Innocent Mujeri
The MDC Alliance leader Nelson Chamisa is busy setting a time bomb for his political career and it’s only a matter of time before the bomb explodes on his youthful face.
Since his controversial ascendancy to the helm of the MDC Alliance following the death of Morgan Tsvangirai in 2018, Chamisa has continued to commit serious political blunders that have exposed his glaring weaknesses. Chamisa’s actions in the past three years have left many people convinced that he was still a political toddler with no capacity to lead an opposition movement with the magnitude of the MDC Alliance.
Last week, it was shocking to see Chamisa tampering with his party’s National Standing Committee (NSC) when it is only less than 18 months to the elections. Instead of building a formidable team, Chamisa went on decimate the NSC and elevated his blue eyed boys. Such a move has the potential of creating enemies against Chamisa within that party and it will not be a surprise to see people openly revolting against him soon.
Instead of consolidating the little support he has and build a formidable party that would convincingly contest the 2013 plebiscite, Chamisa has in the past three years frustrated his party’s big guns and members with the majority of them now agreeing that Chamisa is a liability rather than an asset to the MDC Alliance. Since 2018, Chamisa parted ways with seasoned members of the opposition such as Thokozani Khupe, Morgan Komichi, Douglas Mwonzora and Elias Mudzuri. Recently, he demoted the firebrand Job Sikhala from the position of deputy national chairperson to a mere card carrying member. Chamisa has continued to surround himself with mafikizolos such as Fadzayi Mahere, Gift Siziba and Joanna Mamombe among many other allies. The MDC Alliance leader’s actions of sidelining seasoned members of the party and relegating them to the peripheries are surely a ticking time bomb that will soon shred him to pieces.
If Chamisa was clever, he would have known that the likes of Sikhala are dangerous when left idle. He should have accommodated Sikhala closer to him so that he could monitor his movements. By relegating Sikhala to the political dustbin, Chamisa has created an enemy and has arguably revived the madness in Sikhala. It would not be a surprise to see Sikhala mobilising people against Chamisa’s leadership.
Again Chamisa’s continued disregard for his party’s constitution is a cause for concern and it will not be long before it backfires. Chamisa’s ascendancy to the helm of the MDC Alliance was unconstitutional. He rejected the Constitutional Court ruling that ruled that he was fairly defeated at the 2018 polls by President Mnangagwa. As if that was not enough, he demoted Sikhala who was elected during the party’s last congress. He has turned himself into a demi-god and is treating the MDC Alliance as his little tuck-shop.
Another thing that will soon come back to haunt Chamisa is his recent actions of turning the MDC Alliance’s NSC into a group of adults tasked with rubber stamping decisions that are made by United Party for National Development (UPND).The reports going around the social media that Chamisa is getting his political advice from Zambia and this will soon backfire. If is true that Chamisa has been captured by UPND’s members such as Joseph Kalimbwe, then a revolt led by disgruntled members is likely to ensue and Chamisa might be left with no party to lead as many people are disgruntled by his leadership style.
Without doubt or hatred, Chamisa is a political orator blessed with the art of writing sweet political speeches. But beyond those sweet speeches is a man who is politically weak, strategically paralyzed and morally despised. Since 2018, Chamisa has told thousands of his followers that he had a sound political plan up his sleeves. But time has exposed Chamisa as a political novice who has no clue on how to steer the MDC Alliance ship forward. The lack of political plan, meaningless rhetoric speeches and his egocentric behavior is Chamisa’s greatest undoing.
Again, if Chamisa fails to tame his tongue soon, then the majority of Zimbabweans will shun him and he will have no political capital heading towards 2023 elections. Chamisa is a man who lies with a straight face, maybe believing that his falsehoods will not be exposed. Since 2018, he has lied about meeting Donald Trump, a lie he backtracked on during BBC Hardtalk programme and he even lied that he was anointed by Tsvangirai to be the heir to the MDC Alliance throne. It’s known that lies have short legs and Chamisa’s lies are likely to haunt him in the near future.
Time is still available for Chamisa to diffuse the time bomb he has set for himself. He should swallow his pride and admit that he is still an infant when it comes to politics .Without that, he will soon be history as people are losing faith and hope in him because of his political inconsistencies.
