News / National
Chamisa, MDC Alliance's 'defining moment'
05 Apr 2021 at 17:01hrs | Views
WITH pressure mounting on its leaders all round, insiders say the MDC Alliance has reached a critical point where tough decisions now have to be made about its future.
This comes as both Zanu-PF and the main opposition MDC led by Douglas Mwonzora are cranking up the heat on the alliance's leaders, amid a biting resources drought that is making planning for the crucial 2023 polls difficult.
It also comes as the divisions that have been ravaging the alliance over the past two years are worsening, with some hawks in the coalition said to sharpening their knives against one of the pact's leading lights, Tendai Biti.
As if to drive the point home about the alliance's deepening troubles, Mwonzora's spokesperson Lloyd Damba also asserted in an interview with the Daily News On Sunday yesterday that there was "only one MDC" and that the alliance was now led by his boss.
"There is only one MDC in this country. The MDC Alliance is not a single political party but a conglomerate of seven parties which are led by the MDC that was led Morgan Tsvangirai.
"In Article 1 of the Composite Political Co-operation Agreement, known as the MDC Alliance Agreement, the parties agreed that the name of the coalition would be called the MDC Alliance.
"The MDC-T was the largest component among the seven coalition partners … the parties also agreed to operate as independent parties … The MDC Alliance Agreement goes further to state that whoever is the leader of the MDC-T shall become the leader of the MDC Alliance," Damba said.
"In other words, the current leader of the MDC Alliance is now president Douglas Mwonzora … This agreement is due to expire in 2023 because it has a life-span of five years, and so it's still operational.
"So, make no mistake about who is the MDC and MDC Alliance leader. It is Douglas Mwonzora," he added.
An MDC Alliance insider who spoke to the Daily News On Sunday admitted yesterday that the coalition had reached a pivotal point where difficult decisions now had to be made.
"Things are very rough right now. With everyone aiming their guns at us and funding still a problem, we have reached a defining moment where we have no choice but to take difficult decisions now.
"Any more dithering on all the outstanding issues that need to be resolved could spell disaster for the party. As you have seen, our enemies are not relenting.
"Top of the issues that we have to decide on now, for me, is a new name for our party as we need to break away from the mess that the MDC name has become, while also assuring tired supporters that we have a viable plan going forward," the senior alliance official said.
"Secondly, we must learn to manage leadership differences better going forward as we have tended to always open up easy attack corridors for our enemies through our unnecessary internal bickering.
"Lastly, we need to start raising money fast and in a sustainable way as 2023 is now around the corner, also accepting the harsh reality that Zanu-PF will never give us back our money that they are giving to Dougie (Mwonzora)," the insider added.
In the meantime, alliance vice president Biti is being accused by his internal foes of allegedly competing with Chamisa.
This comes after the United States of America (USA) recently condemned Biti's recall from Parliament by the People's Democratic Party (PDP) - something Washington did not do when similar fate befell other MDC Alliance bigwigs before that.
Another alliance insider told the Daily News On Sunday yesterday that a number of perceived Chamisa allies were upset that the US was showing that they respected Biti more in the alliance - a sentiment that became very apparent during a recent national standing committee meeting of the pact.
All this also comes as political analysts have warned that the country's opposition, and especially the MDC Alliance, risks being decimated completely ahead of the 2023 elections - unless it changes its modus operandi.
It also comes as the Daily News On Sunday and its sister paper the Daily News have been lone independent voices in calling out the increasingly suicidal tendencies of opposition parties and their leaders - to the detriment of the country and its citizens.
Respected University of Zimbabwe political science lecturer, Eldred Masunungure, was among those who said recently that the MDC Alliance, in particular, now needed to re-strategise to avoid implosion.
"The MDC Alliance as a parliamentary entity has been completely annihilated given the number of legislators it has lost so far, especially considering now that it has lost its big guns, including its vice president Tendai Biti.
"This leaves it in a very precarious position. Considering also that there is a parallel process of mass defections to Zanu-PF and the internal convulsions in the party, there is scope for re-configuration.
"It would be dangerous for the party leadership to continue with a ‘business as usual' approach because … there is no guarantee that Nelson Chamisa's popularity will not start to be affected negatively as well," Masunungure told the Daily News.
"The only realistic way out of this is fashioning out a new entity altogether with a new name, taking advantage of the fact that we are still two years away from the next election.
"What will happen to this party will surely depend on what the leadership does and what it does not do," he added.
Another highly regarded academic, Professor of World Politics at the London School of Oriental and African Studies (OAS), Stephen Chan, also warned that Chamisa could find it difficult to win back the parliamentary seats that he has lost if by-elections were held at some point.
"The question is whether he still has the funds and the people to organise a well-run series of constituency campaigns.
"If his own former MPs were not good constituency MPs, he would have a reduced foundation for seeking support from the people.
"Ensuring that their MPs performed well at constituency level has always been a fault of whatever version of the MDC party that has been in Parliament," Chan told the Daily News.
But MDC Alliance deputy spokesperson, Clifford Hlatywayo, said at the time that the coalition would not be changing its name as some people want it to.
"Last year we had nationwide consultative processes on a number of issues. The people unequivocally said no to a change of name.
"We are the MDC Alliance and we remain so. That's the stance and position we were given by the people.
"MDC Alliance is a party of the people. Everything we do is informed by what the owners of the struggle decide on their movement," Hlatywayo told the Daily News.
But sources inside the alliance said yesterday that a change of name of the coalition "is imminent".
"I think the party is just managing perceptions and also waiting for the right moment to announce its new name and programmes.
"Remember, this is not an easy task as this may mean dissociating itself completely from the MDC of Tsvangirai, while the leadership decks may also require changing.
"So, the leaders are just being careful and also sounding out the public. But the change of name is a given. It's now a matter of when, not whether," one of the sources told the Daily News On Sunday.
'Mwonzora had a good meeting with EU'
THE main opposition MDC says it held fruitful discussions with European Union (EU) diplomats last week, who were led by the Head of Delegation in the country, Timo Olkkonen.
This comes as the party is escalating its push for inclusive national talks and its philosophy of a new politics of "rational disputation" - as strife-weary Zimbabweans yearn for an end to the country's decades-long myriad challenges.
"We had the privilege of discussing a number of important issues, including the issue of dialogue, as well as the social, political and economic situation in Zimbabwe and the implications on Zimbabwe of the security situation in Mozambique.
"As the MDC, we are highly motivated by the various encouraging comments made by their Excellencies during our discussions.
"On our part we emphasised the centrality of dialogue which should be inclusive, genuine and unconditional," MDC spokesperson Witness Dube told the Daily News yesterday.
"Dialogue must be aimed at improving the lives of all Zimbabweans for the better. Our thrust is to do what we do in the best interests of Zimbabwean people.
"We also appraised their Excellencies on the adoption of our new political approach as the MDC - that of rational disputation devoid of hate, rancour, acrimony and intolerance," he added.
On his part, Olkkonen tweeted after the meeting: "Thank you very much for an extensive and interesting discussion Hon @DMwonzora and team".
Meanwhile, opposition leader Douglas Mwonzora's spokesperson Lloyd Damba has said that the engagements with the EU diplomats should not be misconstrued for the party taking instructions from Western powers.
"Not at all, and I do not think that this will scuttle our efforts of engagement with the government and other stakeholders," he told the Daily News yesterday.
This comes as divisions continue to devour the country's opposition, especially the MDC Alliance - whose leadership is now mulling forming a new political party.
As if to drive the point home about the alliance's deepening troubles, Damba asserted in an interview with the Daily News's sister paper, the Daily News On Sunday at the weekend, that there was "only one MDC" and that the alliance was now led by Mwonzora.
"There is only one MDC in this country. The MDC Alliance is not a single political party but a conglomerate of seven parties which are led by the MDC that was led Morgan Tsvangirai.
"In Article 1 of the Composite Political Co-operation Agreement, known as the MDC Alliance Agreement, the parties agreed that the coalition would be called the MDC Alliance.
"The MDC-T was the largest component among the seven coalition partners … the parties also agreed to operate as independent parties … The MDC Alliance Agreement goes further to state that whoever is the leader of the MDC-T shall become the leader of the MDC Alliance," Damba said.
"In other words, the current leader of the MDC Alliance is now president Douglas Mwonzora … This agreement is due to expire in 2023 because it has a life span of five years, and so it's still operational.
"So, make no mistake about who is the MDC and MDC Alliance leader. It is Douglas Mwonzora," he added.
An MDC Alliance insider who spoke to the Daily News On Sunday also admitted that the coalition had reached a pivotal point where difficult decisions now had to be made.
"Things are very rough right now. With everyone aiming their guns at us and funding still a problem, we have reached a defining moment where we have no choice but to make difficult decisions now.
"Any more dithering on all the outstanding issues that need to be resolved could spell disaster for the party. As you have seen, our enemies are not relenting.
"Top of the issues that we have to decide on now, for me, is a new name for our party as we need to break away from the mess that the MDC name has become, while also assuring tired supporters that we have a viable plan going forward," the senior alliance official said.
"Secondly, we must learn to manage leadership differences better going forward as we have tended to always open up easy attack corridors for our enemies through our unnecessary internal bickering.
"Lastly, we need to start raising money fast and in a sustainable way as 2023 is now around the corner, also accepting the harsh reality that Zanu-PF will never give us back our money that they are giving to Dougie (Mwonzora)," the insider added.
In the meantime, alliance vice president Biti is being accused by his internal foes of allegedly competing with Chamisa.
This comes after the United States of America (USA) recently condemned Biti's recall from Parliament by the People's Democratic Party (PDP) - something Washington did not do when a similar fate befell other MDC Alliance bigwigs before that.
A source in the alliance told the Daily News On Sunday that a number of perceived Chamisa allies were upset that the US was showing that it respected Biti more than their boss - a sentiment that became very apparent during a recent national standing committee meeting of the coalition.
All this comes as political analysts have warned that the country's opposition, and especially the MDC Alliance, risks being decimated completely ahead of the 2023 elections - unless it changes its modus operandi.
It also comes as the Daily News and its sister paper the Daily News On Sunday have been lone independent voices in calling out the increasingly suicidal tendencies of opposition parties and their leaders - to the detriment of the country and its citizens.
Respected University of Zimbabwe political science lecturer, Eldred Masunungure, was among those who said recently that the MDC Alliance, in particular, now needed to re-strategise to avoid implosion.
"The MDC Alliance as a parliamentary entity has been completely annihilated given the number of legislators it has lost so far, especially considering now that it has lost its big guns, including its vice president Tendai Biti.
"This leaves it in a very precarious position. Considering also that there is a parallel process of mass defections to Zanu-PF and the internal convulsions in the party, there is scope for re-configuration.
"It would be dangerous for the party leadership to continue with a ‘business as usual' approach because … there is no guarantee that Nelson Chamisa's popularity will not start to be affected negatively as well," Masunungure told the Daily News last month.
"The only realistic way out of this is fashioning out a new entity altogether with a new name, taking advantage of the fact that we are still two years away from the next election.
"What will happen to this party will surely depend on what the leadership does and what it does not do," he added.
This comes as both Zanu-PF and the main opposition MDC led by Douglas Mwonzora are cranking up the heat on the alliance's leaders, amid a biting resources drought that is making planning for the crucial 2023 polls difficult.
It also comes as the divisions that have been ravaging the alliance over the past two years are worsening, with some hawks in the coalition said to sharpening their knives against one of the pact's leading lights, Tendai Biti.
As if to drive the point home about the alliance's deepening troubles, Mwonzora's spokesperson Lloyd Damba also asserted in an interview with the Daily News On Sunday yesterday that there was "only one MDC" and that the alliance was now led by his boss.
"There is only one MDC in this country. The MDC Alliance is not a single political party but a conglomerate of seven parties which are led by the MDC that was led Morgan Tsvangirai.
"In Article 1 of the Composite Political Co-operation Agreement, known as the MDC Alliance Agreement, the parties agreed that the name of the coalition would be called the MDC Alliance.
"The MDC-T was the largest component among the seven coalition partners … the parties also agreed to operate as independent parties … The MDC Alliance Agreement goes further to state that whoever is the leader of the MDC-T shall become the leader of the MDC Alliance," Damba said.
"In other words, the current leader of the MDC Alliance is now president Douglas Mwonzora … This agreement is due to expire in 2023 because it has a life-span of five years, and so it's still operational.
"So, make no mistake about who is the MDC and MDC Alliance leader. It is Douglas Mwonzora," he added.
An MDC Alliance insider who spoke to the Daily News On Sunday admitted yesterday that the coalition had reached a pivotal point where difficult decisions now had to be made.
"Things are very rough right now. With everyone aiming their guns at us and funding still a problem, we have reached a defining moment where we have no choice but to take difficult decisions now.
"Any more dithering on all the outstanding issues that need to be resolved could spell disaster for the party. As you have seen, our enemies are not relenting.
"Top of the issues that we have to decide on now, for me, is a new name for our party as we need to break away from the mess that the MDC name has become, while also assuring tired supporters that we have a viable plan going forward," the senior alliance official said.
"Secondly, we must learn to manage leadership differences better going forward as we have tended to always open up easy attack corridors for our enemies through our unnecessary internal bickering.
"Lastly, we need to start raising money fast and in a sustainable way as 2023 is now around the corner, also accepting the harsh reality that Zanu-PF will never give us back our money that they are giving to Dougie (Mwonzora)," the insider added.
In the meantime, alliance vice president Biti is being accused by his internal foes of allegedly competing with Chamisa.
This comes after the United States of America (USA) recently condemned Biti's recall from Parliament by the People's Democratic Party (PDP) - something Washington did not do when similar fate befell other MDC Alliance bigwigs before that.
Another alliance insider told the Daily News On Sunday yesterday that a number of perceived Chamisa allies were upset that the US was showing that they respected Biti more in the alliance - a sentiment that became very apparent during a recent national standing committee meeting of the pact.
All this also comes as political analysts have warned that the country's opposition, and especially the MDC Alliance, risks being decimated completely ahead of the 2023 elections - unless it changes its modus operandi.
It also comes as the Daily News On Sunday and its sister paper the Daily News have been lone independent voices in calling out the increasingly suicidal tendencies of opposition parties and their leaders - to the detriment of the country and its citizens.
Respected University of Zimbabwe political science lecturer, Eldred Masunungure, was among those who said recently that the MDC Alliance, in particular, now needed to re-strategise to avoid implosion.
"The MDC Alliance as a parliamentary entity has been completely annihilated given the number of legislators it has lost so far, especially considering now that it has lost its big guns, including its vice president Tendai Biti.
"This leaves it in a very precarious position. Considering also that there is a parallel process of mass defections to Zanu-PF and the internal convulsions in the party, there is scope for re-configuration.
"It would be dangerous for the party leadership to continue with a ‘business as usual' approach because … there is no guarantee that Nelson Chamisa's popularity will not start to be affected negatively as well," Masunungure told the Daily News.
"The only realistic way out of this is fashioning out a new entity altogether with a new name, taking advantage of the fact that we are still two years away from the next election.
"What will happen to this party will surely depend on what the leadership does and what it does not do," he added.
Another highly regarded academic, Professor of World Politics at the London School of Oriental and African Studies (OAS), Stephen Chan, also warned that Chamisa could find it difficult to win back the parliamentary seats that he has lost if by-elections were held at some point.
"The question is whether he still has the funds and the people to organise a well-run series of constituency campaigns.
"If his own former MPs were not good constituency MPs, he would have a reduced foundation for seeking support from the people.
"Ensuring that their MPs performed well at constituency level has always been a fault of whatever version of the MDC party that has been in Parliament," Chan told the Daily News.
But MDC Alliance deputy spokesperson, Clifford Hlatywayo, said at the time that the coalition would not be changing its name as some people want it to.
"Last year we had nationwide consultative processes on a number of issues. The people unequivocally said no to a change of name.
"We are the MDC Alliance and we remain so. That's the stance and position we were given by the people.
"MDC Alliance is a party of the people. Everything we do is informed by what the owners of the struggle decide on their movement," Hlatywayo told the Daily News.
But sources inside the alliance said yesterday that a change of name of the coalition "is imminent".
"I think the party is just managing perceptions and also waiting for the right moment to announce its new name and programmes.
"Remember, this is not an easy task as this may mean dissociating itself completely from the MDC of Tsvangirai, while the leadership decks may also require changing.
"So, the leaders are just being careful and also sounding out the public. But the change of name is a given. It's now a matter of when, not whether," one of the sources told the Daily News On Sunday.
'Mwonzora had a good meeting with EU'
THE main opposition MDC says it held fruitful discussions with European Union (EU) diplomats last week, who were led by the Head of Delegation in the country, Timo Olkkonen.
This comes as the party is escalating its push for inclusive national talks and its philosophy of a new politics of "rational disputation" - as strife-weary Zimbabweans yearn for an end to the country's decades-long myriad challenges.
"We had the privilege of discussing a number of important issues, including the issue of dialogue, as well as the social, political and economic situation in Zimbabwe and the implications on Zimbabwe of the security situation in Mozambique.
"As the MDC, we are highly motivated by the various encouraging comments made by their Excellencies during our discussions.
"On our part we emphasised the centrality of dialogue which should be inclusive, genuine and unconditional," MDC spokesperson Witness Dube told the Daily News yesterday.
"Dialogue must be aimed at improving the lives of all Zimbabweans for the better. Our thrust is to do what we do in the best interests of Zimbabwean people.
"We also appraised their Excellencies on the adoption of our new political approach as the MDC - that of rational disputation devoid of hate, rancour, acrimony and intolerance," he added.
On his part, Olkkonen tweeted after the meeting: "Thank you very much for an extensive and interesting discussion Hon @DMwonzora and team".
Meanwhile, opposition leader Douglas Mwonzora's spokesperson Lloyd Damba has said that the engagements with the EU diplomats should not be misconstrued for the party taking instructions from Western powers.
"Not at all, and I do not think that this will scuttle our efforts of engagement with the government and other stakeholders," he told the Daily News yesterday.
This comes as divisions continue to devour the country's opposition, especially the MDC Alliance - whose leadership is now mulling forming a new political party.
As if to drive the point home about the alliance's deepening troubles, Damba asserted in an interview with the Daily News's sister paper, the Daily News On Sunday at the weekend, that there was "only one MDC" and that the alliance was now led by Mwonzora.
"There is only one MDC in this country. The MDC Alliance is not a single political party but a conglomerate of seven parties which are led by the MDC that was led Morgan Tsvangirai.
"In Article 1 of the Composite Political Co-operation Agreement, known as the MDC Alliance Agreement, the parties agreed that the coalition would be called the MDC Alliance.
"The MDC-T was the largest component among the seven coalition partners … the parties also agreed to operate as independent parties … The MDC Alliance Agreement goes further to state that whoever is the leader of the MDC-T shall become the leader of the MDC Alliance," Damba said.
"In other words, the current leader of the MDC Alliance is now president Douglas Mwonzora … This agreement is due to expire in 2023 because it has a life span of five years, and so it's still operational.
"So, make no mistake about who is the MDC and MDC Alliance leader. It is Douglas Mwonzora," he added.
An MDC Alliance insider who spoke to the Daily News On Sunday also admitted that the coalition had reached a pivotal point where difficult decisions now had to be made.
"Things are very rough right now. With everyone aiming their guns at us and funding still a problem, we have reached a defining moment where we have no choice but to make difficult decisions now.
"Any more dithering on all the outstanding issues that need to be resolved could spell disaster for the party. As you have seen, our enemies are not relenting.
"Top of the issues that we have to decide on now, for me, is a new name for our party as we need to break away from the mess that the MDC name has become, while also assuring tired supporters that we have a viable plan going forward," the senior alliance official said.
"Secondly, we must learn to manage leadership differences better going forward as we have tended to always open up easy attack corridors for our enemies through our unnecessary internal bickering.
"Lastly, we need to start raising money fast and in a sustainable way as 2023 is now around the corner, also accepting the harsh reality that Zanu-PF will never give us back our money that they are giving to Dougie (Mwonzora)," the insider added.
In the meantime, alliance vice president Biti is being accused by his internal foes of allegedly competing with Chamisa.
This comes after the United States of America (USA) recently condemned Biti's recall from Parliament by the People's Democratic Party (PDP) - something Washington did not do when a similar fate befell other MDC Alliance bigwigs before that.
A source in the alliance told the Daily News On Sunday that a number of perceived Chamisa allies were upset that the US was showing that it respected Biti more than their boss - a sentiment that became very apparent during a recent national standing committee meeting of the coalition.
All this comes as political analysts have warned that the country's opposition, and especially the MDC Alliance, risks being decimated completely ahead of the 2023 elections - unless it changes its modus operandi.
It also comes as the Daily News and its sister paper the Daily News On Sunday have been lone independent voices in calling out the increasingly suicidal tendencies of opposition parties and their leaders - to the detriment of the country and its citizens.
Respected University of Zimbabwe political science lecturer, Eldred Masunungure, was among those who said recently that the MDC Alliance, in particular, now needed to re-strategise to avoid implosion.
"The MDC Alliance as a parliamentary entity has been completely annihilated given the number of legislators it has lost so far, especially considering now that it has lost its big guns, including its vice president Tendai Biti.
"This leaves it in a very precarious position. Considering also that there is a parallel process of mass defections to Zanu-PF and the internal convulsions in the party, there is scope for re-configuration.
"It would be dangerous for the party leadership to continue with a ‘business as usual' approach because … there is no guarantee that Nelson Chamisa's popularity will not start to be affected negatively as well," Masunungure told the Daily News last month.
"The only realistic way out of this is fashioning out a new entity altogether with a new name, taking advantage of the fact that we are still two years away from the next election.
"What will happen to this party will surely depend on what the leadership does and what it does not do," he added.
Source - dailynews
