The differences between MDC Alliance President, Nelson Chamisa and Deputy National Chairman, Job Sikhala were publicly revealed today during the funeral of recalled MP, Annah Mpofu.
Failure to take power
Sikhala, who spoke first, challenged Chamisa to come up with a better strategy besides relying on popularity.
Sikhala said the MDC has been in the trenches for over 20 years and yet has failed to take power, despite winning alll elections ( 2.6 Million votes in 2018).
He said while Thokozani Khupe got only 45 000 votes in the 2018 elections, she was not a leader of the opposition.
The people are more important than power
Chamisa, however, responded by saying that power is not as important as being popular with the people. Chamisa said if he had wanted power, he could have taken the offical leader of the opposition position when he was offered it – Which had a motorcade, bodyguards and recognition.
Differences
There are sharp differences in the MDC, among the leaders and among the membership.
While the MDC leaders aligned to Chamisa such as Mahere and Hwende want to stay with the name MDC Alliance, over 90% of the leadership want Chamisa to form a new party.
The generality of the membership want Chamisa to break from the name MDC and form a completely new party.
However, Chamisa and other founder members of the MDC can not imagine life without the name MDC.
What is the problem with Chamisa’s strategy
The MDC has a long history of squabbles and splits. These splits feature the same characters that are in the current MDC Alliance, Chamisa, Khuphe, Biti, Sikhala and Welshman Ncube.
If Chamisa does not change his strategy, he is likely to go into 2023 with legacy issues. This means he will lose in the next elections. So, leaders like Sikhala are justified in calling for a change of course.
Chamisa’s Stategy Mistakes
- Chamisa has failed to act decisively when confronted with adversity. In the face of the Justice Mushore’s ruling, he chose to oppose the court, instead of changing the rule into an advantage. He proceeded with an extraordinary congress, knowing fully well that there was a risk of the congress being nullified.
- When the Supreme court ruling was delivered in December, Chamisa failied to act decisively by withdrawing all his MPs after the win by Khupe.
- When Chamisal’s MPs, Senators and councilors were recalled, he failed to similarly withdraw all his MPs and instead started an unwinnable series of court battles.
- When Khuphe announced that the MDC-T will be using the name MDC Alliance, Chamisa insisted on using the same name
Tactics vs Objectives
If Chamisa continues with his current strategy, he can not become Zimbabwe President. Sikhala is therefore correct in his assessment that popularity is failing to bring about power.
There are four areas that I have consistently advised Chamisa to make changes.
Objectives – Chamisa should make winning the 2023 elections his only objective.
Tactics – Chamisa needs to stop hesitating and act decisively. He needs to leave the MDC Name and start a fresh political alliance under a new banner.
Dialogue – Chamisa needs to join POLAD
Speed – Chamisa needs to reject the current political system in Zimbabwe by withdrawing from it totally. At this point, Chamisa needs to do the unimaginable. He needs to convince all his MPs and councilors to step down from all their positions and leave ZANU-PF and MDC-T on one side and he takes the other.
Once Chamisa takes these steps. He will win the 2023 elections!
Please watch the video above for more details.
