Morgan Komichi, the Simon Khaya Moyo of MDC

"It had become evident that his conduct in the discharge of his duties had become inconsistent with his official responsibilities. The Vice President has consistently and persistently demonstrated traits of disloyalty, disrespect, deceitfulness and unreliability. He has also demonstrated little probity in the execution of his duties", read part of Khaya Moyo's letter as he announced the sacking of then vice president Emerson Mnangagwa in November 2017.

In less than two weeks, the same Khaya Moyo read another letter dismissing Robert Mugabe as the president and the first secretary of ZANU PF. Mnangagwa who was fired for being 'disrespectful' and 'incompetent' miraculously became the messiah and reliable in less than two weeks.
 
Such is African politics.

I have always argued that Zimbabwe will never prosper if we have people who fawn at politicians when they don't really mean it. We are in this mess because our leaders are averse to truth and facts on the ground.

The bizarre announcements of sacking and counter sacking of ZANU PF leaders by Simon Khaya Moyo explicitly demonstrate the theatrical nature of the politics of Zimbabwe. Drama continues as the new Khaya Moyo in Morgan Komichi emerges in MDC internal politics.

I vividly remember the day when Morgan Komichi left me flummoxed.

Clad in his much loved jacket, Morgan Komichi rose like an animated cartoon; pirouetted straight to the podium reserved for ZEC commissioners, grabbed the microphone and denounced the results as fake to the whole world. Said Komichi; "These results are fake. I did not sign those results, so the results are fake. The results have just been printed and they have not been verified by agents".

This came soon after Pricilla Chigumba, the ZEC Chairperson announced results which were not tallying with actual figures at HICC in Harare.

Soon after the announcement of the death of Morgan Tsvangirai, Komichi convened and chaired the National Council meeting which appointed Nelson Chamisa to lead MDC-T for 12 months. Soon after the historic appointment, Komichi addressed the press conference to inform Zimbabwe about the developments in their party though their move did not go down well with Thokozani Khupe and Elias Mudzure who were well poised to take over from Tsvangirai.

The same Komichi who happened to be Chamisa's close lieutenant stunned the MDC family when he was unpredictably seen with Douglas Mwonzora at the threshold of Supreme Court reading a well prepared speech ordering Advocate Nelson Chamisa to vacate office and hand over all party assets. This was soon after the Supreme Court ruled out that Chamisa was an illegitimate leader of the opposition party and Thokozane Khupe was the rightful leader of the party. Ironically, Komichi presided over the whole process which the Supreme Court nullified.

Komichi is indeed a kingmaker; he has the potential to outwit ZANU PF's Khaya Moyo.  

In a surprising twist to drama in the opposition MDC party, Komichi made another big shocker when he appeared to be siding with the MDC Alliance youths who took over the party HQ from Thokozane Khupe aligned youths. However, the youths who have taken control of MDC HQ are MDC-T Harare province 2014 structures. During the press conference, Komichi said he was still studying the situation.

Nonetheless, his amity with the 2014 structures who took control of the Harvest House was a clear demonstration he has broken ranks with Douglas Mwonzora who arrived at the HQ later and was denied entry.  

The kingmaker now wants to anoint a new king?
Douglas Mwonzora definitely needs the military assistance and state security to fight back. Will he go to the courts again? Who will he evict? What happened to his relationship with Komichi? Mwonzora has been thrown under the bus by the same Komichi who supported him to ‘rebel' against Chamisa.

Maybe Mwonzora's conduct in the discharge of his duties had become inconsistent with his official responsibilities.

Tinashe Eric Muzamhindo can be contacted at tinamuzala@gmail.com