Less than two months before the general election, the National Patriotic Front - which has strong links to former president Robert Mugabe and his wife Grace - is on the verge of a split.
The party's troubles are linked to disagreements among senior members on whether or not it should join the MDC Alliance led by Nelson Chamisa, president of MDC-T. The seven-party alliance is tipped to be the strongest of several opposition groupings planning to take on Zanu-PF's President Emmerson Mnangagwa at the July 30 polls.
The falling out in the NPF came to a head on Friday when party spokesman Jealousy Mawarire and chairwoman Eunice Sandi Moyo said founder and interim leader Ambrose Mutinhiri had been fired.
"He did not want to work with us. He wanted to set up his own parallel structures but we could not allow that," Moyo told a news conference. "He does not attend meetings. We send him communication, but he does not reply. We do not know whether he had come to destabilise us or what."
Moyo said she would be acting leader, but Mutinhiri had refused to step down.
Mawarire said yesterday: "Our constitution is very clear that we do not have permanent leaders but just transitional ones until the convention. Mutinhiri was an interim leader who was relieved of his duties and cannot call for a convention because our constitution states that the only person who can call for that is the chairperson.
"He remains fired and we agreed that the convention is held with card-carrying members, so all we have for now are just supporters who cannot decide the way forward for the party."
ANNOUNCEMENT DUE
An announcement on whether the NPF will join the MDC Alliance is expected tomorrow.
The NPF's presence at a march on Tuesday organised by the MDC-T fuelled speculation that it would join the alliance. But in an interview yesterday, Chamisa said the deal was not yet done.
"We have no agreement with the NPF and at the moment we are not concentrating on sideshows. We are focused, and whatever is happening in other parties is not our cause for concern," he said.
MDC-T insiders said the NPF had approached Chamisa in the hope that it would be allocated seats in the MDC Alliance. "They wanted to solicit seats allocated to MDC-T, so he advised them to discuss [the matter] with the party chairman, Morgan Komichi," said one source."It is through such discussions that the issue of the vice-presidency was raised. But it was not resolved because the NPF is fighting over who should lead their party - among Grace [Mugabe], [former Zanu-PF minister] Saviour Kasukuwere and Mutinhiri."
However, an NPF insider said Grace and her husband were only funders of the NPF and she was not eyeing a position in the party or in the MDC Alliance.
"When the party was started it was agreed that she should stay away from politics because she is toxic. To say she wants to be active is a lie that will benefit the ruling party because there will be propaganda that 'the troublesome woman' is back. This is clearly to cause a rift in the party's decision to join the coalition," the source said.
CONSULTATIVE COMMITTEE
Mutinhiri insisted he was still in charge and accused Moyo and other senior party members of trying to negotiate for Grace's political return and a place in the MDC Alliance.
"There have been alliances here and there. Political parties are coming together with a view of winning the election, and NPF is open to joining any of those alliances, but we have not taken any move towards that," Mutinhiri said.
"There are people who have gone out of their way to chant slogans of those parties, but they have done it on their own and not on behalf of the NPF. Joining an alliance is not a decision that will be taken without consulting other people, and towards that I have organised a national consultative committee meeting, which will see all people from all over our country."
He said he could not be fired by unelected members who joined him when he formed the party...