By Gift Mashoko
Tensions amongst MDC Alliance members continue to escalate following a bloody conformation that occurred in Chitungwiza over the weekend. As preparations for the MDC congress slated for 24 to 26 May are underway, branch, ward and districts held their congresses and provincial congresses are expected to start soon, the country is surely expected to see the in-house fighting reach its zenith.
It’s slowly dawning on MDC supporters that their leader Nelson Chamisa is not what they would want in a leader considering that he is immature and greedy for power. Chamisa had ring-fenced the presidency closing the door for others. However, the party’s Secretary General Douglas Mwonzora showed interest in the same post and all hell broke loose as factions and divisions have arisen leading to bloody fights.
Chamisa’s imposition of candidates in the last general election has resulted in most of his allies being defeated by Mwonzora’s aligned candidates in the district congress elections. Chamisa’s preferred candidates do not seem to have people’s support. This has raised the dust, especially since Chamisa never expected that anyone would want contest for his position.
During the weekend, the ruling ZANU PF party’s Kidwell Mujuru won the Cowdray Park by elections in Bulawayo which was last year won by MDC Alliance. MDC A fielded two candidates both of whom lost. Even with two candidates they lost to Mujuru and even if their votes were to be combined, ZANU PF still had more votes. Mujuru got 1899 votes, Nomagugu Mloyi got 1229 votes and Collet Ndlovu got 221 votes. The councillors position for Bulawayo ward 28 fell vacant after the death of MDC A councillor Hapson Nyasha Ncube.
The MDC fielded two candidates due to misunderstandings mostly attributed to Mwonzora and Chamisa having opposing supporters. This ZANU PF win did not go down well with MDC supporters some of whom attributed the MDC loss to rigging. One of them being the presidential spokesperson Nkululeko Sibanda, who attributed the party’s loss to their leader Chamisa’s focus on the Cyclone and humanitarian situation. How could ZANU PF have rigged when the MDC Alliance is fuelled with divisions they instigated themselves? They are just looking for someone to blame for their loss of support, because they always refuse to accept defeat just as they refused to accept that they had lost the 2018 Presidential elections.
The loss of the by-election council seat in one of their strongholds just goes to show that MDC’s leadership has lost support. Besides how can they blame the cyclone for their loss yet they their leadership was busy having tea with Ian Khama in Botswana and launching the BITI Democracy Book, the very element which is missing in the party.
Clashes can be noted within the MDC, with one of their strong supporters David Coltart twitting opining that the Bulawayo Cowdray Park results are correct and that the loss cannot be blamed on rigging. He goes on to encourage the MDC supporters to unite, which they cannot, seeing that they are greedy for power. This is contrary to the rigging Sibanda was talking about.
Recently, there was a video that was circulating of a mob of MDC supporters who were having a heated argument with a certain Secretary General for not supporting and endorsing Chamisa as leader of the party ahead of the MDC congress.
Divisions can also be seen with Jonathan Moyo who has for long been on the MDC side, noticing the divisions and seeing that there is trouble in the party. Moyo twitted saying, “It means MDC-Alliance has disconnected with Bulawayo voters. Time was when for every three registered voters in Bulawayo, two were MDC. The writing on the wall, if the introspect on this and reconnect with Bulawayo voters, trouble lies ahead.” The divisions in MDC have been self-inflicted and their will continue as long as Chamisa prioritises holding on to power than managing the party presidency he grabbed.
Over the weekend Chamisa’s supporters physically assaulted Mwonzora’s supporters in Chitungwiza. This left several people in hospital. This alone proves that the party is headed for disaster and the party that the late Morgan Tsvangirai built is falling like a deck of cards.
Chamisa is now feeling the heat and anything may happen at their watershed Congress in May. Speculations are that Chamisa has nationwide support but the real situation on the ground is quite the opposite.
