Mwonzora announces 5 March 2022 MDC-T ordinary congress date

By Douglas Togaraseyi Mwonzora

On the 26th of November, 2020, the National Council of the MDC-T resolved that its long overdue Ordinary Congress should be held on the 5th of March, 2022. The Congress would be preceded with Congresses at branch, ward, district and provincial levels. In terms of the party constitution at all these levels all the leaders would be elected by clearly defined electoral colleges. The people designated to oversee and conduct the congresses are also defined in the constitution. Branch congresses will be supervised and overseen by the Ward Executive Committees. Ward Congresses will supervised and overseen by District Executive Committees while the district congresses will be supervised and overseen by the Provincial Executive Committees. Provincial Congresses will be supervised and overseen by the National Executive. The National Congress of the MDC-T, however will be run by an Independent Election Management Board appointed by the National Council of the party.

It can be seen from the foregoing that the party has entrenched the principles of democracy, fairness and accountability in conducting its internal elections. Further, the constitution allows people aggrieved by any of the congress processes the right to appeal. These appeals will be expedited and remedies given in the case of successful appeals.What is important also is that the constitution provides that members of the party have a right to vote and to stand for office. The right to stand for office however is not absolute and depends on the period that one has stayed in the party continuously. For example one cannot stand for any position within the National Standing Committee unless they have been in the party for a continuous period of 5 years.

The MDC-T congress is held every five years. However, there have been instances where the congress was held before the expiry of 5 years. For example, a result of the split of 2005, the party had to hold a congress in 2006 before the expiry of five years. However, the next congress was held in April 2011 after the expiry of 5 years. The party was forced to hold another congress in October, 2014 before the expiry of 5 years due to the split precipitated by Tendai Biti and his colleagues in April, that year. The next congress would have been due in October, 2019. In order to frustrate the Supreme Court challenge that had been brought against him, Nelson Chamisa who was leader of the MDC-T then brought forward the congress to May 2019.

The leadership of Nelson Chamisa however, was nullified by the Supreme Court in March, 2020. The Court went on to order the party to hold its Extraordinary Congress for purposes of electing a substantive president to replace Morgan Tsvangirai. The same court went on to reinstate the leadership that had been elected at the 2014 congress and extend their term of office to enable them to convene the Extraordinary Congress. The holding of this congress was delayed due to the Covid 19 pandemic. Eventually the Extraordinary Congress was convened on the 27th of December, 2020 and a substantive president of the party was elected.

In terms of the constitution, it is the duty of the substantive president of the party to convene the congress. However, for most of 2021, Zimbabwe was largely under lockdown and no congress could be convened. The party found itself in an invidious position where all its top leaders were people last elected in 2014. The only exception is the president who was elected in December, 2020.

As soon as Covid 19 situation eased, the National Standing Committee directed the Elections Directorate to come up with a democratic roadmap to the ordinary congress. This is the roadmap that was approved by the National Council on the 26th of November, 2021.
An argument has arisen that the time limits provided in the constitution has to be adhered to. Those who advance this argument want the Ordinary Congress delayed to November 2022. However in terms of the constitution, the congress itself may condone departure from certain timelines if such departure is reasonable. It is submitted that the departure directed by the National Council is very reasonable. First, all the senior leaders running the party with the exception of the president were last elected in November, 2014. Their re-election or the renewal of their mandate is now overdue. It is not desirable that the party runs with only one elected official, in this case, the president. Second, the party has to prepare adequately for the 2023 elections. The sooner it dispenses with internal processes the better. Third, the person who is going to emerge president at the ordinary congress is automatically the party’s presidential candidate for 2023. The early holding of the ordinary congress will give him or her time to prepare for the crucial election. He or she must be introduced to the electorate as soon as possible. Delaying the congress to November, 2022 not only constricts time for the party’s presidential candidate but will keep the party is internally focused for the whole year.

There are crucial issues that the congress has to deal with besides electing individual office bearers. These include amendments to the constitution. It is critical that the MDC-T constitution moves with the times. Already we have adopted a new philosophy that the youth are leaders of today and not leaders of tomorrow. The constitution must now codify youth representation in all the national elected positions. Further, the issue of women representation remains basically aspirational. The MDC-T should now move to make it compulsory that in the selection of all candidates we should adhere to the 50:50 gender principle. The congress will also deal with appeals against dismissal of some people. This has to be expedited if justice is to prevail. One of the issues that the congress will deal with is the use of party funds during the period that the leadership was in charge. This is critical for accountability and financial probity. It has to be accepted that in the run up to the Extraordinary Congress in December, 2020 they were accusations and counter accusations of financial abuse within the party. The congress will be able to get the necessary reports and assess for itself that party finances have or have not been put to good use. Lastly, the congress will deal with the democratic election of the very top leadership of the party. There is no need to delay this democracy at all.

It is the duty of congress to approve party policies. Already some party wings have proposed policy changes within the party. For example, recently our National Youth Assembly came up with the Youth Policy Handbook, while the National Women’s Assembly has made various policy proposals. The developments within the party following the death of Dr. Tsvangirai included damaging changes in the ideological outlook of the party. It is critical that the ideology of the party be reasserted and adhered to.

The party has since the Supreme Court ruling and the resultant extraordinary congress adopted dialogue as the mainstay to Zimbabwe’s political, economic and social revival. This has to be formally approved by congress. Contrary to what some people have said, the aim of this congress is not to get rid of some leaders. Rather, it is to consolidate party unity, cohesion and competence. In the run up to congress, there will be a lot of horse trading and dialogue among the various leaders. This is good for our democracy.