Torture victim elected new MDC-UK chairman

By Tichaona Sibanda
11 September 2006

Ephraim Tapa, a former general council member of the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions was on Saturday elected as the new chairman of the MDC-UK province.

The 44 year-old former trade unionist nearly lost his life during the 2002 presidential elections. He was severely tortured and left for dead in Mutoko for distributing campaign fliers for party leader Morgan Tsvangirai. He will be at the helm of the UK province for the next five years.

The soft spoken Tapa beat pre-election favourite Sakile Mtombeni, by 119 votes to 70 in an election supervised by national party chairman Isaac Matongo in Oxford. Matongo was assisted in overseeing the elections by youth assembly chairperson Tamsanqa Mahlangu and Grace Kwinjeh, deputy secretary for International Affairs.

Speaking to Newsreel on Monday, Tapa said immediate challenges facing his new executive will be to complete the restructuring of all branches in the UK before embarking on a massive membership drive.

‘Our next stage after that will be looking at operational procedures as we have none at all in the UK. We need to have an office that functions all year round to look at our affairs here, an office that links our activities with those of the party headquarters in Harare,’ Tapa said.

National chairman Isaac Matongo emphasised just before the elections that unity among party activists was the most important weapon in fighting the Zanu (PF) regime, which he described as an entity fighting a losing battle.

Matthew Nyashanu was the sole survivor from the old executive to retain his post of secretary for Information and Publicity after he beat rival Liberty Mpakati in a closely contested fight. Nyashanu garnered 120 votes while Mpakati had 104.

Other executive members elected were Rodwell Mpungu (vice-chairman), Julius Mutyambizi (secretary), Virginia Ncube (vice-secretary), Mary Kasirowore (treasurer) Jaison Matewu (organising secretary) and Adella Chiminya (chair-women’s assembly)