Douglas Mwonzora

School / Education

Secondary: Goromonzi High School.
Tertiary: University of Zimbabwe.

Service/Career

In the 2013 Elections, (see A History of Zimbabwean Elections) Nyanga North returned to Parliament:

• Hubert Nyanhongo of Zanu PF with 10 840 votes or 57.58 percent,
• Douglas Mwonzora of MDC–T with 7 985 votes or 42.42 percent,

Total 18 825 votes

During the controversial 2013 elections, Mwonzora lost his parliamentary seat to a Zanu-PF candidate. He, however, contested the results arguing that there were a lot of irregularities which took place. He argued that the voters' roll, especially in his constituency, did not reflect the number of people registered to vote in the constituency. His pursuit for transparency failed to yield results as the constitutional court threw out his application.

Events

The GNU Era

Mwonzora became more famous in the Zimbabwean political fraternity after the controversial elections in 2008 which did not yield a clear winner. This resulted in a series of negotiations and confrontations between the ruling Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front (Zanu PF) led by Robert Mugabe and the Movement for Democratic Change led by Morgan Tsvangirai as well as the Arthur Mutambara MDC faction. ^[3]

Douglas Mwonzora who was the spokesperson of the MDC-T party during this period was on the forefront of denouncing the Robert Mugabe led government for rigging the elections. He was also instrumental in the negotiations which subsequently followed after the controversial elections.

In the Negotiating Team

The MDC party's negotiating team included its president Morgan Tsvangirai, Tendai Biti the then Secretary-General, Thokozani Khupe as the vice president and Nelson Chamisa as the National Organising Secretary among others. Mwonzora's position automatically puts him at the forefront since he was the voice of the party in the negotiations which were mediated by former president Thabo Mbeki of South Africa who was later replaced by successor Jacob Zuma. Not only did he claim fame in the local media but also in the international media as the political impasse in Zimbabwe attracted international attention, especially from the west and the eastern countries.

As COPAC Co-Chair

Mwonzora was appointed by his MDC party to represent the party in the constitution-making process which began after the formation of the Government of National Unity in 2009. Douglas Mwonzora together with Paul Mangwana of ZANU PF has been credited for coming up with the country's first constitution after independence.

Boot-licking Allegations

Prior to the 2014 elective congress, Mwonzora was accused of boot-licking the party president Morgan Tsvangirai. He did not oppose Tsvangirai's move to centralize power. This move had been seriously opposed by some senior party members such as Chamisa. It is also speculated that Mwonzora's good relations with the former Prime Minister assisted his election to the position of the Secretary-General of the party. ^[4].

Elevation in the Party

Mwonzora unexpectedly beat his colleague in the party Nelson Chamisa in the 2014 elective congress held in Harare. Nelson Chamisa, who was the Kuwadzana member of Parliament, was contesting for the position of the Secretary-General which was left vacant after the departure of Tendai Biti who formed a new political party. ^[5]

Mwonzora, who until the elective congress was the party's secretary for information, amassed 2 464 votes against Chamisa's 1 756. ^[6]

Mwonzora only had a single nomination from his Manicaland home province against Chamisa's 11. But he carried on until his surprise victory over Chamisa, who then became an ordinary member of the party. ^[6]

Factionalism after the death of Morgan Tsvangirai

• Chamisa was appointed acting president as Elias Mudzuri and Thokozani Khupe were in South Africa where they were engaged in coalition talks with other opposition parties.
• MDC-T vice president Thokozani Khupe contested Morgan Tsvangirai’s appointment of Nelson Chamisa as the party’s acting president saying that it is unconstitutional
• Obert Gutu dismissed Nelson Chamisa’s appointment as the party’s acting president taking over from Elias Mudzuri.
• Thokozani Khupe, Elias Mudzuri and Nelson Chamisa all claimed to be the rightful acting president in the absence of veteran party leader Morgan Tsvangirai who was undergoing treatment in South Africa.
• Morgan Tsvangirai’s family broke its silence over the succession race in the MDC-T. They dismissed Luke Tamborinyoka’s statement appointing Nelson Chamisa as MDC-T acting president until their father’s return from South Africa where he was receiving treatment for colon cancer.
• MDC-T deputy president Elias Mudzuri (EM) said his colleague Nelson Chamisa lied that he spoke to ailing leader Morgan Tsvangirai who was in South Africa receiving treatment.
• MDC-T Deputy Nelson Chamisa insisted that he was appointed the party’s acting president by ailing leader Morgan Tsvangirai who was in South Africa where he was receiving treatment.
• Chamisa said that while he respected the Tsvangirais, the family was not the party and was not privy to internal party communication.
• MDC-T youth Chairperson Happymore Chidziva gave the opposition party’s two Vice Presidents Nelson Chamisa and Elias Mudzuri 48 hours to deal with the factional fights that threatened to derail the party’s election campaign.
• The party’s co-vice presidents Elias Mudzuri and Thokozani Khupe boycotted a standing committee meeting convened by Nelson Chamisa. The party’s national chairman Mr Lovemore Moyo also boycotted the meeting.
• Elias Mudzuri and Nelson Chamisa called for separate meetings at two different locations. At a time when many it was expected that the two would be united as they mourned their former principal, Morgan Tsvangirai.
• Chamisa was appointed as the Acting President by the party’s national council although the two other vice presidents did not attend the meeting. Chamisa claimed that Mudzuri did not attend the meeting despite being notified while Khupe was still on her way to Harare.
• MDC-T Vice President Thokozani Khupe accused her counterpart Nelson Chamisa of being power-hungry and staging a coup.
• Lydia Tsvangirai, the mother of the late former Prime Minister and opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai declared that she did not want to see her son’s widow Elizabeth Macheka and MDC-T Acting President Nelson Chamisa at her son’s burial.
• MDC-T secretary-general Douglas Mwonzora said that his party violated its own constitution by electing Nelson Chamisa as the acting president of the party, a day after the death of Morgan Tsvangirai.
• According to Welshman Ncube, Tsvangirai chose Chamisa to take over from him after his eventual death.
• The late Morgan Tsvangirai’s youngest son Richard endorsed MDC-T acting president Nelson Chamisa as the successor to his father.
• Mwonzora was chased away at Tsvangirai's burial in Buhera and had to leave under police escort.

Competing Against Chamisa At 2019 Congress

In early 2019, reports in the press and on social media began suggesting that Mwonzora intended to contest for the presidency of the MDC Alliance against sitting party president Nelson Chamisa at the May 2019 congress. Mwonzora himself was mostly silent to the suggestions. Commenting on the contestation of positions in the party, Chamisa said at a Gweru rally in February 2019 that all positions were open for contestation.

In late February, MDC Deputy President Elias Mudzuri said the opposition party’s elective Congress in May would possibly split the party due to factional fights, as some members strongly believed Mwonzora was not supposed to contest for the presidency.

Around the same time, rumours emerged within the MDC Alliance suggesting that Mwonzora was being influenced by Zanu PF to frustrate Nelson Chamisa's interest in leading the party beyond the congress as well as to cause a possible split. Mwonzora reacted that he had a long history in the opposition and that those suggesting these things just wanted to cause acrimony between him and Chamisa. He said Chamisa and himself respected each other and that their relationship was well.

Mwonzora did not make it clear however if he would contest for the presidency position, choosing instead to maintain that any position was up for contestation and that he was yet to make his mind up about which position he would go for.

MDC-T 2020 Extra Ordinary Congress (EOC)

He was elected MDC-T president after defeating Thokozani Khupe in a disputed party presidential election in which he got almost 1,000 votes on 27 December 2020 at the Harare International Conference Centre.

According to information obtained from election agents of the MDC-T, Mwonzora was leading in a vote count with over 883 votes and Khupe trailing with almost 118 votes. Elias Mudzuri came third with about 14 votes and Morgen Komichi only managed to get nine votes.

Khupe stormed out of the Harare International Conference Center in the evening of voting day alleging widespread vote rigging by Mwonzora. But Mwonzora dismissed these allegations calling for all the candidates and party activists to be calm.

“What I know is that today the party will have a new president,” he said.

About 1 028 ballot papers were issued to voters attending the MDC-T Extraordinary Congress. There were at least two spoilt ballot papers.

Khupe told reporters in Harare that she had suspended Mwonzora for allegedly rigging the party's election and for gross financial mismanagement. ^[7]

Nomination Court June 2023

The nomination court on 21 June 2023 produced eleven presidential candidates for the August elections.^[8] They are:

• Joseph Busha (Free Zim Congress),
• Nelson Chamisa (CCC),
• Trust Chikohora (ZCPD),
• Blessing Kasiyamhuru (ZIPP),
• Saviour Kasukuwere (Independent),
• Lovemore Madhuku (NCA),
• Emmerson Mnangagwa (ZANU PF),
• Wilbert Mubaiwa (NPC),
• Gwinyai Henry Muzorewa (UANC),
• Douglas Mwonzora (MDC),
• Harry Peter Wilson (DOP).

Elisabeth Valerio Duly Nominated

On 16 August 2023, ZEC chief elections officer, Utloile Silaigwana said: following an order of the Electoral Court sitting in Harare, issued on 19 July 2023, Ms. Elisabeth Isabel Valerio, a candidate sponsored by the United Zimbabwe Alliance (UZA) party, is hereby declared a duly nominated Presidential candidate. The other aspiring presidential candidates, Saviour Kasukuwere and Linda Masarira’s appeals were rejected by the courts. Her nomination papers were rejected despite providing bank-stamped proof of her request to initiate a ZWL transfer of funds to the ZEC bank account for the required nomination fees equivalent to US$ 20,000. The other candidates are Emmerson Mnangagwa of Zanu PF, Joseph Makamba Busha of Free Zim Congress, Nelson Chamisa of CCC, Trust Chikohora of ZCPD, Blessing Kasiyamhuru of ZIPP, Lovemore Madhuku of NCA, Wilbert Mubaiwa of NPC, Gwinyai Henry Muzorewa of UANC, Douglas Mwonzora of MDC and Wilson Harry Peter of DOP. ^[9]

Elected As Spokesperson of NERA

Mwonzora was elected as the spokesperson for the National Electoral Reforms Agenda (NERA) in Zimbabwe on January 18, 2024. NERA is a coalition of 25 political parties, including some that did not participate in the 2023 elections. Mwonzora explained that NERA aims to advocate for electoral reforms in the country, given Zimbabwe's history of disputed elections.

References