The hypocrisy of Chamisa's Manifesto

I admit it. I am a geek. I am probably one of maybe ten Zimbabweans who actually read the manifestos from start to finish. Yes, to an extent manifesto writing is almost as much of a waste of time as reading them. We (and they) all know that the parties will never keep the promises, some of which are outrageously outlandish.

In fact, when I started reading this, I prayed that Nelson Chamisa would put aside some of his ideas which the BBC Hardtalk journalist famously described as "Alice in Wonderland". But I was disappointed when Chamisa's solution to save Zimbabwe still included Bullet Trains that travel twice the speed of the fastest bullet trains in the world, and 3D printers!

But what really bothered me while I laboured through this text (which had a few good ideas in it, don't get me wrong), was the absolute hypocrisy and the acute dissonance between the presenter and the presented. In the preface we read of the phrase "God fearing and God loving leadership". Anyone following Nelson Chamisa's public statements over the last few months will have seen anything but this. Repeated lies have flowed mellifluously from this highly trained orator. From claiming to have written Kagame's ICT policy to lying about meetings with Nkomo's family and the Trump administration, his inability to stick to the truth is far from God loving. Likewise his nod and wink to his violent vanguard who have admitted to be working with him to spread havoc and violence, beating up poor Dr. Khupe and her followers, is no act of a believer. This is not God fearing.

He also talks of democracy, democracy, democracy, incessantly. Yet we all ignore the very fact that he usurped the democratically elected Dr. Khupe, who should be the leader of his own party!

And then there is the sexism…

While the manifesto claims to ‘take an inclusive and a gender-sensitive approach to governance, recognising and promoting the role of women and the youth in our governance systems", his actions and despicable rhetoric have demonstrated the exact opposite. The document talks of pursuing "an agenda of a democratic developmental state that will deliver socio-economic transformation in order to create prosperity and equal opportunities". Yet Chamisa talks about giving his sister to ED and scoring with every woman in the room. No respect for women. No equality for women. No rights for women.

Meanwhile the document pledges to "fulfil the unfinished agenda of the struggle of the working people of Zimbabwe as defined at the 1999 Working People's Convention". Have we all forgotten Nelson Chamisa's legal career; notoriously advocating for the employer. The Zuva case – one of Chamisa's high (low) points of his career, led to the firing of over 30,000 Zimbabwean workers. An unforgivable crime against the worker which makes my skin crawl every time I read about it.

When we read that the MDC plan "will restore the dignity of hard work and bring back the pride of being Zimbabwean," we have a duty to remember the past and also warn regarding the potential future. As part of the New Zimbabwe Smart Pledge there are even hints of firing more workers, significantly in the public sector. While ED is focused on creating jobs and bringing in investment, it appears that the perennial defender of the employer is looking to punish yet more innocent Zimbabwean workers. Likewise let us not forget, one candidate in this race was a farmer and a fighter. The other has never gotten his hands dirty in his life and simply does not understand the workers.

In the section, ‘The Return to Legitimacy', Chamisa's MDC is highly critical of the events of November 2017, as if it was a bad thing to rid this country of Mugabe. And then we read in the press of yet more negotiations between Mugabe and Chamisa. We even saw Mugabe's closest characters at the MDC march this week, and even at the launch of the manifesto! So when the manifesto notes that "The MDC Alliance will bring together various generations of Zimbabweans, who have suffered under 38 years of misrule at the hands of this regime," it begs the question, Mr Chamisa, why are you joining forces with them?

The manifesto then goes on to discuss that "Levels of tolerance are low, whilst hatred and disaffection on social media spaces flourish." Yet when we look at the language Nelson Chamisa has been using as opposed to ED, it is night and day. One uses name calling and insults, the other calls for peace, unity and tolerance. Even during the presentation of the manifesto, Chamisa repeatedly abused and insulted the sitting president.

In the section entitled 'Rethinking the Culture of Governance', the text reads that, "for the past 38 years the culture of governance in Zimbabwe, has been one based on state-party conflation, fear, exclusion, capture, coercion, corruption, dependency, arrogance, patronage and ‘chefism'." So again, I ask the question, at the time when ED is de-Mugabifying the government (and indeed the country), why are you Mr. Chamisa trying to bring him back into the State House?

So we must look beyond the soundbites like 'The Caring State' and the overdose of acronyms (HIP, DURA, SMART etc) to uncover the integral and basic hypocrisy throughout the text. He criticises ED's traveling and FDI strategy then delineates exactly the same policy (there are even questions of plagiarism in this section). He mentions more and more additional regularity bodies and authorities in every section of the manifesto; a nightmare for investors and businesses. All the while ED's 'Zimbabwe is Open for Business' is world renowned. In fact, this may be the most ‘anti-business' manifesto I have ever read.

However the icing on the proverbial cake was this: "The introduction of a corporate flat tax rate of 15 %." This policy flies in the face of progress. In fact, by definition it is regressive. It again attacks the little guy. It expects the owner of the Meikles hotel (or companies such as Zuva!) to pay the same tax rate as small business owners and companies.

So unfortunately, despite some good ideas sprinkled around the 95 page behemoth, the MDC manifesto failed to impress me. The hypocrisy which oozes from the text, is almost as perturbing as the dangerous attitude, language, and ideas of the MDC leader presenting it.