Since its formation in 1999, MDC has been blaming Zanu-PF for its woes like splits, internal violence and irreconcilable divisions among the top leadership.
It appears it has become the norm that anyone who differs on processes and procedures within the top hierarchy of the party is deemed a Zanu-PF project.
This is why we are not surprised that as the congress of the MDC-Aliiance (one of the many offshoots) approaches in May, those who want to safeguard their positions are already labelling potential challengers as being sponsored by the ruling party.
The MDC’s last congress in 2014 was so fraught with disagreements, victimisation and violence to the extent that it had to spill into the afternoon of the following day.
The preaching of democracy by the MDC-Alliance is just pure propaganda. The party is simply averse to internal democracy, something its founding father, the late Morgan Tsvangirai was rather remarkable for.
But the opposition party should stop dragging Zanu-PF, or anyone for that matter, into its internal squabbles. Chamisa should just do himself good in the eyes of his supporters by opening up the internal democratic space within his party and allow all posts to be contested at the forthcoming congress.
We all thought that competition, contestation of ideas and indeed contestation for positions, were the values that the party holds dear!
Labelling those who want to contest against him as sponsored by Zanu-PF is just an archaic strategy that no longer has any takers even within the MDC-Alliance itself.
The propaganda cannot hold water for several reasons. Zanu-PF stands to gain less by directing its meagre resources on MDC-Alliance, whose senior members are already acknowledging they are facing a devastating split with a potential to bury the party.
The opposition party has been losing dismally to Zanu-PF since its formation in 1999, and there is nothing at the moment to show it will resurrect from its past defeats.
The ruling party officials know quite well that there is nothing like a favourable candidate within an opposition party. Whichever way, anyone who wins the MDC-Alliance presidential post will always want to mount his own spirited challenge in elections against Zanu-PF.
After all, Zanu-PF has set its eyes on the ball of turning around the economy, and has no time to waste by getting involved in the dirty MDC-Alliance internal squabbles.
It is simply not in the interest of Zanu-PF to poke its nose into the internal affairs of MDC-Alliance. By accusing Zanu-PF, it has become clear that Chamisa is desperate for an alibi in the face of a possible defeat at the forthcoming congress.
After all, even those with short memories still remember how Chamisa was clobbered by Douglas Mwonzora for the post of secretary-general in 2014. With Mwonzora touted as one of the contenders for the presidential post, it easily explains the shivers from Chamisa and his supporters. And this explains the narrative of presenting Mwonzora and others with similar intentions as sponsored by Zanu-PF.
Many of those who vote at the congress did not forgive him for unilaterally taking over the MDC leadership following the death of Morgan Tsvangirai in February last year.
The constitutional way of calling an extraordinary congress in such circumstances, while an elected vice president takes over the reins in-between was simply not followed.
Chamisa worsened his prospects by presenting himself as the start and end of MDC-Alliance during the 2018 election campaign, but went on to cost the party by losing the presidential vote.
He presented himself as a lone ranger during the campaign, and is now blamed for the poor performance of the party’s parliamentary and local government candidates.
Chamisa’s style of rule which depends heavily on the party’s violent group called the Vangaurd has no many takers within the party.
Chamisa is well aware of his weaknesses, hence his desire to steam out any form of competition by dragging Zanu-PF into the equation.
