By Nobleman Runyanga

MDC leader, Nelson Chamisa is increasingly being isolated by some pro-constitutionalism members of his national executive, the Harare Post can exclusively reveal.

An aide to a member of the party’s national standing committee, who chose anonymity for fear of reprisal, confided to this publication that some elements in the MDC, who are committed to constitutionalism are increasingly getting impatient with Chamisa over his insistence on including President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s legitimacy in his conditions for participating in national dialogue.

“These senior party members are calling on Chamisa to be serious about national dialogue. They are disappointed with the fact that he continues to accuse (President) Mnangagwa of not inviting him for the dialogue while he keeps throwing spanners into the dialogue works by putting conditions such as a neutral facilitator,” the source said.

“The party members are not happy that Chamisa wants to continue to lead the MDC, which is supposed to champion democracy, yet he is flagrantly disregarding the constitution by insisting that (President) Mnangagwa did not win the election despite the election result being upheld by the constitutional court. Here’s a guy who says he is a lawyer but disrespects the ruling of the country’s court,” the source indicated.

“Chamisa wants some African leaders to mediate between him and (President) Mnangagwa yet almost all of them congratulated the winner. Who among them would want to be the fool that congratulates the winner today and turns back tomorrow and offers to mediate between the same winner and the loser? It doesn’t work. He should just accept the results and allow the party and its supporters to move on,” the source confided.

The senior party members are also cross with Chamisa for not taking his position seriously.

“Some National Standing Committe members feel let down by Chamisa who seems not to understand his role. The MDC is a democratic party and democracy means accepting election results and if they are not in one’s favour one prepares for the next poll instead of fighting the winner and the election management body. The members are particularly concerned about the risk of irrelevance which the party faces if Chamisa continues with his ruinous mindset. (President) Mnangagwa and ZANU PF are discharging their mandate and pushing their own party and national agendas while the MDC and its members are tied to 30 July 2018 for over a year now. They are afraid that the party risks being irrelevant come 2023,” the source highlighted.

Asked about the MDC’s so-called diplomatic offensive, the source indicated that the senior party members had highlighted that in their conversations with African, Western and Asian leaders it was clear that that no one would take Chamisa seriously if he continued to dwell on the legitimacy issue.

“Remember that the region, the continent and the world were tired of Zimbabwe’s issues which spanned nearly 20 years and the 2018 election provided a chance for closure to the matter. No one, therefore, wishes to continue prolonging it especially after such a peaceful poll,” the source said.

The pressure on Chamisa comes against the background of simmering tensions between him and one of his deputies, Tendai Biti, who supports strict observance of constitutionalism.

This is worsened by the fact that the MDC’s traditional backers such as the United States have lost confidence in him and are supporting dialogue and now think that Biti makes a better leader.