The MDC has now officially split into two over ideological differences.
As I said at the beginning of this month, Chamisa is set to face one of his toughest month in June as the faction led by Thokozani Khupe continues to gain ground.
Tapiwa Mashakada, who comes from Nelson Chamisa’s home area criticized Nelson Chamisa in an interview with Sly Media :
Mashakada said the party has been hijacked by a ZINASU cabal. He said Chamisa has surrounded himself with his former friends from the University of Zimbabwe and has cast aside anyone from the ZCTU, the labour body that formed the MDC.
Mashakada said 75% of leaders in the MDC believe that Chamisa ‘s Strategy is wrong.
Chamisa is however, being prevented from uniting with other MDC leadership because of Charlton Hwende and Tendai Biti.
New Offices
Chamisa is reported to have secured new offices in Eastlea or in Masasa. He has also launched a new website, mdcallianceparty.org
Tsvangirai Family
Khupe, Mwonzora, Komichi and other former ZCTU leaders have aligned themselves with the Tsvangirai family and with the support of the courts, have taken over MDC offices, bank accounts, MPs and most importantly, they have damaged Nelson Chamisa ‘s brand.
Recall of MPs
In the coming week, we are going to see the first replacements of recalled MPs. If Khuphe gets into Parliament as a PR Member of Parliament, that will be a clear indication of the strategy.
Unity Government
During the press conference yesterday, Khuphe said the MDC is now going to be a responsible opposition party.
Khuphe is likely to accept a position of the leader of the opposition. This is a game changer because this means she will be having an office, government resources and will be part of the system.
Funds
On the other hand, Chamisa ‘s efforts to raise funds from members is unlikely succeed. Ecocash and the website fund raising will likely to hit a brick wall because Chamisa has not taken seriously the job of building external structures.
Most Diaspora Zimbabweans will not blindly donate their money when there are so many questions regarding the transparency and accountability over funds raised in the past.
So the next biggest challenges facing Chamisa will be the failure to raise resources.
Conclusion
By allowing a split to happen, Chamisa has failed the test of negotiating and stakeholder management.
This will backfire for him in the long term. Besides fighting ZANU PF, Chamisa is now going to be fighting his former comrades in the MDC Alliance.
