• “I am the only candidate that contested independently and I had a credible 4200 votes, which really you look at, is the third to Mugabe and Tsvangirai.”

I do not support VP Emmerson Mnangagwa, Youth Advocacy for Reform and Democracy (YARD) leader Temba Mliswa writes saying. He deliberates on this as he responds to questions raised in the ZimEye newsroom on Tuesday:
To caveat my response below, I want to make sure that there is no misunderstanding about the polarity of my support for any particular candidate. What I am merely trying to do is see the situation for what it is, in line with the respective office that the leaders are, have and will potentially hold. Our position should be about respecting the office, not the person in the office. Therefore when I talk of Mnangagwa and his current footing, this is not about me being an Mnangagwa supporter, it is about an understanding of the current and future dynamic he holds within and out of the office.
Same applies to Mai Mujuru, Simba Makoni, Morgan Tsvangirayi et al, it is about the office they held or might hold and not them as person or personality.
As the electorate and political commentators, I believe we need to bear in mind that our observations and commentaries should be about offices and their functions:what is the purpose of that office and how it is executed not about personalities. In addition, we have to ensure that we have the right granular leadership qualities in play in the potential candidates. We need leaders that have a gamut of skill, that can influence and break down barriers with our amassed ‘antagonists’. This is vital to the person who takes on the leadership role in 2018 as they have a huge mountain to climb gaining credibility with firstly the electorate, and more importantly the international community so we can revive the economy. So, do we have these skills within our current cohort of potential leaders? Well, in my opinion our current eco-system of leaders does not have a clear bell curve, most of them are all out-liers who will need careful synergy to bring together a leader who has the team that supports him effectively.
Now I jump to the question of leader working with one another: Do Mujuru and Biti share the same ideologies or Makoni and Tsvangirai possibly have the same agenda? Will these people be able to work together and form credible opposition? Mujuru is disadvantaged as leader as she is yet to stand up and challenge Mugabe of his history as the leader of the country, the corruption and the economic down turn. She is yet to test her electorate on support by running independently. To be a credible opposition leader one has to be able to recount the history of in the incumbent leader, their track record and failures, highlighting how they would have made better choices for the people. This gives the electorate a flavour of the leader mind set and their thinking as voting in most cases is centred on speculative reasoning of the electorate in light of the current trajectory. In addition it is also important that, as a potential candidate to have tested the waters to determine the level of support on the ground.
This is the difference between Tsvangirai and Mujuru. Tsvangirai already has the votes and seats in parliament to prove he is seen as a leader despite the issues that are present within his party at the moment; whilst Mujuru on the other hand is holding speculative support. Mujuru, has yet to come out openly and play her hand. She is still hiding behind PF and has not come and officially let her intentions be known or formally put in a challenge for the leadership. This puts her at a disadvantage; however it is common knowledge that Biti and some others are willing to join forces with her and form a party to that will rise as opposition. Aside from this where does Jabulani Sibanda sit in all of this? The War vets still have a strong authority and voice and need to be incorporated. The opposition need to understand the different factions in Zanu pf and court them into their camp so they have the numbers needed to get into government. Politics is about numbers and not personalities.
In order to be in government, one has to have support on the ground. Therefore 2015 numbers become relevant. None of the expelled Zanu Pf candidates ran as independents, therefore there is no indication of the support they have. I am the only candidate that contested independently and I had a credible 4200 votes, which really you look at, is the third to Mugabe and Tsvangirai. Whilst on the subject I must thank Jim Kanaka, Farai Kuvheya, Prosper Gavanga, and Munyaradzi Gomeza for their support when I ran as an independent….