by Elijah Chihota
Zimbabwe’s 30 July 2018 elections have come and gone and the Constitutional Court on 24 August buttressed the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) position that President Emmerson Mnangagwa was the winner.
The inauguration took place on 26 August. In all this, there is one person who is bitter to the bone marrow and he is none other than the MDC Alliance leader, Nelson Chamisa, who happens to be the biggest loser of this plebiscite at all fronts.
Chamisa thought he was the smart guy in the political game and was enjoying support from some malcontents who were expelled from ZANU PF. These guys were leading him up a garden path to such an extent that he started to practise inspecting a guard of honour mounted by the violent and thuggish Vanguard youths from his MDC T faction.
Through his campaigns and the infamous 82 rallies, Chamisa was declaring himself the winner of that election without even carrying out any self introspection. Members of the electorate were asking among themselves what his unique selling point (USP) was. Apart from talking about spaghetti roads, rural airports and changing the country’s capital city to Gweru, there was nothing more.
He is out of Parliament for the first time since 2003 and has suffered the fate of the late MDC-T leader, Morgan Tsvangirai whose defeat in the successive elections of 2000, 2002 and 2013 kept him out of the august house. What this means for the misguided Chamisa is that he will be marshalling his legislators from outside the Parliament, which will be the most difficult task to do.
When the election results were announced, Chamisa realised that he had lost the plebiscite to ED, as the President is affectionately known by his legion of followers, and he could not stomach it and resolved to challenge the outcome in the Constitutional Court. Chief Justice Luke Malaba and his eight-member bench dismissed the matter with costs after carefully considering it. Chamisa is now in a double tragedy as he has to bear the burden of the costs of the petition to the tune of US$3million in addition to dealing with the electoral loss.
As if the Constitutional Court appeal was not enough, Chamisa has decided to take his case to the African Commission on Human and People’s Rights (ACHPR) popularly known as the Banjul Commission, to challenge the 24 August 2018 Constitutional Court ruling.
In his typical Statesman demeanour, President Mnangagwa said, “I once again reiterate my call for peace and unity above all. Nelson Chamisa, my door is open and my arms are outstretched, we are one nation and we must put our nation first. Let us all put our differences behind us. It’s time to move forward together.” Unlike Raila Odinga of the Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) in Kenya, Chamisa refused to accept the olive branch which was extended to him by President Mnangagwa and focus on national issues as one family. Chamisa remains adamant that he won the election when it is clear that he was nowhere near victory.
To make matters worse, Chamisa refused to attend the inauguration ceremony despite being invited – kuita chiramwa chegurwe chekubva ratozvidambura makumbo asi mangwana richazoda kufamba. MDC-T leader, Dr Thokozani Khupe, showed maturity by embracing President Mnangagwa’s victory and she led her party’s delegation to the inauguration ceremony, a gesture that attracted applause and appreciation from attendees.
Alliance for the People’s Agenda (APA) leader, Dr. Nkosana Moyo in a display of maturity twitted that, “Whilst it must be clear that APA firmly stood against the unconstitutional takeover of power, we nonetheless acknowledge that an election has taken place on the basis of which the Constitutional Court has affirmed President Mnangagwa’s win as indicative of the will of the people.” In the same vein, Build Alliance Zimbabwe (BAZ) leader who was also another losing Presidential election candidate, Dr Noah Manyika called for unity of purpose in dealing with unemployment and reviving both the rural and urban economies.
Financially, Chamisa is broke as the MDC-T has indicated that it would shortly commence proceedings against him and his faction to return the US$1.8 million which he erroneously received under the Political Parties Finance Act. Instead the money should have been channeled to Dr Khupe as she is the legitimate MDC-T leader.
Time will tell how Chamisa is going to deal with all these odds which are ranged against him. Zimbabweans will also be watching how he is going to spend the next five years awaiting the next harmonised polls.
