Newly-elected MDC president Advocate Nelson Chamisa said that his party will not hold an extraordinary congress as ruled by the High Court recently.
He added that the next Congress will be held in 2024, after five years as dictated by the party’s constitution.
Chamisa said this while delivering his acceptance speech at the just ended party Congress held at Ascot Stadium in Gweru on Monday. He said:
There will not be a congress in the next five years. When next we meet, we will be coming from the government side of politics.
The newly-appointed party chairperson, Thabitha Khumalo said that the elective congress had addressed the issues raised by Justice Edith Mushore’s ruling that the party has to hold an extraordinary congress.
Khumalo was reading the resolutions that had been made by Congress to delegates in Gweru on Monday. She said:
Congress noted the High Court judgment ordering the party to hold an extraordinary congress and resolved that the necessity and requirements of such an extraordinary congress have been fully addressed by this Congress.
Justice Mushore made a ruling recently that the MDC should hold an extraordinary congress using the party’s 2014 structures to choose new leadership for the party.
The ruling followed an application by a party official from Gokwe who had challenged Chamisa’s elevation as leader of the party.
While a rival faction led by Thokozani Khupe (MDC-T) welcomed the ruling with jubilation, notwithstanding the fact that it had already held its Congress in 2018, the MDC led by Chamisa has appealed the ruling at the Supreme Court.