by Ashley Kondo
MDC Alliance leader, Nelson Chamisa, is relentless in his efforts to wield power by all means, legal and illegal, despite suffering defeat in the 30 July 2018 harmonised elections.
Having joined politics at a very tender age, one would expect Chamisa to do a lot better than what he has given Zimbabweans since he took over the reins from his predecessor, the former and late MDC-T leader, Dr Morgan Tsvangirai.
Chamisa joined politics, under the MDC party, at the age of 21 in the late 90s. He was elected National Assembly member for Kuwadzana East Constituency for a couple of times.
Kuwadzana residents and other critics have criticised the embattled opposition leader for having failed to facilitate the completion of the city library and any other developmental projects in the constituency for over a decade.
At a later stage in his political career, Chamisa was appointed the Minister of Information and Communication Technology during the Government of National Unity (GNU) between 2009 and 2013.
Surely, given his experience in Government one would expect Chamisa to have acquired the necessary skills and charisma expected of an experienced politician of his purported magnitude.
Technically, one would think that, after all the time he spent in politics, Chamisa accrued some exceptional skills of leadership and governance.
Additionally, while Chamisa claims that his party is premised on the tenets of democracy, he is nothing but a hypocrite as he continues to disregard those tenets with impunity .
Chamisas ascention to the throne after the death of Dr Tsvangirai was heavily contested as it violated the party constitution.
This led to the fracturing of the party ahead of the 2018 polls resulting in the formation of the MDC-T Khupe faction which was led by Dr Thokazani Khupe.
No doubt, Chamisa failed to unite the MDC-T after taking over from Dr Tsvangirai.
Attempts to inaugurate himself as the President after losing the polls and a legal application at the Constitutional Court that sought to overturn the poll outcome due to alleged electoral fraud and irregularities, which however could not see the light of day, can attest to the fact that the former is motivated by selfish rather than national interest.
MDC spokesperson, Nkululeko Sibanda, told the media that Chamisa would "be recognised as the legitimate president of Zimbabwe by his party and the people of Zimbabwe following resolutions of the national council... Resolutions will be passed to recognise his victory and state it publicly".
Sources close to the MDC revealed that Chamisa had even sent out invites to Kenyan opposition leader, Raila Odinga, to come and attend his delusional inauguration ceremony.
After suffering defeat in the 30 July elections, Chamisa realised that his loss had made him a political destitute without a political home after the Courts ruled that Khupe was the rightful heir of the MDC-T.
In a bid to remain relevant on the political arena, Chamisa is seeking to maintain a firm hold on power.
As a result, Chamisa seeks to transform the MDC Alliance into a fully-fledged political party by incorporating all the Alliance member parties into one.
Furthermore, immediately after the formation of this new political outfit, Chamisa pronounced the party leadership.
Under the new appointments, Chamisa remains President of the party, deputised by Engineer Elias Mudzuri, Morgan Komichi and Professor Welsham Ncube. Tabitha Khumalo becomes the partys National Chairperson, deputised by Tendai Biti. Douglas Mwonzora was appointed Secretary General, just to mention a few among the party top brass.
It may be noted that all these appointments are deliberate and strategic to Chamisas ambitions of retaining power in the countrys opposition politics and ahead of that party's congress scheduled for early next year.
Chamisa has also vowed to make Zimbabwe ungovernable through engaging in massive protests and demonstrations, all in an effort to retain political relevance in the eyes of his supporters and handlers.
Nonetheless, only time will tell, whether Chamisa would yield positive political returns from his machinations given his track record clouded by diplomatic blunders and dictatorial tendencies.
