By Dr Masimba Mavaza | Zimbabwe President has announced dates for bi-elections. The 25th of January has been set by court to be Nomination Day. Political parties are now jostling to come up with candidates. They are running their primary elections to come up with the candidates who will represent them in the elections in March.

Zimbabwe is always blessed with tens of parties some of them are dead and only wake up towards elections. Some parties are alive and die towards elections.

Throughout the three years there has been a fight for power within MDC. This resulted in Chamisa taking the matter to court where he emerged as the loser.

Now after splitting the MDC scattering it into fragments which number from A to Z the MDC are mow fighting for the names. Mwonzora took advantage of the supreme court ruling and he grabbed the names and offices before he dribbles Khupe. Mwonzora has laid claim of ownership to all the names and asserts of the MDC. On the other had the seemingly clever Chamisa refused to budge and is crying loudly for the name.
While Chamisa and Mwonzora are battling it out it is the electorate which suffers. With the By-Elections on the corner Chamisa is left holding on to an empty name.

The problem both opposition members did was to believe that they will fit in Tsvangirai’s shoes. Tsvangirai built his name and the party benefited from his charisma. This is what is lacking in the two MDC splits.

But why Chamisa is refusing to come up with his own name for his party. He is surely out of time. He wishes his incompetence to be used to nullify the elections. The opposition has majored on boycotts and running to their handler to undermine the Zimbabwean sovereign.
Chamisa is failing to understand the importance of names. Names have significance. They have power. They define the political part.
An independent or non-partisan political party is a political party not affiliated with any political ideology. There is only one reason why why someone may stand for office without a name.
Some politicians have political views that do not align with the platforms of any political party, and therefore choose not to affiliate with them by name or otherwise.

Chamisa may pretend to have time but they have none. Most political parties go for a simple, descriptive name that, as best as possible, indicates their ideology, platform or who they seek to represent. But there are some parties you come across where there is a total disconnect between the name and the party. Names that are so counter-intuitive or perplexing that you can only wonder why they haven’t changed it. Here are a few.Contrary to longstanding arguments that equate parties with durable, information-rich brand names, the relabeling of parties is not rare, and in many countries it is not even very unusual.
The refusal by Chamisa to rebrand his offshoot exposes a coward dressed in a lion’s carcass.
Chamisa should know that
Through their labels, parties identify candidates to voters and provide voters with information about their ideological preferences. In short, party labels convey established reputations and provide a crucial information shortcut for voters. This what Chamisa is depriving his followers by keeping the name of the party to his chest.
Names have significance. They have power. They define us. Yet MDC thinks names are a secret game. Our names are an incredibly important part of our identity. They carry deep personal, cultural, familial, and historical connections. They also give us a sense of who we are, the communities in which we belong, and our place in the world.
Names are very important. We might not realize it, but they are more than just ways to identify a person. No one wonder many new parents spend so much time trying to settle on the right name for their bundle of joy.
Yet Chamisa is afraid to come up with a name so that if he is disqualified he blames ZEC for his name or the absence of it. Most political parties go for a simple, descriptive name that, as best as possible, indicates their ideology, platform or who they seek to represent. In other words, they do exactly what it says on the tin. But there are some parties you come across where there is a total disconnect between the name and the party. Names that are so counter-intuitive or perplexing that you can only wonder why they haven’t changed it.
Chamisa tries his best to bury himself in the dustbin of politics and blame whoever is successful. Homogeneity is not a place of growth. If things were the same all the time, we would never have a spark that allows for improvements and expansions and advancements. We need diversity of thought and diversity of perspective.
And we can’t have that if we don’t allow people the very root of their political self — their name. A rose is a rose for a reason.Calling it a daffodil doesn’t diminish the inherent power of the rose, but it does diminish what the rose feels about being a rose. Take great care in pronouncing the rose’s name correctly. No one likes being called the wrong thing.We all deserve a name, and we deserve it to be said correctly.Call a rose a rose, or whatever it asks to be called.
Chamisa and his team must go and join a hide and seek team and leave politics to those who are not ashamed with their names and principles.
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