By Claver Nyuki
…. As Chamisa fails to accept defeat two years on
After promising so much in the drum up to the MDC’s Agenda 2020 address by that party leader, Nelson Chamisa people cannot help but feel that they were sold a dummy and that the Agenda 2020 was just a high sounding nothing with no tangible ideas on how to wrestle power from the ruling party ZANU PF.
Political analysts were quick to point out that Chamisa’s address during the event only cemented the notion that the party as a whole is devoid of new ideas to dislodge ZANU PF and that the party is still stuck in the 2018 election mode.
During his address Chamisa said, “We must go back to the 2018 vote. It must not be ignored because it’s the people’s will. While the ConCourt made its ruling, which we disagreed with, it’s now clear from evidence from ZEC itself that the results of the 2018 presidential election were transmitted unlawfully,” a clear indicator that 2 years on, Chamisa has not gotten over his loss to President Mnangagwa.
The ‘illegitimate mantra’ by Chamisa which apparently has no takers outside of the embattled party has since begun to cause a rift within the party as most of Chamisa’s followers are urging the youthful leader to dump the mantra and focus on policies and ideas to win the next election rather than dwelling on the past election.
To confirm Chamisa’s lack of innovation, during the address he declared that the party would be spearheading protests and demonstrations in 2020, a tired cliché that the party has been implementing year in year out with little to no success.
In his own words, he highlighted that, “We are prepared to take the reins in 2020. This year is going to be a year of demonstrations and action. The fight for return to legitimacy. We have a government that was put in place by the Constitutional Court not by voters.”
The general perception within the public is that Chamisa’s address is just a high sounding nothing. He has just proven to the whole nation that he is incapable of leading the country. He is still stuck in the past, two years on and that narrative does not bring food on the table for his supporters. Whilst the demonstrations and protests that he is fixated on year after year shows someone who lacks new ideas on how to carry the country forward.
One netizen, Dr Tinashe Chihuri, took to his micro blogging site to castigate Chamisa, “Chamisa will obviously continue to bombard his followers with good English and entertaining jokes but saying nothing. It will continue to be accusation after accusation against ED and the ruling party without supporting evidence and going to town about those issues.”
The fact that there are clear divisions within the MDC hierarchy because of his ineffectual modus operandi was further exposed by Chamisa sentiments during the address, accusing his colleagues of working with ZANU PF to topple him from his position.
The thinly veiled warning believed to be directed at Vice President Tendai Biti and Deputy Secretary for International Affairs, Douglas Mwonzora, points to another split before the 2023 Presidential elections.
The statement also gives traction to social media rumours that the party’s handlers particularly the West are increasingly growing disillusioned with Chamisa’s leadership and preferring Biti to take over the reins and contest as the party’s leader in 2023.
MDC since time immemorial has depended on Zanu PF for survival, copying its programmes and strategies, aiming to outclass the ruling party in its own initiatives but failing dismally.
Part of the projects Chamisa promised to initiate including the STEM programme and Jekesa Zimbabwe, mirror those programmes already being carried out by ZANU PF including the national clean-up campaign.
The claim that ZANU PF stole the SMART agriculture concept from the MDC also reeks of a leader who has run out of ideas and is only a matter of time before party members see through his rhetoric.
It seems that every time Chamisa opens his mouth, he is further exposing himself as an inept and immature leader and it’s only a matter of time before his supporters turn on him.