A plea to Nelson Chamisa: Change your rhetoric

As the harmonised elections get closer and closer, I am hit by a strange mixture of excitement and fear.  Elections in Zimbabwe have traditionally been more of the latter.  Violent and unfair. Scary and threatening.
 
Yet this time things are definitely different.  The president, whether you like him or not, has created a real environment of peace.  An environment in which we can all speak our minds, we can all campaign, and we can all disagree.  Even after being attacked at a recent rally, ED has not gone after his opponents.  He has not buckled down the hatches and closed down civil society.  He has neither oppressed nor overreacted. He has been the epitome of cool; the embodiment of responsibility.  He has chosen to fight hate with love, and if anything, has even opened up the new Zimbabwe further!
 
ED has used his social media pages to welcome criticism (can you ever imagine old Bob doing this!?).  Perhaps most importantly, he is so committed to this "new Zimbabwe" being different from his predecessor's, that he has invited the world to join us in our democratic experiment.
 
With elections observers descending upon our country in their droves from SADC, the EU and even the US; it looks like this time, things will be different.
 
This brings me away from the excitement, and unfortunately back to the fear.  The irony of all ironies is that while ED and ZANU are speaking the language of free and fair elections – peace and unity – our own MDC seem to have taken a very dangerous step in the wrong direction; just at the crucial juncture.
 
First of all, Nelson Chamisa's obsessive flirtation with Grace and Robert Mugabe has sent the wrong signals to all of us young voters.  My initial response was "what!?", "really!?".  We want to move forwards, not backwards.  We want progress, not a return to the previous regime.  Chamisa's use of his violent mob, commonly known as ‘The Vanguard' is also a blast from a very disturbing past.  The way he ousted (violently) Dr. Khupe and her loyal supporters had mini Mugabe written all over it.  Perhaps maybe their alliance is more natural than we first believed?  He has welcomed the NPF (a Mugabe loyalist party) into the frame and even hosted their leaders at rallies.  
 
I was in complete shock when I saw some of Mugabe's closest companions championing the launch of the MDC manifesto!  Zimbabwe truly has been turned upside down.
 
Yet perhaps the most dangerous piece of rhetoric coming from the mouth of the self-acclaimed leader of the Zimbabwean opposition is his preordained declaration that he has won the election; and that any other outcome is illegitimate.  This is unbelievably dangerous.  A lit match in a tinderbox.  
 
By preparing his violent Vanguard for a zero sum game, he is guaranteeing violence if the MDC does not win.  We've seen this attitude from sore losers before in Africa and further afield.  By declaring that the elections are rigged if he loses (despite the scores of election observers), Nelson Chamisa is basically preparing for war.
 
We must stand up now and demand an immediate change of rhetoric.  Both candidates must say loudly and clearly that they will accept the results of the elections.  Whipping a loyal angry mob up into a frenzy is no longer the every dayZimbabwe; November 2017 put the final nail in that coffin.  We are finally walking the path of peace and progress.  
 
Let us stick to this path.  And let us be wary of any candidatetrying to take us off this path, in his cynical attempt to lead us backwards, just because he believes that his political power is more important than our peaceful progress.