Of weak candidates in a purportedly strong alliance
STRONGER together! so goes one of the MDC-Alliance slogans. From this slogan, one gets the idea that the seven parties that make up the alliance came together with the aim of bettering their chances against the incumbent, Zanu-PF, in the forthcoming election.
What it means in the real world is that, whatever candidate that the alliance nominates to stand in any particular constituency, becomes a force to reckon with as that individual commands the loyalty of supporters of the seven parties.
I am confident that anyone who had the above line of argument preconceived was shocked by recent developments in the alliance, where it was declared by the powers that be, that some candidates from the smaller parties were too weak to stand for the alliance.
Why then would one form a coalition with a minority party if the intention was to field only candidates with a big support base, in other words candidates from the bigger party?
The move by the MDC-T faction now led by Nelson Chamisa to repossess some of the Local Government and House of Assembly seats previously allocated to alliance partners seems to confirm media reports to the effect that the said faction was negotiating in bad faith, even from the time of former leader, the late Morgan Tsvangirai.
This saw other opposition parties that could have joined the alliance such as Zimbabwe African People’s Union (ZAPU) and National People’s Party (NPP), staying clear of the marriage of convenience.
In response to the unilateral withdrawal of its candidate seconded to the alliance, the MDC led by Professor Welshman Ncube questioned the criteria used to judge the weakness of the affected candidates.
The party further opined that the seats in the middle of the storm were seized for and on behalf of specific individuals for not so legitimate reasons - declaring that dishonesty, deception and treating colleagues and allies with disdain, disrespect and contempt can never be water under the bridge.
Not to be outdone in washing the dirty linen in public, Chamisa’s spokesperson, Dr Nkululeko Sibanda shot down a suggestion by other alliance partners to hold a meeting to iron out the seat allocation issue, saying his boss did not take kindly to demands.
What then does this mean? Will the alliance stand or falter?
What then is in it for the smaller parties? Did the other six parties make a mistake in jumping into bed with Chamisa? Does Chamisa now agree with the leader of the other MDC-T faction, Dr Thokozani Khupe, that the alliance was overrated?
Is Chamisa trying to create space for former President Robert Mugabe’s National Patriotic Front (NPF)?
Will these developments mark the end of Prof Ncube’s political career, taking into consideration that his party only fielded candidates for the few seats allocated under the alliance?
Sadly, all above are beside the point it is not about Prof Ncube, the alliance partners, Dr Khupe or NPF, but Chamisa himself - the kind of person he is, to be specific.
Chamisa is not to be trusted - as Prof Ncube and company are now learning the hard way.
The fact that Chamisa usurped the MDC-T presidency within hours of Tsvangirai’s death might have been too remote to stand as a warning to the now alliance partners - they had to be in it to believe it - unfortunately.
The question now is, come July 30, can Chamisa be trusted with the leadership of our beautiful country?
A man who is economic with the truth, one who cannot honour a promise or pledge, a person with crude international relations skills as evidenced in the “My brother Kagame” debacle, one who is known to have initially de-campaigned national interests such as the land reform?