A press conference organized by former MDC chairperson Senator Morgen Komichi was disrupted by a group of party thugs allegedly aligned to MDC President Douglas Mwonzora.
The incident occurred at a venue separate from the party headquarters, and the thugs claimed that Komichi should have held the conference at Harvest House, the party’s official premises.
The press conference, which had just concluded, was disrupted during the question-and-answer session when an activist identified as Boas Manganiso abruptly interrupted Komichi.
Manganiso accused the former chairperson of attempting to exploit the name of the late founding president, Morgan Tsvangirai, to advance his personal agenda.
“You are a member of the standing committee and you presided over the party’s congress and today you come here to hold this press conference not at party headquarters. You garnered three votes at the congress and today you take advantage of the absence of president Mwonzora who is in the UK to announce you are the interim leader of the party. If you are genuine with what you are doing and as a member of the standing committee why not go and conduct the press conference at our party headquarters. You do not have followers with you,” said Manganiso.
Amidst the commotion caused by Manganiso’s interruption, another unidentified activist started heckling Komichi, accusing him of holding an illegal press conference.
As tensions in the room escalated, a calm and collected Komichi stood up to address journalist on the chaos that was happening.
“I came here to address journalists, I never said Senator Douglas Mwonzora, Engineer Elias Mudzuri or Advocate Nelson Chamisa. I only wanted to speak to the press about my thinking on opposition politics,” said Komichi before leaving the room.
Komichi becomes the latest member of the MDC family after Dr. Thokozani Khupe in Bulawayo and Kudzanai Mashumba in Harare to have their press conferences disrupted by MDC activists.
Mashumba was assaulted and has opened an assault case against MDC secretary for youth Yvonne Musarurwa.
