Opinion / Columnist
Is Chamisa hitting the right strings?
03 Sep 2019 at 08:08hrs | Views
MDC leader Nelson Chamisa appears to be taking his supporters for a ride through his claims that his party would ensure that President Emmerson Mnangagwa would not see through his term, which officially ends in 2023, without giving a clear-cut strategy on how he was going to achieve that feat within the confines of the law.
Quite clearly, the opposition leader is taking his supporters for a ride, and the wise ones among them should see through his schoolboy schemes. One is tempted to dismiss this as mere "bar-talk", particularly because these sentiments were expressed during a political rally in Glen View South, Harare on Sunday, where MDC founder Morgan Tsvangirai's son, Vincent, is set to represent the party in a parliamentary by-election.
One is tempted to believe that Chamisa was not so keen to disclose the strategy because there are only two options through which his party can remove Mnangagwa from power; through an election or a coup. And we know there is no election soon, and a coup is an illegal ouster, which could be a dangerous route to pursue.
It would have been a better strategy for the opposition to use its time by articulating its views and strategies to woo Zimbabwean voters, particularly in the rural areas where Zanu-PF dominates. This is the time to venture into the rural areas and present their case so that by the time we get to 2023, voters in rural areas would have become acquainted with the MDC ideology and its proposed policies.
What voters might be interested in knowing is how the MDC government would address the challenges currently afflicting the nation. Rallies should be used to present these arguments rather than just throwing pot-shots at the Zanu-PF government without presenting a concrete alternative for prospective voters to buy into.
What we know for certain is that the series of MDC protest marches held so far have not delivered the desired outcome, which means the opposition party needs to be more creative to consider alternative options. We know the Zanu-PF government will continue to respond to these protests with brute force — and people have been killed in the past — with no indication that this will not happen again.
It is certainly time for the opposition to explore other tangible alternatives, because it is only a fool who keeps using a strategy that has always failed in the past.
Quite clearly, the opposition leader is taking his supporters for a ride, and the wise ones among them should see through his schoolboy schemes. One is tempted to dismiss this as mere "bar-talk", particularly because these sentiments were expressed during a political rally in Glen View South, Harare on Sunday, where MDC founder Morgan Tsvangirai's son, Vincent, is set to represent the party in a parliamentary by-election.
One is tempted to believe that Chamisa was not so keen to disclose the strategy because there are only two options through which his party can remove Mnangagwa from power; through an election or a coup. And we know there is no election soon, and a coup is an illegal ouster, which could be a dangerous route to pursue.
What voters might be interested in knowing is how the MDC government would address the challenges currently afflicting the nation. Rallies should be used to present these arguments rather than just throwing pot-shots at the Zanu-PF government without presenting a concrete alternative for prospective voters to buy into.
What we know for certain is that the series of MDC protest marches held so far have not delivered the desired outcome, which means the opposition party needs to be more creative to consider alternative options. We know the Zanu-PF government will continue to respond to these protests with brute force — and people have been killed in the past — with no indication that this will not happen again.
It is certainly time for the opposition to explore other tangible alternatives, because it is only a fool who keeps using a strategy that has always failed in the past.
Source - newsdsy
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