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Nobleman Runyanga
Correspondent
Last week, The Guardian published an opinion article penned by MDC-Alliance leader, Nelson Chamisa, entitled “The international community must stop legitimising despots’ regimes in Africa.”
In the article, Chamisa accused the international community of aiding and abetting what he termed the perpetuation of the delay of the future of the youth by “ageing authoritarian politicians” in apparent reference to some countries that endorsed the Ugandan elections held last month.
The opposition leader claimed that there was increasing authoritarianism in Zimbabwe and Uganda, adding that the leaders of the two countries were intolerant of dissent.
He cited the arrest of Ugandan opposition figure, Robert Kyagulanyi Ssentamu, also known as Bobi Wine, during the campaign period for gathering supporters in disregard of Covid-19 safety protocols which preclude crowds.
If Chamisa was honest with himself, he would have told the truth about the Zimbabwean democratic space.
In the run up to the 2018 election, he freely criss-crossed Zimbabwe, addressing more than 70 campaign rallies in areas which prior to the advent of President Mnangagwa’s administration he could not imagine.
Chamisa even abused the opened up democratic space to insult and poke fun at President Mnangagwa. Nevertheless, nearly three years, he has never been arrested or questioned about it.
Chamisa shamelessly accused African governments, Zimbabwe’s included, of refusing “to allow young people to develop politically and take on leadership roles”.
In 2018 at 40 years of age following Tsvangirai’s death, he seized the leadership of his party from the rightful heiress, Dr Thokozani Khupe, who had been elected during that party’s elective congress of October 2014 as the party deputy.
He went on to contest as the party’s presidential election candidate and lost to President Mnangagwa.
One wonders what he was talking about when he wrote of the youth being barred from taking leadership positions.
His age was never used to disqualify him. Maybe excitement of contributing an opinion piece to a global publication got the better of him.
In what seemed to be his way forward for the false situation he painted, Chamisa highlighted that “there is a need for deliberate policies that include young people in the political and economic architecture of their countries.”
Most of Chamisa’s sentiments read like a script from a Martian visitor.
He lives in Zimbabwe where young people are staking their claim on the economic landscape by participating in agriculture, mining and other initiatives, but he chose to conveniently forget about them because youths from his party refused to participate in the initiatives after he forbade them.
Fearing that the ruling party, Zanu PF, and Government would gain credit, he dismissed the initiatives as Zanu PF gimmicks and some of his young members remain very cross with him for that.
Apart from his usual baseless accusations of human rights abuses, Chamisa accused Zanu PF of “using surrogates to undermine and shut down the opposition” in apparent reference to the March 31 2020 Supreme Court judgement, which adjudged his hostile takeover of the party in 2018 as irregular.
This resulted in the December 2020 election of a new leadership fronted by Douglas Mwonzora. The internal poll reduced Chamisa’s formation into a faction of the main party led by Mwonzora.
In line with the judgment, Treasury released the $7,4 million due to the party under the Political Parties (Finances) Act to the Mwonzora executive to Chamisa’s chagrin.
Chamisa contradicted himself.
A Government which is bent on shutting down the opposition would not allocate it funds due to it under the law.
Chamisa has been telling anyone who cares to listen that Mwonzora is “a Zanu PF project.” This is just a way of saving face after the embarrassing judgement.
It developed into propaganda and apparently he now believes his own lies to the extent of selling them to the world. If anyone propelled Mwonzora to his position, it is Chamisa’s immature decision to seize the party from Dr Khupe.
The opposition faction leader also sought to get the world’s buy-in on his claims that President Mnangagwa stole the 2018 election by accusing the international community of “rubber-stamping these illegitimate outcomes in the name of maintaining a supposed peace.”
Chamisa again chose to conveniently forget to tell the world that after losing the 2018 poll, he took the matter to the Constitutional Court, where it was heard on 24 August 2018.
He lost the case after failing to prove his claims.
As part of his preparations for the elections, Chamisa did not pay his polling agents and when asked to produce the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) V11 forms for the court to determine whether or not there was any electoral theft, his team failed to produce any.
Was the international community supposed to pay for his ZEC form V11 as well?
Those who followed the Ugandan elections and Ssentamu’s candidature will agree that, like Chamisa, he is viewed as popular among the youth, but lacks the necessary political maturity, gravitas and mettle to lead a country like Uganda. No wonder he lost.
He was not even sure of victory and he ended up basing his likely performance not on his support on the ground, but on social media.
On January 13 2021, he tweeted: “One million just before polling day? I think this is one of the many signs of victory on our side.”
What people such as Chamisa and Ssentamu should know is that power is not given on the basis of social media following, perceived popularity, publishing opinion articles in global publications, appeals to the international community or wishes.
Power is won on the basis of the quality of one’s candidature.
This is why even in the United States, they voted a 78-year-old Joe Biden into power on the basis of the quality of his candidature. Candidates have to convince the electorate with their ideology, policies and programmes.
The international community cannot win an election for a candidate just because he is a young opposition politician. Power is not about sympathy. It is about merit.
Chamisa’s party has been running all of Zimbabwe’ nearly 30 urban local authorities since 2020.
Councillors from his party have run down once beautiful cities like Harare through corruption and abuse of office.
Chamisa himself is known for blatant lies. Given this background, who would want such candidates to rule over them?
The international community should be careful to avoid being used by poor quality politicians like Chamisa.
Falsely accusing sitting national leaders of repression will never bring undeserved State power in a silver platter to political quislings like Chamisa.
Power is given by the electorate, and not by the international community.
Online Reporter