by Harare Post reporter
Leader of the opposition MDC-Alliance political formation, Nelson Chamisa, is reportedly reluctant to form a new political party fearing he might be contested for that party’s presidency and lose, The Harare Post has established.
Calls for Chamisa to form his own political outfit have been growing since fellow vice president under Tsvangirai, Thokozani Khupe, was declared the acting president for MDC-T by the Courts, pending the holding of an Extra Ordinary Committee to choose Morgan Tsvangirai’s successor.
Sources within the Chamisa-led MDC-Alliance formation revealed that although supporters wanted Chamisa to dumb the MDC name and form a new political party, he is not eager to make such a move fearing that other members like Tendai Biti will contest him for the presidency of that new party.
“He is reluctant to form a new party because he fears that Biti might challenge him for the presidency. He feels that Biti has been laying the ground work to usurp the leadership reigns from him, hence he is resisting calls for the formation of a new party. He would rather die in MDC-Alliance as the president than form another party and be reduced to card carrying member,” the sources said.
Another source said, as it stands, people like Biti and Welshman Ncube cannot challenge for the MDC-Alliance presidency because they only joined that party some two years ago after abandoning their own political projects.
“If Chamisa is to form another part, he will lose leverage against the likes of Biti and Ncube because they will all be equal members of a new party. For now, Biti and Ncube are below Chamisa in terms of party seniority because they only joined the MDC-Alliance some two years ago after abandoning their own political formations. Chamisa want the status quo to remain so that he will remain the president.
“Again, Chamisa fears that if he forms another party, he might not have followers as the supporters he commands right now are MDC supporters who followed the Tsvangirai name,” added the source.
Political observers have been calling for Chamisa to ditch the MDC brand and form his own political party so that he can take Zanu-PF on without distractions.
However, the young politician seems to have no courage to go it alone outside of the MDC name, as history has shown that those who left the Tsvangirai-formed party and formed their own political parties have fared badly.
