Confessions of an MDC supporter: Why I am voting ED

I have voted for the MDC my whole voting life. I went to rallies, yearned to hear Morgan Tsvangirai speak and dreamed of a day when an MDC leader would enter State House. This was my greatest hope.

When Robert Mugabe was forced into resignation I thought to myself that my hopes and dreams would finally come to fruition.

For the first few weeks afterwards we were still tense, still not sure what President Emmerson Mnangagwa would do. Was he just using the people to gain power? I became obsessed with looking for signs that Mnangagwa was just another version of Mugabe, and all his rhetoric was just words.

Then things started to change.

The palpable sense of fear and nervousness gradually evaporated. I realised that I was no longer fearful talking to strangers until I knew their politics. I saw the police shake-down roadblocks begin to disappear.

I heard Mnangagwa welcome the opposition to the campaign, I saw him outstretch a hand to his opponent from the MDC at Independence Day celebrations and his talk of unity and peace resonated with me. I witnessed him allow a mass MDC demonstration through the streets of Harare and disallow a Zanu PF rally.

I saw that while all of our nation's problems did not evaporate overnight, I saw a president hard at work to change our reality and create the
building blocks for a better future. Mnangagwa was reversing our country's isolation, creating opportunities for the international community to invest in the Zimbabwean people and embracing technologies that will spur employment for our youth.

It is clear that he has a vision and a plan.
On the other side, Nelson Chamisa originally inspired me. He was young and effervescent. He was not from an older implicated cadre of politicians and I assumed that he would do things differently.

I thought to myself that this was a different type of leader for a different Zimbabwe.

Nevertheless, the exact opposite occurred. Chamisa adopted all the negative aspects of leadership. He became thoroughly egotistical and chauvinistic. He didn't embrace his opponents;he chased them away, sometimes literally. He refused any form of opposition and would use his Vanguard militia to keep dissenters at bay.

He belittled women and minorities and spoke about his divine right to lead, explaining that God is only with him.

Perhaps it is thus unsurprising that Chamisa has done the unthinkable and got into bed with Mugabe and his wife. They are far more alike than the previous president is to the current incumbent.

The incumbent president has shown that while he belongs to the Zanu PF, this is not the same party as under Mugabe. That mantle has slowly but surely moved across to the MDC.

Unlike many of my similarly disillusioned friends who just won't vote for the MDC, or at least Chamisa's MDC, I will be voting for ED.

I see what he has achieved in the last few months. He has taken a ship that has been far too off course for many years and is slowly starting to turn her around. It takes guts and leadership not to bankrupt the country with populist policies that would all but ensure he would receive a full mandate in July.

ED has a vision and a strategy for a new Zimbabwe. He has a new and fresh way of doing things. This is what I want from my president, and this is what my country needs.

It has taken me a while to come out and say it, but I will be voting ED in the upcoming presidential elections because when you put the two opponents side by side without rose-tinted glasses or undue party loyalty, it is clear that while one talks, the other acts.

While one is divisive, the other is unifying. One makes promises, the other has a vision. One is a populist and a politician, the other is a leader.

That's why I am voting ED.