SOME top MDC-T officials in Matabeleland, among them national chairman Lovemore Moyo, are reportedly livid over party leader Morgan Tsvangirai’s failure to attend Nkulumane MP Thamsanqa Mahlangu’s burial last Saturday.
BY STAFF REPORTERS
Tsvangirai said he stayed away from the funeral wake to enable the feuding family members to resolve their differences, as Mahlangu’s paternal and maternal relatives fought over control of the burial proceedings.
His deputy, Thokozani Khupe, is alleged to have taken sides with one of the feuding families.
Only three senior MDC-T officials from outside Bulawayo attended Mahlangu’s burial at Lady Stanley Cemetery — Kuwadzana East MP Nelson Chamisa, Mkoba MP Amos Chibaya and MDC-T chief whip Innocent Gonese.
Moyo is said to have registered his displeasure in a WhatsApp chat group of some MDC-T National Standing Committee (NSC)members.
“[I] am deeply concerned, disappointed and ashamed to say the least about the sad events at Hon. Mahlangu’s funeral. Ranging from the party’s active factional involvement in family affairs, to failure by the NSC members to pay their last respects to our hero,” part of the message read.
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“Cdes, now is the time to pause for a while and ask ourselves as leadership of this movement tough questions about the sincerity and commitment to this struggle. We need (to) check whether the party is still on the right direction or it has been hijacked (by) power mongers?”
Moyo said he dissociated himself from the actions of his fellow party leaders, in contradiction to a statement by MDC-T spokesman Obert Gutu.
“We were misled and acted wrongly. Nduna [Mahlangu] deserved to be respected by all of us for his service to the party and the struggle.”
Although Moyo could not be reached for comment yesterday, Gutu dismissed reports that Tsvangirai’s boycott had created tension with the party.
“There are absolutely no fissures within the MDC-T,” he said.
“If anything, the party is more united, more focused and, indeed, stronger than ever before.”
Meanwhile, former Harare mayor Muchadeyi Masunda has urged Buhera South MP Joseph Chinotimba to drop his $500 compensation demand from Mahlangu’s family, saying the debt was no longer legally payable as it was “time-barred”.
Soon after Mahlangu’s death last week, Chinotimba shocked all and sundry when he demanded $500 from the bereaved family, saying the late MDC-T legislator had stolen his mobile phone in 2009.
Masunda, a legal expert, said Chinotimba should have had summons issued against Mahlangu within three years after the alleged “theft”.
“In other words, the Member of the House of Assembly for Buhera South can kiss the amount in question goodbye as it is irrecoverable,” Masunda said.
“He should have had summons issued against his purported debtor in an endeavour to recover his claim within a period of three years calculated with effect from the date on which the incident occurred at Crowne Plaza Monomotapa Hotel.
“The payment is time-barred and, therefore, no longer legally due and payable.”
Mahlangu’s family and fellow opposition party members have dismissed Chinotimba’s demands as morally wrong and “in bad taste”.
