Chamisa did not create opposition support base

OUTSPOKEN former Highfield legislator Munyaradzi Gwisai says the more than two million votes won by former Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC) leader Nelson Chamisa in the 2018 and 2023 elections were not a personal endorsement of the opposition politician, but the product of Zimbabwe's long-running democratic movement that emerged from labour and student struggles in the late 1990s.

Speaking during an interview on the CVN Podcast, Gwisai argued that Chamisa inherited the political support built over decades by the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) under the late former Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai and should therefore work collectively with other democratic forces.

"Those two million votes he got in 2018 and 2023 are not so much about Chamisa or CCC. They are a legacy of a movement that arose from the general strikes and stay-aways by students and workers in 1997 and 1998 which led to MDC. He was seen and is seen as a logical successor to that," Gwisai said.

He said many opposition supporters had become frustrated because they believed Chamisa had failed to meet the expectations associated with leading that movement.

Gwisai cited the aftermath of the disputed 2023 general elections, saying supporters had anticipated stronger action after Chamisa vowed to resist any attempt to subvert the electoral outcome.

"For instance, in 2023, he had promised people that this time we are going to fight and there is no other way. And when it was lost, he appeals to the Southern African Development Community and stops there," he said.

The former legislator also criticised Chamisa's initial position on Constitutional Amendment Bill No. 3, now Constitutional Amendment Act No. 6 of 2026, saying the former opposition leader initially argued that there was no Constitution left to defend before later publicly opposing the legislation.

While welcoming what he described as Chamisa's eventual opposition to the constitutional amendments, Gwisai urged him to work alongside churches, civic groups, labour unions and political parties instead of acting independently.

"The message to Nelson Chamisa is that people need to come together and to understand that there is no one person who must act like a Messiah and he is the end of all. We can only fight this together. We need his voice to join the voice of others," Gwisai said.

His remarks come weeks after he joined churches, labour unions, civic organisations, students, war veterans and opposition political leaders in launching Sungano yeVanhu–Ubumbano Lomphakathi (The People's Coalition).

The coalition was unveiled a day after President Emmerson Mnangagwa assented to Constitutional Amendment Act No. 6 of 2026. It says its objectives include defending constitutional democracy and mobilising citizens against the constitutional changes.

Chamisa had not publicly responded to Gwisai's remarks at the time of publication.