News / National
Chamisa party hints on name change
23 Jun 2021 at 08:24hrs | Views
THE Nelson Chamisa-led opposition MDC Alliance party has indicated that it might change its name to MDC Chamisa after Douglas Mwonzora's MDC-T threatened to contest the 2023 elections as MDC Alliance.
MDC Alliance co-vice-president Tendai Biti told Alpha Media Holdings'Heart and Soul Television (HStv) that the party was likely to contest the 2023 elections under a different name to avoid Mwonzora's machinations to confuse voters.
"My personal opinion is that we should never abandon the name MDC, it's a personal opinion, and my personal opinion again is that if Mwonzora continues to do the stupid thing, then for the purposes of the next election or byelection let's just call ourselves MDC Chamisa," Biti said.
"After all, in 2008 we called ourselves MDC Tsvangirai to deal with challenges that were there. I have walked the length and breadth of this country, the name MDC is well invested in the people of Zimbabwe. How do we cast away a brand that was built for decades? It's so difficult to build a brand."
He said the party was not willing to completely abandon the name MDC as that would gift Zanu-PF an easy victory.
Political analyst Methuseli Moyo described Biti's assertions as an admission that Chamisa had given up the fight for the MDC Alliance name.
"Time will tell, but the MDC has been suffixed with all sorts of additions like Tsvangirai or T, or MDC 2000, Alliance and now we might get another one," he said.
The issue of the MDC Alliance name and logo has been topical since the Supreme Court ruled in March last year that the MDC-T then led by Thokozani Khupe was the original party founded by the late Morgan Tsvangirai.
MDC Alliance co-vice-president Tendai Biti told Alpha Media Holdings'Heart and Soul Television (HStv) that the party was likely to contest the 2023 elections under a different name to avoid Mwonzora's machinations to confuse voters.
"My personal opinion is that we should never abandon the name MDC, it's a personal opinion, and my personal opinion again is that if Mwonzora continues to do the stupid thing, then for the purposes of the next election or byelection let's just call ourselves MDC Chamisa," Biti said.
"After all, in 2008 we called ourselves MDC Tsvangirai to deal with challenges that were there. I have walked the length and breadth of this country, the name MDC is well invested in the people of Zimbabwe. How do we cast away a brand that was built for decades? It's so difficult to build a brand."
He said the party was not willing to completely abandon the name MDC as that would gift Zanu-PF an easy victory.
Political analyst Methuseli Moyo described Biti's assertions as an admission that Chamisa had given up the fight for the MDC Alliance name.
"Time will tell, but the MDC has been suffixed with all sorts of additions like Tsvangirai or T, or MDC 2000, Alliance and now we might get another one," he said.
The issue of the MDC Alliance name and logo has been topical since the Supreme Court ruled in March last year that the MDC-T then led by Thokozani Khupe was the original party founded by the late Morgan Tsvangirai.
Source - newsday
