Chamisa-MDC vets in meeting spat

via Chamisa-MDC vets in meeting spat 29 June 2014

MDC-T SECURITY in Bulawayo was Saturday called to restrain an angry member of the controversial MDC-T Veterans Activists Association (MDC-VAA) who came close to assaulting Nelson Chamisa after the youthful party official had disowned the militant group.

Chamisa, who is party national organising secretary, had travelled to Bulawayo to preside over a party’s restructuring meeting ahead of the MDC-T’s elective congress in October this year.

All went well until a member of the MDC-VAA asked Chamisa what the party had in store for them to which the MP said he did not know of such party organ.

An MDC-T activist who witnessed the incident said Chamisa went on to describe the party grouping as “rubbish”.

That did not go down well with one Samuel Maponde who sprang from his seat and started charging towards the top table where Chamisa sat while addressing the hundreds of party activists.

“He was boiling with anger, threatening to clap him saying ‘who are you; I will beat you up’,” said the witness.

Chamisa, it is said, kept his cool and remained on his seat, leaving the rest to security who grabbed and threw the seething party activist outside the Bulawayo party premises, venue for the meeting.

Reached for comment, Maponde said he had no intentions of beating up “that boy” but was genuinely justified in expressing his anger over Chamisa’s contemptuous thoughts of the MDC veterans.

“He is not our enemy but what we did not like was for him to come all the way from Harare to attack the victims of MDC,” Maponde said.

He said they were bitter the MDC victims of Zanu PF’s brutality who operated under the controversial name were being disowned by Chamisa.

He insisted the MDC-VAA were founder members of the MDC who bear the scars of Zanu PF brutality and were the opposition’s “vanguard”.

He vowed together with other members to stage a bigger fight in the group’s interests within MDC-T.

Maponde said Chamisa, for all his education, must not be scared by the word, veterans as it was a harmless dictionary term that could apply to any professionals.

Maponde was assisted in his comments by Victor Zunza, who is the chairman of the MDC-VAA.

“He is a toddler in that game. If he wants to be the secretary general of the party, he has now touched the wrong side of the burning wood,” Zunza said.

“He is a learner; he must learn not to attack the people who started the party, we did not form this party for Chamisa and others to raise money or to become bosses. They are our servants. We gave that Chamisa a job to become organising secretary not our boss.”

The veterans vowed support for party leader Morgan Tsvangirai and targeted their anger on Chamisa.

Chamisa on his part was adamant there was no such organ in the party.

He told NewZimbabwe.com he had gone to listen to the concerns of the Bulawayo leadership and was met with a barrage of questions some of which related to the legitimacy of the MDC-VAA which was reportedly demanding for positions in the party structures.

“I only clarified to say number one, we have no veterans association because its not contemplated in the constitution; number two, it’s not a position of the leadership; number three, hapana veteran to talk
about because the struggle is not over; number four, its divisive and destructive to start labelling others because ultimately you end up condemning others who may not qualify in the so-called category of
veterans in any case.

” It brings an unnecessary and unwarranted culture of entitlement which is the very essence why we formed an alternative.”

Chamisa said he suspected the MDC-VAA was a strategy being pushed by the rival Renewal faction to sow discord in the Tsvangirai led faction.

“I suspect these are being used for manipulation purposes…its actually sponsored by forces that are opposed to the party. When it comes to these associations, l smell a rat and a very big rat for that
matter. I am the cat that smells and catches rats and this rat is obviously uncomfortable as it is just about to be caught.

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