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— amid reports that he has always been a member of MDC-T and filed his nomination papers to contest the Chipinge Central National Assembly seat on that party’s ticket.
MDC-T, Mavambo/Kusile/Dawn and Mr Semwayo — who claimed to be representing Zanu Ndonga — entered into a coalition, but Zanu Ndonga president Mr Wilson Khumbula disowned Mr Semwayo whom he said never held any position in the party and the closest he had come to Zanu Ndonga was being employed as a driver by Reverend Ndabaningi Sithole and subsequently his brother Professor Masipula Sithole.
A look at the Extraordinary Government Gazette published on July 5 General Notice 362 of 2013 shows Mr Semwayo was listed as an MDC-T candidate for Chipinge Central where he faces Ms Dorothy Mabika (independent), Raymore Machingura (Zanu-PF) and Miriam Matengure of MDC.
The Nomination Court sat on the 28th of last month while the “grand coalition” was announced on Monday.
Efforts to get comment from Mr Semwayo were fruitless yesterday as he claimed to be driving before switching off his phone.
A source close to the developments said the Semwayo issue was already posing headaches for MDC-T leader Mr Morgan Tsvangirai who now realises he had entered into an alliance with his party’s parliamentary candidate.
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The list of successful candidates to contest the July 31 polls was published by Zimbabwe Electoral Commission chief elections officer Mr Lovemore Sekeramayi.
The General Notice also shows that 11 Zanu Ndonga candidates are contesting the polls with party leader Mr Wilson Khumbula standing on his party ticket in Chipinge South.
Efforts to get a comment from Mr Semwayo proved fruitless yesterday as he immediately switched off his cellphone when asked about his party status when he filed his nomination papers with ZEC.
Last week Mr Khumbula disowned Mr Semwayo saying he was merely a former driver to the late Ndabaningi Sithole.
“That Semwayo has never held any rank in the party, Zanu Ndonga. He was just one of Reverend Sithole’s drivers. He was sacked after stealing money from one of the party members. After the death of Rev Sithole, he went and worked for the late Professor Masipula Sithole again as a driver.
“Mr Semwayo is trying to trade the party for a position in MDC-T. He is aware that most of Sithole and Zanu Ndonga’s supporters came from Chipinge and is using the name of the party to seek relevance,” he said.
Mr Khumbula also said his party had no intention of entering into any coalition with anyone.
MDC-T spokesperson Mr Douglas Mwonzora said there was nothing wrong with Mr Semwayo standing as a candidate for the MDC-T.
“A coalition is not formed on the date that it is announced. The coalition was formed earlier than that. There is also nothing wrong for a coalition partner to contest under the banner of another partner,” he said.
Mr Mwonzora said because figures for party candidates would be used to determine seats for women under proportional representation and selection of Senate it made sense for Mr Semwayo to contest under the MDC-T.
On why Dr Makoni had retained the identity of his party he said: “The agreement with him was reached at a later date after the nomination courts had sat.”
MKD’s leader Dr Simba Makoni registered to contest Makoni Central on his party’s ticket while Mr Tsvangirai is contesting the presidential election as the MDC-T frontman and ‘’coalition’’ leader.
The MDC-T has been scrambling for partners to contest Zanu PF and President Mugabe after a number of opinion polls and its former allies predicted a victory for Zanu-PF in the harmonised elections.
Efforts by the MDC-T to reach an alliance with MDC and Zapu also failed dismally after the two entered into their own union in Matabeleland.
Online Reporter