By Ashley Kondo
The MDC’s sincerity to nation building and unity of purpose continues to come under spotlight ahead of the opposition outfit’s planned demonstration slated for 16 August.
Many have dismissed the planned demonstration as a repeat of history where the opposition seeks to grandstand whenever there is a regional or international fora in a bid to put Zimbabwe in the limelight.
Similarly, other critical thinkers have questioned the motive behind the demonstration given its timing which notably comes on the eve of the official start of the annual SADC Summit which kicks off on 17 August in Tanzania amid many other ongoing internal processes aimed at finding lasting solutions to Zimbabwe’s problems.
A good example of one such process is the Political Actors Dialogue (POLAD) which President Emmerson Mnangagwa and other political party leaders recently launched and are actively taking part in.
Despite POLAD being open to all progressive Zimbabwean political actors, MDC leader, Nelson Chamisa, has demanded preferential treatment which would see him and President Mnangagwa possibly reaching a power sharing deal lucrative to him.
According to the MDC, the 16 August demonstration is aimed at compelling Government to address the allegedly deteriorating standard of life for the majority of citizens amid economic challenges.
However, no doubt, the demonstrations are underpinned by a nefarious agenda in line with the opposition party’s regional and international lobby offensive premised on painting a picture of a gloomy Zimbabwe.
In its recently commissioned blueprint, RELOAD, the MDC outlines a five stage roadmap towards what they term “future Zimbabwe”- basically a sanitized phrase for regime change.
The first step includes creating and applying political and diplomatic pressure in terms of “advocacy and mobilizing all progressive and democratic forces to build national consensus on the resolution of the national crisis.”
Henceforth, it is not surprising that the planned demonstrations are meant to lay the ground for this step by stage managing a non-existent situation.
SADC has since unanimously appointed President Mnangagwa to assume the Chair of the Committee’s Organ on Politics, Defence and Security.
A couple of months back, opposition proponents could not hide their discontent over the appointment arguing that President Mnangagwa was not fit for the position at the back of claims that there was political unrest in the country. Hence, the MDC planned 16 August demonstration gives them fodder to create the necessary mayhem to back their assertion.
Generally, the MDC has a tendency to seek opportunity for political mileage in any political or economic development that may unfold within the country, regionally and internationally even when there is no direct relation between the two factors.
It may be recalled that in January the MDC, through Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU) led violent protests guised as protests against and increment in fuel prices.
The protests later resulted in fatalities and severe injuries as security forces moved to quell the violent disturbances.
To date, the MDC’s partners in crime (the US government) continue to turn a blind eye on the damages to property and criminal nature of the January protests including the killing of a police officer, burning down of police cars and offices, looting and torching of shops among other things.
Ironically, the Chamisa would not take responsibility of the violence, but blamed Government for allegedly being too heavy-handed in quelling the violent protests.
To the surprise of many, Chamisa went further to label the demonstrators “stupid”.
Zimbabweans should know better by now that MDC demonstrations always turn violent while the party refuses to take responsibility for its supporters’ actions when push comes to shove.
Furthermore, it can be concluded that the demonstrations are always part of an elaborate scheme by a set of individuals to assume power through the backdoor, but the MDC should be warned that unconstitutional means to assume power will come to naught.
