by Christopher Makaza
The ban of opposition leader Nelson Chamisa`s so called State of the Nation Address (SONA) by Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP) is justified as it was meant to disrupt smooth opening of first term schools calendar and incite civil servants to join teachers who had threatened to go on strike.
The adamant Chamisa vowed to continue with his useless address which was scheduled for January 15, postponing it to Tuesday 21 January.
Chamisa took to Twitter to vent his frustrations following the ban complaining that he had exhausted all channels and could not continue to be victims of unjust application of the law, vowing that he would deliver the people`s agenda 2020 to the nation come what may .
What surprises many are his sentiments that he had exhausted all the channels of communication to no avail. What we are not sure of is whether he exhausted proper channels or he used his usual illegal route of unsanctioned destructive demonstrations which of course have always flopped.
Chamisa can deliver his address by force as he claims, but what does it solve? This among his other addresses remains that of rhetoric statements where he just preaches hate speech, lambasting Government without proffering any meaningful solutions which takes the country forward. Chamisa should join POLAD and use the proper channels and make his contributions there before making endless speeches which serve no purpose.
Chamisa openly refused to join POLAD, a vehicle created by President Emmerson Mnangagwa with a view to involve all political parties which took part in 2018 harmonised elections so that they contribute to rebuilding Zimbabwe. He refused to join this proper dialogue channel, questioning the legitimacy of President Mnangagwa, bringing forward unrealistic and unnecessary demands which all point to his desire to a power sharing agreement.
The opposition leader continues to ignore calls from within his party and the general populace for him to swallow his pride and join the dialogue route and not the violent demonstrations he always proposes in a bid to address the current economic crisis bedevilling the nation.
The sin of pride, which is the foundational sin of all other sins, seems to be haunting the supposedly religious opposition leader.
As usual Chamisa’s so-called SONA will not give any hope to the nation as its name suggests, rather he always takes the opportunity to preach the gospel of hatred, inciting violence and calling for more destructive demonstrations in an bid to unconstitutionally remove President Mnangagwa from power.
During most of his public gatherings Chamisa always threatens to organise what he terms a massive mother of all demonstrations, whose magnitude he says will surpass the previous demonstrations where lives of innocent people were lost and hundreds of thousand dollars worth of property destroyed. He lies that the people of Zimbabwe are pressurising him to organise massive demonstrations as living conditions of ordinary citizens continue to sour.
It should be known to Chamisa that unconditional and respectful dialogue is absolutely necessary to root out the weeds of violence.
To bring about sustainable change and development, the opposition leader should also know that, people have to develop a sense of joint ownership of the process and become stakeholders in identifying new approaches to address common challenges.
Dialogue entails learning not just talking. Participants must be willing to address the root causes of a crisis, not just the symptoms on the surface. Violence is the last refuge of the incompetent.
Despite the absence of MDC in the national dialogue, other leaders of different political parties continue to meet and proffer their solutions.
I don’t know what makes the opposition thinks that Chamisa`s SONA or HONA is more important than President Emmerson Mnangagwa`s SONA. Last time MDC Legislators exhibited uncouth behaviour, walking away when the Head of State was delivering his SONA. It is evident that they are not in Parliament to represent the people’s interests, but to appease their demi-god Nelson Chamisa.
Chamisa has failed to drive MDC as evidenced by his continued loss to the ruling party Zanu PF in most by-elections held in 2019 so how then is he capable of leading the whole country. The opposition party has also admitted their failure to run urban authorities in the country which are in a state of decay characterised by roads riddled with potholes, unreliable water supplies and collapsed infrastructure.
It hasn’t escaped our notice either that Chamisa re-scheduled his HONA to coincide with the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland which is scheduled to start on 21st of January 2020 and has already threatened that “come what may” he is going ahead with his useless address.
