Chamisa, what democracy?
MDC Alliance leader Advocate Nelson Chamisa has lived up to his threat to fire defiant party members who stood as mayors in various cities despite their leader’s communication of his preferred candidates.
Mr Chamisa fired Chegutu Mayor, Councillor Mr Henry Muchatibaya while six councillors were suspended for defying a directive on the mayoral election last month.
Also expelled was Victoria Falls Mayor Clr Somvelo Dhlamini who had defied a directive by Mr Chamisa to make way for Clr Margaret Varley.
Masvingo Mayor Clr Collins Maboke who was also ordered to step down but defied the MDC leader, is yet to be sacked with insiders, however, saying it is only a matter of time.
Before their sacking, Mr Chamisa summoned the defiant party officials last month giving them an ultimatum that they either step down from their positions and make way for the initially intended candidates or be sacked from the party.
The mayors, however, refused to resign and instead opted to hold onto their seats resulting in their expulsion this week.
The sacking of the respective mayors is significant in many ways in as far as exposing Mr Chamisa and the entire MDC Alliance’s pretence to democracy and also his loose grip on the troubled party.
For a party that claims to be a champion of democracy, Mr Chamisa’s expulsion of officials voted into office by the people goes against the very principles of democracy.
Mr Chamisa and his party lost to the ruling Zanu-PF in the July 30 elections but has refused to concede defeat claiming that the process was manipulated.
They even approached the Constitutional Court but their case was thrown out as they failed to prove their accusation.
Unrestricted by the court outcome, the party has come up with a line “dzosera mwana maJiggies” in what is meant to be a jibe at President Mnangagwa who was declared the winner of the polls.
Ironically however, it turns out the line applies more to Mr Chamisa who has gone against the will of the people who elected officials into office only for the MDC leader to reverse the process by expelling those officials.
It is actually Mr Chamisa who has “grabbed the Jiggies” from democratically elected officials by expelling them from the party and imposing his preferred individuals in their place.
It is the height of hypocrisy therefore for Mr Chamisa and his party to continue claiming to be advocating for democracy when his actions point to the opposite.
And this Mr Chamisa does as a leader of a political party and one shudders to think what would happen if he was to wake up President of the country just for a day with all the powers accorded to a Head of State.
It becomes even scarier to imagine when one remembers the violence unleashed on Dr Thokozani Khupe and her allies during the fights over the heart and soul of the MDC-T.
Dr Khupe was attacked by youths loyal to Mr Chamisa and almost got burnt inside a hut by the party thugs during the burial of founding MDC leader Mr Morgan Tsvangirai in February.
“When we arrived in Buhera for the burial, we decided to go and see Tsvangirai’s mother just to let her know of our presence. We were however, approached by 10 youths before we could do that and they started attacking us. They were later joined by others who were saying ‘Khupe, you should go back to Matabeleland we want to kill you.’
“They wanted to kill me, one villager tried to rescue us by letting us hide in his thatched hut and when we were in the hut, they started throwing stones at us. They even tried to set the hut on fire but because it was raining, the thatch could not catch fire and the hut was filled with smoke,” said Dr Khupe then.
“They were swearing saying ‘today you are going to die in this hut. We no longer want you because you’re blocking the ascendancy of our person.’ They were saying Chamisa, Chamisa, Chamisa.”
Mr Chamisa was also in the media last week calling for a transitional Gove r nment which he claimed would ease the country’s problems and solve “legitimacy” issues.
With the recent challenges experienced on the economy, the MDC leader has gone out of this way to try and score political points in a matter that the Government has already started solving.
The ruling Zanu-PF through its secretary for legal affairs Cde Munyaradzi Paul Mangwana, dismissed, as they should, Mr Chamisa’s calls warning the MDC leader against creating false hopes among his supporters.
“Zimbabwe does not need a transitional Government. Transiting to where? This country is governed through the Constitution which was adopted by more than 90 percent of Zimbabweans in 2013 and the same Constitution says a country can only have a so-called transitional Government if there is no Government.
“Zimbabwe has a Government and is led by President Emmerson Mnangagwa who was elected by people in terms of the Constitution and endorsed by the Constitutional Court. We cannot have a transitional Government in an independent sovereign authority,” said Cde Mangwana.
“Chamisa is a lawyer for starters and should therefore be conversant with provisions of the Constitution. This back and forth outcry over the outcome of the harmonised elections will only cause confusion among his followers by giving them false hope.”
On the other hand, the defiance by the party officials to heed Mr Chamisa’s threats have exposed the MDC president as a weak leader with minimal control over his party.
Besides the defiance by some party members, some MDC Councillors in Masvingo voted a Zanu-PF candidate for the post of Deputy Mayor despite having majority wards in the council.
It also points to simmering tensions within the opposition party as some members are not happy with what they have termed dictatorial tendencies by Mr Chamisa.
The expulsion of the party officials could actually spell more trouble for Mr Chamisa in future with growing discontent among party structures over his leadership style.
At the end, if there was still anyone wondering the kind of leader Mr Chamisa is, his handling of the mayoral elections has exposed his true colours in terms of his regard for democracy and democratic principles.