by Christopher Makaza
Researcher and political activist, Dr Philan Zamchiya has advised the beleaguered MDC-Alliance not to drop its political name ahead of the December 5th, 2020 by-elections saying that doing so will be costly to the opposition outfit.
Addressing MDC-Alliance members during a recently held National Standing Committee workshop in the capital city, Dr Zamchiya who is a former Zimbabwe National Students Union (ZINASU) President, said the MDC brand was well recognised both locally and internationally and was associated with the late founding father of that party, Morgan Richard Tsvangirai.
According to Dr Zamchiya, if the MDC-A rebrands, they won't be able to reconfigure party structures and the 2019 Congress outcome and even the 2023 Congress date.
"Rebranding involves changing leadership structures and the party's constitution. This also means the 9 October 2020 by-election nomination court time frame will not be met," he said.
Chamisa reportedly wants the party's name to be changed to "Alliance for Democratic Change" while his deputy Tendai Biti wants it to be named "MDC Chinja/ Guqula", a situation which has reportedly caused friction between the two.
Regarding the issue of continued recalling of MDC-Alliance officials by MDC-T, Dr Zamchiya advised the opposition outfit to resign en mass, a move which he said would de-legitimise ZANU PF. He, however, expressed fear that out of the 66 parliamentary seats that were being contested, 44 will be lost. He also said a good number of seats in the local authorities would also be lost due to corruption charges being levelled against the MDC-Alliance councillors.
Recently, six Harare MDC-Alliance councillors were arrested for being involved in land scams. Former Harare Mayor, Herbert Gomba was also arrested on allegations of criminal abuse of office in connection with the sale of stands illegally.
