Exiled Political Science Professor, Jonathan Moyo, says Douglas Mwonzora’s plot for the MDC-T to contest the 26 March by-elections under the MDC-Alliance banner is null and void at law.
He speaks after Mwonzora on 3 January 2022 wrote to the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) indicating he is president of the MDC-Alliance, based on the pre-2018 election pact which MDC-T was part of.
He also informed the electoral body that other MDC formations should cease using the MDC acronym.
However, in a series of Twitter posts, Moyo who is a former Cabinet Minister said the 2017 MDC-Alliance was not a political party, but an alliance ahead of the 2018 polls. He said:
No one needs to be a lawyer to know that the 2017 MDC-A was not a political party, but a pre2018 election alliance; meant to become a post2018 election coalition govt, had the pre-election alliance won the 2018 poll. The 2017 MDC-A was thus only a pre-2018 election alliance.
Agreements have a duration. The 2017 MDC-A pre-2018 election agreement did not mutate into a post-2018 election coalition government; because the pre-2018 election alliance (MDC-A) did not win the 2018 election. As such, the 2017 pre-election (MDC-A) agreement expired in 2018.
Since 2018, no pre-election alliance agreement has been entered into by @OurMDCT with any party for 2022 by-elections or 2023 elections or any elections. The @OurMDCT cannot use an expired 2018 agreement, which was never renewed, for 2022 by-elections or 2023 elections. No!
Moyo said that the Nelson Chamisa-led party, MDC Alliance, is not connected to the 2017 MDC-A pre-2018 election Agreement nor to any pre-election alliance adding “it’s a political party in its own right formed in 2019 and is entitled to its full rights.”
The rival MDC outfits have been fighting over the control of MDC name, symbols and assets and the matter spilt into the courts.
The Supreme Court judgment of 31 March 2020 in the Mashavira case on the MDC leadership crisis ruled that MDC-A was not a party.