POLICE in Harare allegedly blocked a meeting of MDC-T members at the party’s Morgan Richard Tsvangirai House headquarters, where over 400 people had gathered to discuss leadership restructuring.The move comes amid ongoing power struggles within the party, following a February 2025 Justice Happias Zhou High Court ruling ordering party leader Douglas Mwonzora to step down and facilitate a congress within six months.The ruling cited irregularities in the 2022 MDC-T extraordinary congress, which saw Mwonzora assuming leadership of the party. Speaking on the sidelines of the meeting, which was later halted, MDC-T vice-president Elias Mudzuri said the party had agreed on reconciliation and restructuring with Mwonzora, but the latter refused to sign the agreement.“As bona fide members of the MDC, we decided to come together as one family to resolve these issues,” Mudzuri said. “Continued court battles are not in the party’s best interests. “We have seen membership decline and waning enthusiasm, so a negotiated settlement is the best way forward.”Mudzuri alleged that Mwonzora caused the disruption of the meeting by the police.“The police said they were maintaining order because Mwonzora informed them about our gathering. They advised us to reschedule,” he said.He claimed that while the party had agreed to nullify the disputed 2022 congress and adopt a “let bygones be bygones” approach to foster unity, Mwonzora refused to sign the agreement because “he still wants power”.Mudzuri emphasised that members, not individuals, hold ultimate authority in the party. A joint monitoring and implementation committee will oversee the transitional process, comprising negotiators from both factions. Mwonzora, who boycotted the 2023 elections calling them a “sham”, has been accused of collaborating with Zanu PF to destabilise the opposition since seizing the leadership of the MDC Alliance from former party leader Nelson Chamisa.
