adminVictor MaphosaCletus Mushanawani
Members of the embattled MDC-Alliance who worked as the party’s polling agents during last year’s harmonised elections besieged the party’s headquarters in Harare on Monday night demanding payment for their services.
They also demanded the dissolution of all the party’s structures.
This comes as the cash-strapped opposition party faces a lawsuit from a Bindura-based company, Ishline Investment Private Limited, which is claiming it is owed US$286 000.
One of the youths camped at the opposition party headquarters said: “We are tired of this leadership for lying to us, we only need them to pay us for hiring us.
“We are not asking for what is not ours, we worked as polling agents last year and up to today we have not received anything. They keep on telling us that the money is there and we are wondering why we are not being paid. We have tried engaging our leaders, but they are not willing to pay us. We appeal to the president (Nelson Chamisa) to pay us and we will leave them alone, but one thing for sure is we will never work for them again, they are dishonest.”
Another MDC Alliance supporter who refused to be identified said they want all the party’s structures to be dissolved before the party congress set for May.
“We are approaching the party congress, all the structures are supposed to be dissolved, but we hear there are some structures which will not be dissolved,” said the supporter.
“We also discovered that there are new individuals occupying certain positions, which will not be contested, we are against that, we want to choose our people not for them to be imposed on us.”
MDC spokesperson Mr Jacob Mafume professed ignorance over the protests.
“I am not even aware that some people protested at Morgan Tsvangirai House, in fact that is not the conduct of our members,” he said in an interview.
“Concerning the issue of polling agents, I am certain that all polling agents are aware of the party status and situation at the moment and in any case most of those agents were working on a voluntary basis.”
In the Bindura company court case, a pre-trial conference presided over by Justice Mary-Zimba Dube was held at the High Court last Friday.
Mr Graciano Chapupu Manyurureni of Manyurureni and Company Legal Practitioners represented Ishline Investment Private Limited, while Mr Innocent Gonese of Gonese and Ndlovu Legal Practitioners represented MDC Alliance.
Both Mr Gonese and Mr Manyurureni confirmed the development in separate interviews yesterday and said they were waiting for the Registrar of the High Court to set a trial date.
Ishline Investment (Pvt) Limited, which is being represented by Mr Ishmael Jeki, claimed that the MDC-T represented by the late Mr Morgan Tsvangirai and Mrs Theresa Makone borrowed US$363 800 from him in 2016 and the party re-paid part of the money into Mr Jeki’s CBZ account in 2016 and 2017.
The company is now claiming the remaining figure.
Online Reporter