Battle for offices and vehicles grinds MDC operations to a halt

By Lance Guma
16 November 2005

Zimbabwe’s opposition edged closer to a final split when the Secretary General Welshman Ncube issued a directive for all party vehicles and stationery to be brought to the Bulawayo regional offices. Sources in the party say the directive was issued last week Thursday but only officials loyal to Ncube complied. Information Officer Maxwell Zimuto, Sylvester Qoma Majekuza in the organizing department and other officials sent their cars to Bulawayo even though they are based in Harare.

Most of the vehicles have been parked at the regional offices at 15th Avenue and Herbert Street while the remainder taken to the provincial offices at 2nd Avenue and Jason Moyo streets. Zimuto however quickly moved in to deny the handover saying the car was never his in the first place. The Mazda 323 in question was always part of Ncube’s security entourage and had been handed over at the Secretary General’s Harare home. The same car initially was being used by Nkanyiso Maqeda in the information department before he left for the United Kingdom.

The MDC headquarters at Harvest house meanwhile has become a no-go area for all those considered pro-senate sympathizers. Officials like Zimuto, Majekuza and a lady in the information department known as Christine have stopped entering the offices. While they commute to work everyday they are not getting inside Harvest House and seem to carry out their duties via mobile phones. Meanwhile at the Bulawayo offices, all pro-Tsvangirai officials are being hounded out of their positions and replaced with those considered loyal.

At the party’s Gweru’s provincial offices all Ncube sympathizers were chased away and the vehicles the officials had intended to take to Bulawayo seized. An employee with the party says operations have ground to a halt. People employed in particular positions have been uprooted depending on whom they support and a lot of re-organization is taking place.