PRESS STATEMENT
The Movement for Democratic Change (MDCT) wishes to applaud the decision by the High Court, whose net effect is that we are a legitimate body with full rights and responsibilities as an entity under the name, logos and symbols that we present ourselves with.
In light of the High Court judgment, our party has written to the Ministry of Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs as we lay claim to our potion of the government disbursements to political parties which had been improperly allocated to the Chamisa group. We had advised this Ministry of the possibility of the dilemma they have gotten themselves into in our letter of the 16th of April 2018.
High Court Judge, Honourable Justice Francis Bere, made a pronouncement on three consecutive applications which had been thrown at us by our erstwhile colleagues from the runaway bandwagon led by Advocate Nelson Chamisa.
Firstly, they challenged our use of the MDC-T name, logos and symbols. They were unsuccessful and were ordered to pay us the costs for their challenge.
Secondly, they desperately tried to stop the extraordinary congress from taking place and their court application was rejected for lack of merit.
Thirdly, they sought to blow holes into our response to their case through an ex parte court application which was based on our constitutional court challenge evidence. Again this application was thrown out for lacking proper legal feet to stand on.
Our erstwhile colleagues have reacted badly to these three consecutive losses on the cases they had initiated themselves at the High Court. They have not only officially bad mouthed the Honourable Justice Francis Bere but have labelled us with all sorts of unprintable words and created conspiracy theories plucked from thin air.
What we find very revealing about their immature backlash on the outcome of a court case which they initiated, is that they are sore losers who harbour questionable motives on why they went to the courts in the first place. Theirs is a case of sour grapes which goes further to reveal that our erstwhile colleagues prefer mobocracy over the legality and would not hesitate to pour scorn on any legal and constitutional settlement of disputes. They are definitely not to be trusted with more power if their reaction to these three cases is anything to go by. They have shown themselves to have absolutely no appetite for any outcome from any legitimate, constitutional, and democratic institution. They are as afraid of legality and constitutionalism as much as they are afraid of Congress and democracy.
As the legitimate and constitutionally standing leadership and people of the Movement for Democratic Change, we wish to make it known that we will continue to sanitise our party in order to restore it to the original great and glorious movement they have come to love and support, whose legacy boarders around constitutionalism, democracy, and non-violence as the pivots for creating a thriving developmental state for Zimbabwean citizens. It is on these pivots that we are in this election to win it for a better life for all the people of Zimbabwe, with The Honourable Dr. Thokozani Khupe as President of Zimbabwe.
Linda Tsungirirai Masarira
MDCT National Spokesperson
