Clemence Manyukwe Political Editor A TRIBUNAL constituted by the MDC renewal team has expelled opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai for fome...
Clemence Manyukwe Political Editor
A TRIBUNAL constituted by the MDC renewal team has expelled opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai for fomenting divisions and bringing the party into disrepute.
MDC renewal team spokesperson Jacob Mafume yesterday confirmed the action on Tsvangirai, who stood accused of failing to provide “competent leadership” and acting in a manner detrimental to the party’s objectives, among other charges that were preferred against him by the faction led by Tendai Biti.
Also expelled was the opposition party’s national chairman Lovemore Moyo.
“Yes, he (Tsvangirai) has been expelled. He did not turn up for the hearing, the judgment was handed out,” said Mafume.
The decision is in apparent defiance of a High Court order that was delivered on Friday barring the renewal team from implementing the resolution of the Mandel Training Centre meeting of April 26 to try Tsvangirai after his loyalists approached the courts on Thursday.
High Court judge Happious Zhou on Friday ruled that Tsvangirai’s rivals or “any other persons claiming through them or acting on their instruction were interdicted from proceeding with any disciplinary proceedings against him”.
However, Mafume said the tribunal headed by Harare lawyer Gift Nyandoro, with Tafadzwa Mugabe and Edwin Hamunakwadi as the other members was not in contempt of court as it delivered the judgment expelling Tsvangirai on Friday, and had not been asked to be part of proceedings at the High Court.
“The judgment was entered before the High Court ruling. It was an independent tribunal and it delivered its judgment at 10AM,” said Mafume.
The judgment accused Tsvangirai of championing violence and at being at the centre of divisions in the MDC-T.
“It is our respectful finding that the misdemeanours committed are so gross and that the only punishment that meets the same is that of expulsion,” said the tribunal in its judgment.
The tribunal said it was cognisant of the “brave role” Tsvangirai played including being incarcerated as an opposition politician but added that he had become “a liability to the democratic struggle in Zimbabwe.”
“From our findings above we are satisfied, on the fact provided before us that the respondent (Tsvangirai) has committed serious misdemeanours. We have no doubt in our minds that he failed to uphold the constitution of the MDC, he failed to lead the party, has brought the party into disrepute,” read the judgment.
MDC-T Harare province spokesperson Obert Gutu yesterday described the tribunal as a kangaroo gathering.
“The purported expulsion is indeed, a delusional exercise in futility. Biti and his group are on public record stating, unequivocally, they are forming their own Orange party. The last time I checked Morgan Tsvangirai is a member of the MDC-T and certainly, not a member of Biti’s Orange party,” said Gutu
“Little wonder, the Honourable Justice Zhou found it that Biti and his Orange party cannot proceed with the purported disciplinary hearing before the courts conclusively decide on the validity or lack of it of the Mandel Training Centre kangaroo gathering.”
A TRIBUNAL constituted by the MDC renewal team has expelled opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai for fomenting divisions and bringing the party into disrepute.
MDC renewal team spokesperson Jacob Mafume yesterday confirmed the action on Tsvangirai, who stood accused of failing to provide “competent leadership” and acting in a manner detrimental to the party’s objectives, among other charges that were preferred against him by the faction led by Tendai Biti.
Also expelled was the opposition party’s national chairman Lovemore Moyo.
“Yes, he (Tsvangirai) has been expelled. He did not turn up for the hearing, the judgment was handed out,” said Mafume.
The decision is in apparent defiance of a High Court order that was delivered on Friday barring the renewal team from implementing the resolution of the Mandel Training Centre meeting of April 26 to try Tsvangirai after his loyalists approached the courts on Thursday.
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| MDC Biti fires Tsvangirai, Moyo |
However, Mafume said the tribunal headed by Harare lawyer Gift Nyandoro, with Tafadzwa Mugabe and Edwin Hamunakwadi as the other members was not in contempt of court as it delivered the judgment expelling Tsvangirai on Friday, and had not been asked to be part of proceedings at the High Court.
“The judgment was entered before the High Court ruling. It was an independent tribunal and it delivered its judgment at 10AM,” said Mafume.
The judgment accused Tsvangirai of championing violence and at being at the centre of divisions in the MDC-T.
“It is our respectful finding that the misdemeanours committed are so gross and that the only punishment that meets the same is that of expulsion,” said the tribunal in its judgment.
The tribunal said it was cognisant of the “brave role” Tsvangirai played including being incarcerated as an opposition politician but added that he had become “a liability to the democratic struggle in Zimbabwe.”
“From our findings above we are satisfied, on the fact provided before us that the respondent (Tsvangirai) has committed serious misdemeanours. We have no doubt in our minds that he failed to uphold the constitution of the MDC, he failed to lead the party, has brought the party into disrepute,” read the judgment.
MDC-T Harare province spokesperson Obert Gutu yesterday described the tribunal as a kangaroo gathering.
“The purported expulsion is indeed, a delusional exercise in futility. Biti and his group are on public record stating, unequivocally, they are forming their own Orange party. The last time I checked Morgan Tsvangirai is a member of the MDC-T and certainly, not a member of Biti’s Orange party,” said Gutu
“Little wonder, the Honourable Justice Zhou found it that Biti and his Orange party cannot proceed with the purported disciplinary hearing before the courts conclusively decide on the validity or lack of it of the Mandel Training Centre kangaroo gathering.”
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