If everyone wants to lead, who will support the leaders?

ROUGHLY 18 months before 2023 general elections, the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC-T) continues with its fertility arising from its political promiscuities and lack of respect for its principles and rule book.

Last week saw Thokozani Khupe announcing a break away MDC from the one led by Douglas Mwonzora.

There was nothing surprising in the announcement as all signs were on the wall and it was only a matter of time before the opposition party split.

There is no other political party in the country that illustrates a confused partner who claims to love marriage and yet thinks every disagreement should lead to a separation.

The MDC epitomises political entanglements, something that gives the ruling party comfort with less need to explain its victory in 2023.

Let's briefly look at the history of the MDC splits over time.

It was in 2005 when the party leadership squared-off over participation in the senate elections. The breaking point came when the now late leader Morgan Tsvangirai called for boycott of elections.

He argued that participation was a waste of time and resources while Welshman Ncube, the then secretary-general backed by vice-president Gibson Sibanda, argued that boycotting the elections would hand Zanu PF control of constituencies on a silver platter. Ncube had a point but Tsvangirai used emotions and power to override logic.

Negotiations to avert the split were futile with Ncube breaking away but maintaining the name MDC forcing Tsvangirai to adopt MDC-T.

Allegations swirled that the Ncube-led formation was in bed with the ruling party, while others were of the view that the former would foster dialogue with the ruling party to forestall a looming economic and political crisis.

It was also rumoured that Ncube had better rapport with Thabo Mbeki, the chief negotiator of the government of national unity (GNU), as Mbeki was allegedly averse to Tsvangirai's hardline stance on the outcome of the 2008 elections.

In the midst of MDC schism of 2005, Job Sikhala followed Ncube, but later split from the MDC to form his MDC 99 faction. And again, like most of them, in 2018 after the reunification of the MDC groups, Sikhala made a somersault to rejoin MDC Alliance where he is a deputy national chairman.

In April 2014 tensions simmered again after a loss in the 2013 elections which marked the end of the

GNU. Tsvangirai announced the expulsion of Tendai Biti from the MDC-T along with eight other members for allegedly being used by the ruling party. And again, they were rumours of some senior members of the MDC-T doing business with senior Zanu PF members. Biti went on to form the MDC-Renewal in 2014 before renaming the party People's Democratic Party in 2015. The party also splitted in 2017 over Biti and other party officials joining the MDC Alliance electoral bloc which had hoped to front Tsvangirai in the 2018 general elections.

Then came the bane of the MDC's present headache. It was on February 15, 2018 — just a day after the death of Tsvangirai — that Nelson Chamisa controversially took over the reins at the MDC-T much to the frustration of Thokozani Khupe — the vice-president then — who argued that she was the rightful acting president pending congress and that the takeover was therefore not constitutional — a claim that was backed by the courts.

With a general election looming, most heavy weights such as Biti, Ncube, Sikhala and the rest back in the MDC tent and huge attendance at rallies, the Chamisa-led group proceeded to contest the 2018 elections as the MDC Alliance, while Khupe contested as MDC-T.

Court cases over use of party name and property riddled the ride between the two formations. An MDC-T congress was held in December 2020 in compliance with the party's constitution and a court ruling. Douglas Mwonzora controversially emerged victorious and Khupe protested before begrudgingly accepting a deputy president position which she held until she announced the split last week.

The splits in the MDC are a disturbing phenomenon among us as a people. Each split, mainly those ahead of elections dented the party's chance of landslide victories and gave the ruling party cheap advantages.

One African scholar once argued that the challenge with the political crisis in Zimbabwe is that everyone wants to lead and no one wants to follow and support their leaders.

Most of those in senior party positions think they are better than those leading them.

Instead of helping their leaders with ideas to make them better, they would rather discredit, or bring them down; and if that fails, they take the split route.

It is one of the reasons political parties with strong support bases crumble at the crucial hour because everyone is power-hungry.

It is not only in politics, but also common in most voluntary organisations including churches.