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Mr Enerst Mudavanhu, provincial spokesperson Mr Harrison Mudzuri, national council member Mr Jeffreyson Chitando and provincial youth chairman Mr Oliver Chirume into the provincial council was meant to avert widening of cracks in the party.

The move comes as the party desperately battles to contain widening cracks in its structures in the province.
The MDC-T was forced to submit a list of only nine candidates in the provincial council list against 10 candidates that were forwarded by Zanu-PF and the Professor Welshman Ncube-led MDC.

One of the candidates and sitting Masvingo West legislator Mr Tichaona Chiminya did not file his papers in unclear circumstances.
Two MDC-T candidates successfully filed their papers to stand as independent candidates in the forthcoming parliamentary elections after alleging rigging and vote buying among other irregularities in the party primary polls.

Gutu North MDC-T district chairman Mr Gerald Chitsa filed papers to stand as an independent in the constituency following a contested primary election victory by Dr Tichanani Mavetera.

In Chiredzi West the sitting MDC-T legislator Mr Moses Mare also filed papers to stand as an independent after losing to Mr Dustice Zivave in an election the former claims was rigged.

Mr Mare said he was standing as an independent candidate in Chiredzi West because there was no democracy in the MDC-T. The sources said the move to second the four bigwigs as MDC-T candidates for the provincial council was meant to appease them.

“There were fears in the MDC-T that some of the sitting MPs and bigwigs who had lost primary elections might further divide the MDC-T by standing as independent candidates hence they were chosen to represent the party in the provincial council.

“The names of people who are standing in the provincial council just came from the top,’’ said the source preferring not to be named.
However, MDC-T Masvingo provincial organising secretary Mr Tongai Matutu dismissed the allegations saying the heavyweights had been chosen to represent the party in the provincial council because of their experience.

“Most of the people who are going to stand for the party in the provincial council were chosen because of their skills.
“Some of them like (Enerst) Mudavanhu, (Jefffreyson) Chitando and others have been in leadership positions as MPs for the MDC-T over the past five years.

“They have invaluable experience and skills that can be of great use to the party in the provincial council. We do not want to appease them,’’ said Mr Matutu.
The MDC-T has been on the backfoot in Masvingo in the face of a resurgent Zanu-PF that has vowed to reclaim most of the ground that was lost in the last harmonised elections.

Most sitting MDC-T MPs and councillors lost primary elections across Masvingo Province to newcomers in polls that were marred by allegations of vote rigging.
In Masvingo city all the seven sitting MDC-T councillors who contested the primary elections were shown the exit door by the electorate which was unhappy over poor service delivery and corruption.