Gambakwe Media sources have revealed that Joanna Mamombe Approached Khupe representatives on behalf of Nelson Chamisa to kick start negotiations in 2016 before the death of Morgan Tsvangirai.
In June 2018, when Morgan Tsvangirai was hospitalized , Joanna Mamombe travelled to South Africa and met various Dr Khuphe Faction members and tried to negotiate for talks between the two factions.
At that time there were two factions, the Cobras Faction and the Khuphe Faction. It was clear at that point that it was just a matter of time before Tsvangirai died.
Joanna was told by Chief Ndlovu and made it clear that Chamisa wanted an amicable relationship with Khuphe.
Gambakwe Media spoke directly to Chief Ndlovu and enquired about this meeting with Joanna Mamombe and he confirmed that he met with Joanna Mamombe and she made the approach. Ndlovu, who was MDC chairman for South Africa, said he spoke to Mamombe and asked her to talk to Chamisa and ask him to stop the personal attacks that were going on against Dr Thokozani Khupe at the time.
Mamombe promised that she would talk to Chamisa so that the attacks and misinformation about Dr Khupe would stop and then she would come back to him. However, Mamombe never came back and the attacks on Dr khupe never stopped.
At that time, Chamisa was backed by students and youths assemblies who would publicly attack Dr khupe on social media including spreading falsehoods about her.
We all know that Chamisa eventually managed to push through and become the MDC President through the method that has resulted in him being declared illegitimate by the Supreme court this week.
At that time, Chamisa’s supporters managed to convince people that he was popular and the other two vice presidents were not electable and were also against Morgan Tsvangirai and therefore did not qualify to become the next ZImbabwe Vice President.
Most MDC supporters honestly believed that ignoring the constitution at that time was for the benefit of the party!
However, the outcome of that approach was a more divided MDC and in a way the loss in the 2018 elections as Khuphe went on to get just enough votes to deny Chamisa a run-off.
Now I want to give you my opinion about current events
After the Supreme court ruling, Chamisa seems to be repeating the same mistake. His supporters are doing the following two things:
1. They are publicly attacking MDC Leaders that agreed with the Supreme court ruling.
2. They are publicly attacking the Supreme Court ruling, despite the fact that Chamisa is the one who approached that court.
3. They are communicating that disregarding the constitution of the MDC constitution at present is for the good of the party.
The outcome of this approach as I mentioned last week, is further division in the MDC and more factionalism.
However, this time around, Chamisa and his supporters have to proceed carefully because if he fails to unite the MDC, there will now be people openly opposing him instead of the secret resistance that was going on.
Chamisa will likely go into the 2023 elections with the disadvantage of illegitimacy hanging over his head.
Chamisa therefore needs to be careful to avoid the mistakes he made in 2016 and in 2018.
Conclusion
It is important for Chamisa to use a different approach this time around, as soon as the initial shock of actually losing at the Supreme Court wears off, he needs to rise up to the accossion and show true leadership.
