with the costliest being the 2008 election in which then MDC-T leader Morgan Tsvangirai only needed 4 percent of the national vote to be declared winner of the poll.
MDC Alliance spokesperson Welshman Ncube told NewZimbabwe.com coalition partners in their stable were considering merging into a single political party.
