Reports of a reconciliation between factions of the Zimbabwe National Students Union were clouded on Tuesday as members of a transitional council charged that the leaders of both factions conducted an unauthorized election on the weekend in Gweru.
Former ZINASU President Tafadzwa Mugwadi and Deputy President Obert Masaraure, now co-chairmen of Zinasu, are accused of breaching the student union constitution in holding a bi-annual congress and conducting elections for a new executive body.
The two previously held executive seats in separate factions until in May when they formed a National Transitional Caretaker Council intended to unify the two factions and move the organization towards a congress to elect a new executive body.
But other members of the transitional council said the election was illegal.
Masaraure said the transitional council had approved the congress and elections, which had previously been scheduled to take place in August.
He told VOA reporter Tatenda Gumbo that some members of the National Transitional Caretaker Council simply did not want to see that body set aside.
Masaraure said the constitution authorizes the co-chairman to call a congress.
But National Transitional Caretaker Council legal committee member Aleck Tabe said the congress was a sham to justify funds missing from the union's accounts, and that the elections should have been held under the mandate of the union's constitution.
The remaining members of the NTCC say they are planning a congress for December to elect the legitimate executive body for the student union.
