The MDC Alliance’s Bulawayo province has dismissed claims that its members had defected to ZANU PF in large numbers, saying the reports are part of a strategy to rig the 2023 elections.
Speaking in an interview with NewsDay on Thursday, MDC Alliance Bulawayo spokesperson Swithern Chirowodza said:
We believe that the claims of wholesale defection by MDC Alliance members to ZANU PF are part of the preparations to rig the 2023 elections and to then use such fallacious stories as a plausible rationale for rigging.
So yes, ZANU PF is perfectly entitled to have its own fantasies and to believe its own lies. There are just no MDC Alliance defections to ZANU PF.
This comes after ZANU PF Bulawayo province on Sunday claimed that over 50 former MDC Alliance members, mostly youth had defected to the ruling party.
The new recruits were paraded during a meeting held at the party’s Davies Hall provincial offices.
Meanwhile, ZANU PF interim provincial deputy chairperson Mnothisi Nsingo yesterday said the defections were a confirmation that the ruling party’s recruitment drive was paying dividends. Nsingo said:
What that means is that people have realised that they have been following lies all along.
It is a sign that people are appreciating all that is being done under the leadership of our party, and obviously, it shows that the party is growing.
We are restructuring the party. We are busy on the ground creating new cells where we are saying anyone who is free can come and join ZANU PF, without any conditions.