By Dr Masimba Mavaza | MDC A is set to break into further fragments as the infighting becomes intense. Having enjoyed the urban support since its formation MDC is showing signs of fatigue and they losing the grip in their strongholds. Following the death of the MDC founding leader, Morgan Tsvangirai, and the drubbing the party received at the hands of ZANU PF during the 30 July 2018 harmonised elections, the party has been behaving as a shepherdless sheep. The situation was worsened by the current party leader, Nelson Chamisa who grabbed power in a mafia style.
No matter how that party claims to be the epitome of democracy, it has failed on its principles on every facet. Internal democracies call for congresses where party leadership is openly chosen, but not in this party where Chamisa sees this as his only chance of continuing to hold on to power like his life depends on it.
Zimbabweans owe Tsvangirai some gratitude for supporting maintaining democracy but It feels as if he was doing it to become a dictator himself. Ironically the constitution of the MDC is the most undemocratic and chaotic piece of paper. Tsvangirais death brought up great fissures within MDC. Where the family of Tsvangirai suddenly decides who should take over from Tsvangirai. As long as the party has Tsvangirai’s name in it it becomes a family property. Chamisa has departed from Tsvangirai’s grip and has ordered all portraits of Tsvangirai to be pulled off the walls at Harvest House
The Chamisa Chete chete mantra has plunged the party in a big pool of destruction. The MDC will never remain the same MDC has shown us a vivid illustration of the unity of purpose that characterizes this party when it is at its worst. It was that unity of purpose that drove MDC leaders to be rumour mongers in their quest for snatching leadership reins from Chamisa. It was that unity of purpose that laid the foundations of division within MDC. It is that unity of purpose that is the key to OPPOSITION progress in the years ahead.
Chamisa has been accused of trying to erase the name of Tsvangirai from the party. He started his crusade by engineering the ouster of Obert Gutu and Khupe. Chamisa pointed a middle finger to Tsvangirai when he recalled Tendai Biti and the violent Job Sikhala back to the MDC. For the people who had been fired by Tsvangirai recalling them was a sign of disrespecting Tsvangirai in his grave. To add an insult to the injury Chamisa gave Biti a constituency which was already under Obert Gutu and he did not hesitate to kick Gutu out.
In his devious manner Chamisa drew swords against Mwonzora. Chamisa is an unforgiving crook so he had a grudge against Mwonzora and decided to strike him when he least expected. He aimed his weapon of vengeance on all the senior MDC cadres. He started taking advise from Biti and thus he set the destruction of the party in motion.
Chamisa encouraged gossip and would act on rumours. He took the skill of the old MDC and led by the field Marshal Job Sikhala to attack violently those who dared question him.
Rumours and scandals are being spread around in a bid to victimise Mwonzora and the senior MDC MEMBERS. THE MDC supporters are frustrated by the way Chamisa is running the party. The party is now on a free fall.
MDC supporters now believe that Chamisa shed crocodile tears during Tsvangirai’s funeral.
It was well known Khupe never worked well with Tsvangirai but on Tsvangirais death Khupe shared more tears than the bereaved. She was aware that MDC has been reduced to a tribal party and it was clear that she would not succeed should she try to claim what was hers.
Unity of purpose was used negatively in the case of MDC.
We can see concrete examples of that unity of purpose in so much of MDC public spats.
The return of Biti and his crew was the starting point. Chamisa initially hoped to control Biti and Sikhala. But this backfired badly as Biti and Sikhala created a faction which pretends to be on Chamisa’s side while they are planning to remove chamisa from office.
Sikhala is seen to radical yet he is trying to rebuild his profile. The daggers are out and MDC now spending more time fire fighting. Job Sikhala is a well known schemer and his scheming stinks.
Biti is taking advantage of his proximity to America and is building his foreign profile. It is now clear that Biti has the sponsors in his hand which makes Chamisa a puppet of Biti. The university politics where Chamisa has gathered all old student activists into high positions has alienated Chamisa from people and now he is being buried by those he trusted. The Unity Chamisa wished to achieve by recalling Biti Sikhala and some misfits who were fired by Tsvangirai has given him a serious headache.
Unity of purpose guides MDC’s collaboration for democracy, human rights and good governance, to fly away into the thin air. It drove their collective efforts for peace and security — including being champions of democracy to vanish into thin air.
Throughout history, political parties that reaffirmed their enduring spirit, have come together to work towards their mutual gain. In a nutshell, that is the simple meaning of unity of purpose. But MDC has transformed it into a confusion and dying party now left in the hands of rumour mongers scandrous bigots power hungry hypocrites and dangerous leaders.
People may use different paths but all travelling the same journey; holding on to the ideals that are important to all of them. Unity of purpose also means the ability to identify, negotiate and resolve differences. MDC is now bedevilled by lack of these qualities, hence its perennial problems. It behooves on members of the MDC to take advantage of opportunities, to participate, promote collective responsibility, and foster a strong sense of belonging. Honesty and hard work; shared understanding and support for each other; sense of identity teamwork and social solidarity; high level of involvement in political projects; courage and fair play; mutual co-operation and tolerance; emotional support for members; and loyalty and patriotism. All these values, if held sacrosanct, and if people had pulled in one direction, MDC would have certainly achieve unity of purpose, which is the sum total of a stable political party. In the MDC such values have been devalued to nothing like the legs of the snake. It is because their priorities are wrong.
But what is a good MDC brand or a beautifully written Constitution when the people are at each other’s throats? Unity of purpose is the ultimate goal and aspiration of any party.
It should be noted that there is still unresolved anger, hatred, fear, worry and stress which continue to haunt MDC arising from different episodes of their history.
Of what use is it, to build a big party which can go up in smoke in one day as violence flares up within MDC the nation is reminded that MDC only brings violence and no progress. It does not stand for a single democratic value. Chamisa was a cart before the oxen. He was appointed then the constitution was amended. The idea of giving a party your name shows the greatest hypocrisy being paracticed by MDC. Politics must know that it pays more dividends to invest in peace.
The relational dimension involves the emotional and psychological aspects of the fighting parties within the MDC. As a concept and praxis, reconciliation endeavours to reframe the conflict so that the parties are no longer preoccupied with anger or seeking revenge. The prime objective, which is, achieving unity of purpose, is how to seek innovative ways to create time and space within various levels of the populations for long lasting reconciliation to be implemented. This is imperative in order to address, integrate and embrace the painful past, and the shared future, as a means of dealing with the present.
So MDC should not start talking about unity of purpose before it is at peace with each other. They have neither the unity and they are not convinced for what purpose.
They are a people spell bound by a curse. MDC therefore needs to come to terms with its past in order to achieve unity of purpose. In all this confusion the factions are emerging and the cracks are getting wide. Sikhala has his agenda and Chamisa with his overacted Knowlledge
They have nothing they are offering to any person. All their supporters are being fed with imaginary fear. ZANU PF shall attain unity of purpose come hell or Chamisa. MDC is now breaking into pieces. It will be buried together with its leader. Already it is fighting itself it is now using thugs called vanguards to destabilise peace. Zimbabwe should not be led by a Movement of Democratic Confusion