By Charles Motsi
The Shonas have a saying “rinamanyanga hariputirwi” loosely translated this means that no matter how much you try to sweep your dirty, nasty secrets under the rug, they will always see the light of day one way or another.
This is a exactly the conundrum that is facing ‘acting’ MDC president, Nelson Chamisa or should we say the former acting president following the High Court ruling last week that nullified Chamisa’s vice-president appointment in 2016. The High Court ruled null and void everything that occurred thereafter including Chamisa’s ascendency to power after the death of the MDC founding father, Morgan Tsvangirai, in 2018. This makes him an illegitimate leader of that party.
The verdict by Justice Edith Mushore follows an application by MDC secretary for Gokwe Sesame district, Elias Mashavira. As per his usual modus operandi, Chamisa and his chete chete Nero brigade have started playing the blame game and pointing fingers while adamantly refusing to accept the binding High Court judgment. The Chamisa zealots have called the ruling “machinations and strategies deployed by the Mnangagwa administration to destabilize and destroythe people’s project.”
However, this time the allegations by the Chamisa camp are quickly exposed for their lack of merit as the High Court ruling comes hot on the heels of another exposé in the form of a leaked MDC Memo that sort to give a constitutional and legal remedy to the MDC’s way forward following the death of Tsvangirai. The memo was prepared by former MDC senior member and constitutional expert, Eric Matinenga and clearly spelt out that the happenings in the party following Tsvangirai’s death were unconstitutional.
If ever you find yourself calling everyone around you crazy and seeing yourself as the only sane one then the probability that it is you who is in actual fact the crazy one is the most probable option. The Chamisa brigade is seeing ghosts where there are none and neglecting to face the truth that they are in the wrong. This option is unbearable to them because it would expose them as the fraudsters that everyone has known them to be since they connived to smuggle Chamisa into power.
The weak arguments presented by the chete chete choir include the aforementioned and now finger pointing at ZANU PF. This can be dismissed by the simple fact that it was not a ZANU PF official who made the court application but rather a senior member of their own party. Furthermore, ZANU PF as a political party does not control rulings of the High Court which has on occasion also ruled against it.
The other flimsy excuse is that Matinenga was acting on the instruction of party secretary general, Douglas Mwonzora, and not the party. They similarly claim that it was a factional document aimed at weakening Chamisa’s claim to the MDC throne. They also sort to allege collusion between Mwonzora and the High Court as they claim the ruling’s conclusion is similar to the recommendations made by Matinenga.
Firstly, Mwonzora was within his rights as the party’s secretary general to seek for legal advice on the correct and constitutional method to resolve the party’s game of thrones that had begun even before the final demise of his gaffer. Secondly, when interpreting a legal document and two parties come to the same conclusion it does not prove connivance but simply means that interpretation is the correct one.
There have been many interpretations to the High Court ruling and what it means for the future of the MDC but this writer finds most sensible is one given by Doctorate Candidate, Human Rights Lawyer, David Hofisi. Hofisi concludes that “It is highly likely that the reason for lack of substantial legal criticism of the Mashavira judgement is that none exists.”
Chamisa should not run around like a headless chicken, pointing fingers and blaming phantoms for his current illegitimate state, he should man-up and accept that his game has been discovered and just do the correct constitutional thing and stop trying to be a political fraudster.
