Opposition leader Nelson Chamisa has received an early boost
ahead of what could turn out to be a bruising contest when the MDC congress
gets underway in three months’ time — after several party structures moved to
endorse his candidature at the weekend.
This comes as speculation is growing that respected MDC
secretary-general, Douglas Mwonzora — as well as one of Chamisa’s two deputies,
Elias Mudzuri — could also throw their hats into the ring when the country’s
main opposition party holds its eagerly-awaited elective congress in May.
The charismatic Chamisa took over the party’s reins under
hotly-disputed circumstances in February last year, following the death of the
MDC’s revered founding president Morgan Tsvangirai — who lost his valiant
battle against colon cancer on Valentine’s Day, and soon after he had elevated
the youthful politician to the party’s presidium.
With behind-the-scenes campaigning gathering steam ahead of
the party’s congress, many MDC structures are already marking the territory for
their favoured leaders — with a number of them moving to make it clear at the
weekend that Chamisa would receive their backing when this highly-anticipated
gathering gets underway in May.
“We met as a provincial executive council on Sunday and
unanimously agreed to stand by the president (Chamisa), so that he takes us to
2023.
“It was not a difficult decision to reach because what he
has done so far is there for all to see … It is clear that nobody in the
party at present can match that,” Mashonaland West provincial secretary Edson
Ndirayire told the Daily News yesterday.
Mashonaland East provincial chairperson Piniel Denga also
said while they had not met as a province to nominate their candidate, the
executive had earlier agreed at its provincial assembly meeting that Chamisa
should remain at the party’s helm.
“As the chairman, I made that proposal and it was agreed to
by all … so when the nomination day comes, we are simply going to refer to
that agreement, and so our position is already clear that we are going with
Chamisa,” Denga said.
On her part, women’s assembly chairperson Lynnet
Karenyi-Kore said the fact that Chamisa had emerged leader at short notice
following the death of Tsvangirai — while also going on to perform well in the
July 30, 2018 presidential election — was “enough proof that he was a solid
leader”.
“As women, we are confident that only Chamisa has what it
takes now. He managed to get us over two million votes despite the handicap of
having to be thrown at the deep end at the last minute. “We still want him to
continue and see where he takes us because the road we have travelled with him
so far is promising … and so come congress he is our man,” Karenyi-Kore said
emphatically.
And speaking to the Daily News separately, MDC youth assembly
secretary-general Lovemore Chinoputsa also said they were already lobbying
other structures to rally behind Chamisa.
“Our support for Chamisa is premised on the principle that
young people should be promoted into positions of leadership — hence for purposes
of this congress we have taken a decision to work towards convincing all other
structures in this regard,” Chinoputsa said.
However, other party insiders said it was not yet “cast in
stone that Chamisa will roll over” his opponents in May.
This was particularly so if Mwonzora decided to contest him.
“These elections are far from decided because it is early
days yet. Anyone, particularly Dougie (Mwonzora) has a chance of winning this
post because he is respected and loved by many in the party who see him as
mature and level-headed.
“Remember too that five years ago, Chamisa lost to Mwonzora
hands down despite him thinking that he had the support of 11 of the party’s 12
provinces.
“As you also know, a day is too long in politics … and
indeed, only time will tell when we get to May how the exact picture will look
like, as well as who is likely to win,” one of the insiders told the Daily
News.
The well-placed source’s sentiments come after Chamisa was
defeated by Mwonzora in 2014 for the secretary-general’s post — who was, at the
time, considered a rank outsider in those elections.
Chamisa then held the powerful post of MDC organising
secretary, a position which was said to have given him the opportunity to
revamp party structures in his favour — and which structures were expected to
give him an overwhelming victory against Mwonzora, who was the party
spokesperson at the time.
Mwonzora scored a shock and unexpected crushing victory over
Chamisa — which saw him getting 2 464 votes against his rival’s 1 756.
This subsequently left Chamisa as an ordinary card-carrying
member, before he was rescued by Tsvangirai who appointed him to the MDC
national executive as secretary for policy and research. There were even
unconfirmed suggestions at the time that a stunned Chamisa, unwilling to
stomach the results of those internal polls, was even contemplating resigning
from the MDC altogether — which never happened.
In an ironic turn of fate, Chamisa was to later assume the
reins of the country’s main opposition party ahead of his rivals following the
death of Tsvangirai last year — albeit, under controversial circumstances.
The 41-year-old was accused of having allegedly used his then assumed closeness to Tsvangirai’s widow, Elizabeth, to torpedo the ambitions of the likes of Mudzuri and Thokozani Khupe.
-Daily News
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