Byo’s MDC-T mayor snubs Tsvangirai

via Byo’s MDC-T mayor snubs Tsvangirai – NewZimbabwe 11 March 2015

MDC-T leader Morgan Tsvangirai come face to face with factional fighting in his party in Bulawayo on Wednesday after the city’s mayor boycotted his meeting with councillors.

Tsvangirai, who was accompanied by his deputy Thokozani Khupe, held a meeting in council chambers with councillors aligned to his party in the morning.

According to the meeting’s programme, the mayor, Martin Moyo, was supposed to brief the ex-prime minister on the state of service delivery in the city but he failed to turn up for the meeting.

When deputy mayor Gift Banda, who was chairing the meeting, asked Tsvangirai to address the councillors, the MDC-T leader insisted that the programme should be delayed until the mayor turned up to brief him and his delegation on the state of service delivery in the city.

However, after waiting for several minutes, the mayor did not turn up, forcing Tsvangirai to proceed and address the meeting.

Party sources told NewZimbabwe.com that Moyo chickened out at the last minute after realizing that the meeting had been organized by a faction royal to Khupe and Banda.

According to party sources, Moyo is aligned to the faction led by Mzilikazi senator, Matson Hlalo.

Early this month, Hlalo won a High Court case in which he was seeking the nullification of the election of Banda as the party’s Bulawayo provincial chairman.

Hlalo, who lost the provincial elections, took Banda, Tsvangirai as well as the party’s national chairperson Lovemore Moyo to court arguing that internal party processes were not followed when Banda was elected.

Meanwhile, speaking at the meeting, Tsvangirai described the city as the best run council in the country.

Tsvangirai said most cities in the country were facing service delivery challenges in areas such water provision.

The MDC-T president is expected to visit some of the city‘s high density suburbs on Thursday.

On Friday, Tsvangirai will hold a breakfast meeting at a local hotel before addressing a rally at Stanley Square.

The former prime minister is visiting local authorities run by his party around the country. Before travelling to Bulawayo, he toured Gweru in the Midlands province.