Harare (New Ziana) – When he introspects, in solitary moments these days, opposition leader Nelson Chamisa must be agreeing with the widely-held belief that robbing the dead, indeed, can bring bad luck to oneself.
From 2018 when he cunningly robbed Morgan Tsvangirai of his throne as leader of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC-T) a day after his death, Chamisa’s political fate has been a case of ‘so near, yet so far’ in leadership, both within political parties, and outside.
Tsvangirai died on February 14, 2018 in a South African hospital after along, painful battle with colon cancer. The next day, Chamisa wrestled the throne from his leader while he lay
in a coffin, citing grave dangers inherent in leaving the top party position unoccupied.
In doing so, he outsmarted the MDC-T’s two other party vice presidents – Thokozani Khupe and Elias Mudzuri – to Tsvangirai’s throne. That, naturally, did not go down well with Khupe and Mudzuri, and even Tsvangirai’s family protested profusely over the scramble for the throne that had ensured in the party in the midst of a funeral.
Appeals to Chamisa to let go of the throne until after the funeral, and to submit to party constitutional means of acquiring it, fell on deaf ears. The scramble deepened after Tsvangirai’s funeral, leading to a split, with Khupe and Mudzuri separately taking a chunk of the MDC-T each, heading different ways, leaving Chamisa with the bigger part.
It was election year, and the performance of the MDC-T in its splintered state in the crucial poll, was a foregone conclusion.
Of the different variants of the MDC-T, Chamisa’s performed better in the 2018 general election, or so he thought.
Before he had settled after the poll, assuming validated and consolidated control of the main opposition party, Khupe struck at Chamisa with a legal challenge of his hold of Tsvangirai’s coveted throne – his passport in the election.
The courts, guided by the party’s last congress structures and constitution, took away the throne from Chamisa, and handed it to Khupe as the ‘congress-elected’ deputy to Tsvangirai, marking the first round of bad luck for the young, charismatic politician.
To add salt to injury, with the throne came rich financial pickings for Khupe under the Political Finances Act, all thanks to Chamisa’s good parliamentary showing in the general election. So near, yet so far for him, both in terms of party leadership, and access to bountiful funding from government. Even his quest for the national presidency, for a first comer, was not bad.
In a huff, Chamisa set up a new political outfit, the Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC), or so he believed – to have yet another go this year at the presidential and parliamentary thrones held by President Emmerson Mnangagwa, and the ruling Zanu-PF party.
This time, to safeguard his party throne against potential internal ‘thieves’, Chamisa made the CCC largely leaderless, constitution-less and structure-less, save for his own position, and a few others mostly personally hand-picked. Safely barricaded in his position, reinforced by party operations solely running on his whims, he charged into the August general elections confident whatever pickings from the poll were his to manage, and direct, most especially the purse from Treasury.
Little did he, or anyone else, imagine that barely two months after leading the CCC to a good parliamentary showing in the elections, Chamisa would find himself engulfed in another party leadership tussle in which his position would be in jeopardy again. Let alone, losing access and control, yet again, to another inflow of funding under the Political Finances Act for which he worked for in the August elections.
He has locked horns with Sengezo Tshabangu, who claims to be the interim secretary general of the CCC, and is exercising what would be the power of Chamisa’s office in ordinary set ups. Tshabangu has recalled hordes of newly elected CCC legislators from parliament, and party representatives in local councils, accusing them of having been smuggled onto the party election ticket in the August polls.
Although he has refrained from naming the smuggler, he has left Chamisa barely disguised in the alleged electoral fraud, which has paved way for numerous by-elections in the weeks ahead, much to the glee of Zanu-PF which hopes to strengthen its grip on parliament. Protests by Chamisa, and his party supporters, against Tshabangu’s actions have drawn a blank even at the courts where the recalled legislators had taken the matter. The High Court has ruled in favour of Tshabangu, a judgment that – to many – marks the beginning of another ‘robbery’ of a party and its throne from Chamisa.
The judgment has not only validated Tshabangu’s position in the CCC, it gives legal cover to his past, present and future actions in the party, and considerably strengthens his standing at the expense of Chamisa. And Tshabangu is not a man shy of displaying his power. Even before the court judgment, he had demanded to be a signatory on the nomination papers of CCC candidates in the upcoming by-elections, sidelining Chamisa, and giving him absolute power and control over party legislators.
Tshabangu has also demanded access to, and control of the party’s share of funding from Treasury which, unless the Supreme Court reverses the High Court’s judgment, will most likely be granted. While the nation awaits the upper court’s verdict, that of the High Court already in hand, has set the scene for a replay of the earlier Khupe ‘recovery/robbery’ of the throne from Chamisa.
Indeed, so near, yet so far for him in the treacherous opposition politics in the country.
New Ziana
