Political Reporter

MDC Alliance leader, Nelson Chamisa’s woes continue to mount following revelations that his plans to rebrand and register a new political outfit with the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) was likely to hit a brick wall as all possible names were already taken by some political parties.

A source within the MDC Alliance told this publication that their party was in a quandary in regards to party name after it had been barred from using the MDC Alliance name ahead of the March 26 by-elections by the Douglas Mwonzora outfit. The source said that Chamisa had hoped to rebrand and name his political outfit, The MDC Zimbabwe. However, it came out that the name MDC Zimbabwe was already registered with ZEC by one Thabani Gula Ndebele.

“This serves to notify your office that MDC Zimbabwe will be participating in the forthcoming by-elections proclaimed for 26 March 2022 by H.E President ED Mnangagwa. Kindly note that we are not a derivative of any political party or grouping. We have never been subjected to the Alliance Agreement nor Court challenges or judgements,” reads Ndebele’s letter to ZEC.

According to the source, the party was in a quandary as all of Chamisa’s suggested names were already registered with ZEC by other political parties.

“We are likely to settle for a less popular name as all of our suggested names are already registered with ZEC by some parties. Chamisa had suggested five possible names namely, The Democratic Alliance for Change (DAC), Citizens Alliance for Democratic Change (CADC), Citizens Convergence for Democracy (CCD), Citizens Convergence for Democratic Change (CCDC) and MDC Zimbabwe.

However, information from ZEC showed that all these names were already taken and it’s back to the drawing board for Chamisa,” said the source.

The same source accused Chamisa of taking long to rebrand as it was obvious that the name MDC Alliance was no longer theirs. He said Chamisa’s arrogance and his hesitation to rebrand was likely to cost his political outfit in the coming by-elections as the electorate was confused as to the name the party will adopt for the elections with a few days left to the Nomination Court seating on 26 January 2022.

Efforts to get a comment from MDC Alliance spokesperson, Fadzayi Mahere were futile as her mobile phones were not reachable.