'Tsvangirai chosen by God,' says Chamisa

MDC-T organising secretary Nelson Chamisa has claimed that former Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai was anointed by God to lead the struggle for democracy, as some of the opposition party's officials scramble to curry favour with the underfire former trade unionist.

Chamisa made the sensational claims at an MDC-T rally in Harare's Budiriro suburb on Sunday where he declared Tsvangirai "the commander of the struggle".

"In a struggle there is a commander, others are lieutenants and no lieutenant should say they want to be a commander.

"If you dream while sleeping on top of a mountain that you want to be a leader, we say no to that," he said.

"He is the founding father of democracy in Zimbabwe, the doyen of constitutionalism. You can't replace a person chosen by God.

"Let's keep on feeding into river Save (Tsvangirai's totem) so that even Gushungo (President Robert Mugabe's totem) can be swept away."

MDC-T's deputy national chairman Morgan Komichi went into overdrive, describing Tsvangirai as the biblical Moses who endured all insults and setbacks, but remained steadfast on his mission to deliver the Israelites from the hands of Pharaoh.

"Mugabe is the Pharaoh and the Israelites were taken to the Red Sea by Moses, there is our Moses here," he said.

"Moses was attacked and insulted, but he kept on his mission," Komichi added before churning out an apostolic song to buttress his point.

Youth assembly deputy chairperson Costa Machingauta said Tsvangirai was the face of the struggle for democracy in Zimbabwe and likened him to the late South African president Nelson Mandela.

"There is no ANC struggle without Mandela, no Zanu PF struggle without Mugabe and there is no MDC struggle without Tsvangirai," he said.

"They want to change the face of the struggle and replace Save with a weaker person."

The unfettered bootlicking became the order of the day at the rally where Tsvangirai sought to fend off attacks by party leaders who are calling on him to step down.

MDC-T deputy treasurer Elton Mangoma has been leading calls for leadership renewal in the party following Tsvangirai's failure to beat Mugabe in last year's elections.