Dear President Advocate Chamisa,
I have been an active member and supporter of the MDC since 1999 and have gone through the pains and achievements you and other veterans of this struggle have faced over the years. The current wave of challenges is not new to the movement but provides us with a new opportunity. An opportunity to go back to the drawing board, an opportunity to sit back and review the journey we have travelled to date and an opportunity to re-strategize and face the beast in the eye.
The name MDC has been a subject of conflict for a long time and it is high time we drop it. The 2.6 million Zimbabweans who voted for you in 2018 did not do so because you were representing the MDC. They voted for you because they subscribed to your manifesto and what you were promising them. If it were about the name Madam Khupe would have performed much better because she even had a “T” on her MDC logo. In any case we had more votes for the President than for our parliamentarians combined, at least according to ZEC figures. If it were about the name, the same people who voted for you as President would have voted for our MPs.
People vote for issues; they do not vote for political party names. An election is not a contest of political party names but rather a contest of ideologies. Let us drop this name Mr. President. Let us rebrand this movement, let us take the fight to the enemy’s doorstep. Members of parliament who are supporting you must resign en-mass in solidarity with the recalled MPs. A bi election will allow you to settle this matter politically. In addition, a Bi election will deny the Mwonzora team the money that they are after in this whole game.
This is not a legal matter, but rather a political one being driven by the love for power and the love for money. Political matters are not solved in the legal courts but rather in the court of politics. You were a politician before you became a lawyer Mr. President, take this battle to where you have an advantage. Your strength as a politician is with the people. Take this fight to the people and they will solve it for you. Drop the name “MDC “completely, to avoid being dragged to captured courts again in future. Rebrand, re-strategize and refocus. Nothing can stop an idea whose time has come.
To make you understand where I am coming from, I will give two examples of great political movements in Africa that rebranded for one reason or another and went on to win power in their respective countries.
On 8 January 1912 in South Africa a party called the South African Native National Congress (SANNC) was formed by veterans like Saul Msane (Esq.), Josiah Gumede, John Dube, Pixley ka Isaka Seme, and Sol Plaatje, among others. It took a new generation led by Anton Lembede to rename the party to the ANC in 1944 and rebrand it. It is the ANC that eventually won power in 1994.
The ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) in Nigeria was an alliance of the three biggest opposition parties at the time the namely, the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC), the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP). When the three parties merged, they formed a completely new party called APC and their leader Muhammadu Buhari went on to win the election interestingly gunning 2.6 million votes. This was the first time in Nigeria’s political history that an opposition political party unseated a governing party in a general election and one in which power transferred peacefully from one political party to another.
I will sign off this letter with a biblical analogy. When Elijah was about to depart to heaven, he promised Elisha a double portion of his anointing. To get the double portion, Elisha had to see Elijah go as well as to be handed the mantle of Elijah. As the journeyed, a whirlwind came and separated them. A whirlwind raises dust and it was going to be difficult for Elisha to see Elijah go because it is very difficult if not impossible to open your eyes in a whirlwind. When Elijah was caught up in a chariot of fire, he did not place the mantle in Elisha’s hand, but he rather dropped it on the ground. This posed a different challenge for Elisha because any of fifty sons of the prophets who were there could have picked up the mantle. Elisha, regardless of having the promise had to grab the mantle before anyone else could. The same applies to you Mr. President, power is never given on a silver platter, power is grabbed. Elisha had to follow Elijah all the way from Gilgal to Jordan, he had to keep his eyes open even in a whirlwind and he had to strategically position himself in order to grab the mantle first. He remained focused and was persistent. It is in moments like these Mr. President, when you need to take charge, focus and re-strategize. Elisha refused to listen to his rivals. They were correct that Elijah was going, but they did not have the promise. You have the promise given to you by 2.6 million Zimbabweans in 2018. Safeguard that promise, do not be destructed by your rivals, do not fall into their trap.
Ikoko kuseri kwa Tsvangirai ndiko kune midzimu yedu!!!
Dzvanya Chamisa, ramba wakadzvanya ipapo!!!
Henry Munashe Jaji is a member of the MDC Alliance residing in Australia and writes in his own capacity.