by Elijah Chihota
Last Thursday saw the Nelson Chamisa led MDC embarking on a strike demanding the scraping of the 2 percent tax on all transactions, cash shortages, three tier pricing system and increasing budget deficit, among others. He then rushed to send petitions to SADC and African Union AU).
Chamisa and his cronies have not done well their homework as they have not exhausted internal channels of negotiating with President Emmerson Mnangagwa. On his inauguration on 26 August 2018, President Mnangagwa repeatedly said his door was open for such negotiations, but Chamisa with his childish folly snubbed such an open hand invitation.
Before rushing to the African Union and SADC, Chamisa did not wait for a response on the petition that he had sent to the Parliament of Zimbabwe. If he had been a seasoned politicians he should have waited for a response, then, think of regional and continental routes later.
These issues are best resolved internally and when there is a stalemate that’s only when the warring partners jointly agree to seek external help in resolving the impasse.
Chamisa in his unwise counsel received from his peers decided not to acknowledge the presidency of President Mnangagwa. He chose to do the most foolish thing by referring to the Head of State as “ZANU PF President and First Secretary, Emmerson Mnangagwa”. Such a mentality shows that he lacks respect. How will he get into talks with someone he does not recognise? This is where the late Morgan Tsvangirai beats Chamisa; he acted like an adult unlike his successor.
Spineless MDC legislators are also blindly following their power hungry leader, lest they be chucked out the party by the dictatorial Chamisa. During the opening of the 9th Parliament, they were making noise while President Mnangagwa was addressing. At the budget presentation on 22 November 2018, these unruly legislators had to be dragged out of Parliament for failure to stand up when the President entered the chambers. Failure to respect arms of Government leads the MDC into making these blunders of rushing on a “diplomatic offensive” without engaging at local level.
Chamisa thought petitioning SADC would help him, alas he is being told the matter is water under the bridge as, “Zimbabwe is a sovereign country, Zimbabwe has a Constitution and Zimbabwe is guided by a number of legislation,” by SADC Executive Secretary, Dr Stergomena Lawrence Tax.
Interestingly soon after the elections, the MDC totally dismissed election reports by the AU and SADC. Now that party is lobbying the same bodies whose reports they disregarded.
Zimbabwe does not have a crisis which warrants the roping in of a mediator. Elections were held; the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) declared President Mnangagwa the winner and the Constitutional Court upheld ZEC position.
