Chamisa backtracks on his earlier pledge

MDC Alliance leader Nelson Chamisa yesterday reneged on his earlier pledge to attend all State functions, and chose to stay away from both the Heroes' Day and Defence Forces Day commemorations in the past two days, saying he was "mourning" alleged theft of his election victory.

MDC Alliance leader Nelson Chamisa waves to his supporters as he arrived for the Independence Day celebrations at the National Sports Stadium in AprilEarlier this year, Chamisa, who took over from Tsvangirai, announced that they would be attending State functions, a complete shift of policy from his predecessor, the now late Morgan Tsvangirai who accused Zanu-PF of conflating State events to Zanu-PF functions.

Chamisa went on to attend the Independence Day celebrations at the National Sports Stadium in April this year and also encouraged his supporters countrywide to also attend national events. However, after the July 30 harmonised elections, Chamisa boycotted the Heroes' Day and the Defence Forces Day celebrations.

Chamisa's spokesperson Nkululeko Sibanda said the current situation, emanating from the disputed elections, had made them shelve their policy for now.

"We are in the middle of a disputed election and, as such, the things we can do are conditioned by that, our context. When conditions allow, the president will maintain his decision. We are monitoring the environment and it doesn't allow for that," he said.