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Dr Nkululeko Sibanda

Nqobile Tshili, Chronicle Correspondent
MDC-T president Mr Nelson Chamisa’s newly appointed spokesperson Dr Nkululeko Sibanda was exposed lying on radio as he denied the existence of the party’s militia, the “Order of the Vanguard”.

The notorious Vanguard, led by its “commander” Mr Shakespeare Mukoyi who is also the MDC-T deputy national youth chairperson, is known for its violent conduct, targeting the party leader’s perceived opponents.

The wing’s activities came to the fore when its members allegedly attacked Mr Chamisa’s rival Dr Thokozani Khupe during the burial of the party’s founding president, the late Morgan Tsvangirai in February.

Dr Khupe claimed the group was sent by Mr Chamisa to kill her, although the opposition party’s leader denies involvement in the skirmishes.

In an interview with a local radio station ZiFM on Wednesday evening, Dr Sibanda said the Vanguard was not part of the MDC-T.

“No, the Vanguard does not exist in the party structures. The MDC-T has structures that have names that start with the MDC something. And we don’t have an MDC Vanguard. I don’t think it’s anything that I recognise,” he said.

Dr Sibanda was appointed on Tuesday to replace Mr Luke Tamborinyoka who is eyeing the Goromonzi West Parliamentary seat.

Mr Chamisa’s new spokesperson was exposed for his lies as the Vanguard secretary for information and publicity Mr Cornelius Guta walked into the studio and confirmed that the shadowy militant group was actually an MDC-T wing.

Mr Guta said their sole purpose was to “baptise” new party members into democracy.

“In a nutshell I’m saying the Vanguard is not a detached unit from the MDC-T. It is actually part of the MDC-T. It’s part of the Youth Assembly with the whole agenda of trying to instil a sense of accountability and responsibility in our party membership. They have to know what democracy is all about. Yes, it is (part of MDC-T),” he said.

However, Dr Sibanda continued to deny the existence of the group saying they were just an “idea.”

“I’ve never met Mr Guta, he has put it as clear as it could be. The Vanguard is not an institution as you would put it across. It’s an idea and most organisations have these people within organisations that say when you come in or when we are doing things, we are going to be watching every leader,” he said.

Dr Sibanda also backtracked on his earlier claims that Mr Chamisa’s electoral promise on introducing bullet trains was madness.

“I don’t think the bullet trains are madness, you get to understand what the aspiration is,” he said.

Dr Sibanda said he was not expecting to achieve much as Mr Chamisa’s spokesperson as his duty is to just relay information on his behalf. — @nqotshili