By Gift Mashoko

MDC leader, Nelson Chamisa has attempted to pacify the restive 2018 election agents after failing to pay them their dues.

It has been five months since the July 30 presidential elections were held and MDC has not yet paid its election agents who have become impatient. Chamisa met the election agents at the Morgan Richard Tsvangirai House with the intention of pacifying them.

He apologised saying the failure to pay them was due to the financial constraints the party was facing. He, however, promised to pay them $60 each before the end of December 2018.

Chamisa shifted blame to Secretary General Douglas Mwonzora, saying it was him who had delayed payment.

This did not go down well with some of the election agents. Preferring anonymity, one of the election agents said that the money being offered was a joke compared to what they had been promised.

“This $60 we are being promised is a joke, it’s nothing. What are we expected to do with that little money. They had initially promised to pay us $100 a day during the election period, now they are saying $60. If he does not pay us in full we might be forced to expose them since we know what they are trying to do following their loss during election time,” she said.

During the same meeting, Chamisa promised to facilitate employment for the election agents in the different MDC Alliance led councils.

Analysts said that Chamisa was trying to pacify the agents because he was scared that since they know what exactly happened during the elections, they might spill the beans on MDC Alliance’s Presidential loss.

MDC Alliance is always claiming that President Mnangagwa and the new dispensation are not doing anything to curb corruption. Ironically, Chamisa is fuelling corruption by promising employment to these election agents who do not have qualifications at the expense of qualified citizens.

These are some of the reasons why the MDC Alliance led council are always failing to deliver efficient and effective services.

The blame Chamisa put on Mwonzora was just a way of soiling Mwonzora’s reputation since he felt that Mwonzora might be a threat to him at the upcoming October 2019 elective congress.

Chamisa also took advantage of the meeting with the election agents as a platform to campaign ahead of the congress.