Exiled former Higher and Tertiary Education Minister Jonathan Moyo has advised the Nelson Chamisa-led MDC Alliance not to change its name as a political party but should find a new coalition name for elections.
Moyo suggested that changing the party’s name will enable Douglas Mwonzora (MDC-T secretary-general) and the Special Anti-corruption Unit (SACU) in President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s office to use the MDC Alliance to “create fictitious crimes” against the party’s leadership. Said Moyo:
The MDC-A should not change its name as a political party. No. That would enable Mwonzora with Mnangagwa’s SACU to use the MDC-A name to create fictitious crimes against his erstwhile colleagues. Rather, since it’s now a party, the MDC-A needs a new coalition name for elections!
This comes after the MDC-T led by Thokozani Khupe announced that its candidates in impending council and parliamentary by-elections will contest under the MDC Alliance.
At the MDC’s 21st anniversary in the capital, Harare, on Saturday, the party’s acting chairperson Morgen Komichi said: “from today, we are the MDC Alliance”. Komichi told supporters:
The Alliance agreement is very clear that its leader is from the MDC and that person is Thokozani Khupe. That’s the name we will use in the upcoming by-elections.