Of Chamisa's rally utterances, lack of substance

Following the formation of the Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC) on January 24, 2022 after being forced by MDC-T leader, Douglas Mwonzora to adopt a new party name, the interim leader, Nelson Chamisa has been going around the country drumming up support for the party's candidates for the by-elections that are set to be held on March 26, 2022.

One of the things that have stuck out like a sore thumb at Chamisa's meetings has been the lack of substance in his addresses. This has seen utterances being characterised mainly by inane utterances and blatant lies meant to please his supporters.

Democracy

Many political watchers have already rightly observed that ever the enemy of democracy, Chamisa took advantage of the renaming of his party to drop the hallowed principle of democracy from the new name.

He inadvertently confirmed this while addressing his inaugural rally in Highfield in Harare on February 20, 2022 in a bid to create the non-existent impression that he was so popular that an election was unnecessary.

"Munozviziva here kuti power has already shifted? Muno munyika simba riri kwatiri. Changosara ideclaration neinauguration," he said.

Here is a leader of an opposition party in Zimbabwe, a constitutional democracy, wishing that no elections be held so that he could just get into State House. If he thinks that he is so popular one would question why he entertained the undemocratic thought of skipping the democratic process of elections and set his sights on inauguration.

Since July 30 2018, he has been baselessly claiming that President Mnangagwa stole the presidential election despite failing to provide evidence to buttress his claims when the Constitutional Court allowed him to do so during his election petition on August 24, 2018.

Despite claiming during the Highfield rally that his party was "starting afresh" and "starting from zero" in a bid to emphasise that he had moved away from his MDC Alliance dictatorial tendencies, Chamisa hogged the limelight for stifling internal democracy by barring primary elections.

After the primaries, he shocked the world when he made himself the sole signatory to the nomination papers of his party's by-election candidates.

Violence

When Chamisa was addressing his supporters at the aborted rally at Rudhaka Stadium last Saturday he gave the impression of a peace-loving politician who does not brook political violence.

He said: "Ini handide kuti politics dzemunyika muno dziruzise upenyu kana one." If a visitor to Zimbabwe listened to Chamisa speaking, they would think that he is a progressive politician, but those who are familiar with his ways know that he was not sincere.

This is because only two weeks earlier at Highfield he threatened mindless violence and protests against the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC). Many Zimbabweans will remember that Chamisa's yobs triggered the August 1 2018 unfortunate incident when they protested against ZEC for allegedly delaying the announcement of Presidential election results.

"Saka panyaya yeZEC musavhunduka. Tine zvipanera. Chokutanga chipanera chatiinacho kuenda kundotarisa maprocesses eZEC kuti anocomplya nemutemo here. Vakasatiteerera tiri kuita malegal remedies asi munoziva kuti kumacourt kunogona kusafamba zvakanaka. We have our own solution. Kana zvanetsa tinokukumbirai kuti yellow ngaimbotsvukisa. Yellow ngaimboenda ino yellowraiza mustreet . . ."

When Chamisa was quickly whisked from the podium while addressing a rally in Kwekwe on February 27 because inter-faction violence had broken out in the gathering, an unidentified youth shouted: "Youth dzorera!" This incited and worsened the violence leading to the death of one Mboneni Ncube. Despite addressing other rallies after the incident, he is yet to single out the violent youth for rebuke. So much for someone who claims that he does not condone political violence.

Economic recovery

Chamisa's utterances during his rallies have also foregrounded his shallow understanding of Zimbabwe's economy and the various challenges that it is facing. During the Bulawayo rally, he paraded senior members of his party who included Tendai Biti and Sessel Zvidzai. He claimed that Biti single-handedly presided over the economic stability which attended the Government of National Unity (GNU) era.

On his part, Biti said that he would bring back the United States dollar if CCC landed State power. The CCC and its leadership stupidly think that populist promises of bringing back the US dollar without assessing whether or not this is what the economy needed for it to turn around will win the party some votes. Zimbabwe needs increased production and exports for its economic fortunes to turn around and not campaign rally populist utterances.

Biti spoke as if he is the one who introduced the US dollar. He and Chamisa spoke in a manner that casts Biti as a financial genius yet he cannot even state convincingly any policy that he introduced, which can be unanimously agreed on as the one that turned the economy around.

The world knows that the then acting Minister of Finance and Economic Development, Patrick Chinamasa officially introduced the greenback during the 2009 National Budget, which he presented in January 2009. This created some form of economic stability which Biti is now claiming as his brainchild.

Zvidzai promised housing and regular provision of basic services in urban areas. It was as if he was addressing some kindergarten children.

Zimbabweans, especially urbanites, know how the various factions and formations of the MDC have shamelessly superintended over the deterioration of both service delivery and infrastructure since 2000 in Zimbabwe's cities and towns.

If the opposition has failed cities and towns over the past 22 years, what assurance is there that it will be able to run this great country? None.

In Tsholotsho, Chamisa attempted to make a dig at Zanu-PF by claiming that "the duty of a party in Government is not to make promises, but to deliver."

It is ironic that both Chamisa and Zvidzai conveniently forgot that their party and its predecessor have been in local Government running the country's urban areas for over 20 years. Zvidzai was doing exactly what Chamisa was contemptuously accusing Zanu-PF of doing. Talk of a confused opposition political outfit.

Chamisa and his retinue spoke as if someone was responsible for Zimbabwe's socio-economic woes yet even children know that Chamisa's predecessor, the late Morgan Tsvangirai, advocated for the sanctions which have negatively affected the lives of most Zimbabweans.

They behaved like their handlers, the Americans, who have gained the notoriety of attacking some countries and reducing them to rubble only to offer financial assistance to the same. Zimbabweans should not and cannot expect anything good from an organisation that fights them from the enemies' corner.

Blatant lies

Those who follow events and personalities in the MDC factions and formations have observed one thing. While Chamisa is strenuously trying to distance himself from the MDC because it is now dominated by Mwonzora, he has failed to distance himself from his MDC Alliance self.

Many expected him to take advantage of the renaming of his party to make a clean cut from his past of childish and very silly lies. He has changed almost everything except his lying ways.

The change of his party's name, symbol and colour has dismally failed to transform him into a new and respectable politician.

The blatant and shameless lies continue to persist unabated because he cannot change himself.

Addressing his adherents in Kwekwe, he shamelessly lied that President Mnangagwa did not address the Zanu-PF rally held in Marondera on February 20 because he (President Mnangagwa) wanted to watch the proceedings at his (Chamisa) inaugural rally in Highfield on the same day.

It should be remembered that the President had just returned from the AU-EU Summit held on February 17 and 18 and he needed to rest as he had another engagement at the Robert Mugabe Square, where he addressed the youth on the occasion of the Robert Mugabe Youth Day.

Chamisa conveniently "forgot" that Zanu-PF is not like his rag-tag opposition outfit where he is everything and everyone.

In Zanu-PF President Mnangagwa, when necessary, delegates some of his engagements to Vice President Constantino Chiwenga and Zanu-PF Second Secretary, Kembo Mohadi. This is why the two have been addressing some star rallies.

Those who attended or followed Chamisa's Bulawayo rally must have been shocked out of their skin when the opposition leader shamelessly lied that "inhliziyo yami ibuhlungu" because of the state of the industry in the city.

Those who know the MDC factions and formations' ways saw through his insincere concern because in December 2017 he, Biti and the late Dewa Mavhinga travelled to the United States to beg that the sanctions against Zimbabwe be retained in the wake of Operation Restore Legacy.

They remembered how in 2018 he toured some European countries to ask them to keep the sanctions against Zimbabwe intact and how he gloated about the mission with the now-infamous "Sunga one, sunga dozen" chant.

He cannot claim to be concerned by Bulawayo's shrunk industrial activity when he supports the cause of the city's predicament.

In Highfield, Chamisa lied with a straight face that "vanhu vari kunyimwa zvitupa" to stifle the ongoing voter registration exercise. He is fully aware that the sanctions that Tsvangirai advocated for and which he fully supports are affecting the day to day operations of the Registrar General's Office. National registration requires supplies and consumables, some of which are imported.

The procurement of the same is being hampered by the sanctions that he glorifies. For Chamisa to make the false claim against the Government is the height of political dishonesty and the lowest point in the politicisation of a very basic national problem.

While addressing his supporters in Marondera, Chamisa claimed that the police barred the rally from going ahead because they had been instructed by Zanu-PF. However, within hours a member of the CCC Main Board Whatsapp group posted that the party leadership bungled by not following the Police's requirement to apply for a car rally permit on time.

Tripped and trapped by lack of substance

When a habitual liar runs out of anything of substance to tell his audiences, he runs the risk of entrapping himself and tripping over his own utterances. This is exactly what happened to Chamisa last weekend at Dulibadzimu Stadium. He criticised the prevailing use of multiple currencies, which include the US Dollar whose use Biti is advocating for, before pledging to do the same if elected into power. "My government, as soon as we get into office, we will introduce US$540 salaries for all civil servants and we will revert to the use of local currency when the economy gets better," Chamisa said.

Addressing the Beitbridge campaign rally, Chamisa blatantly lied that: "We beg not to fight. We do not want violence and anarchy. We fight using ideas," Those who know Chamisa know that he is all eloquence and no substance. They already know that his idea of turning around the country's socio-economic fortunes, for example, is building village airports when what villagers require are basic things such as clinics, irrigation projects and trafficable roads among other needs.

From Chamisa's addresses so far, it is evident that he and his party have nothing meaningful to offer the Zimbabwean electorate. He even inadvertently admitted the outfit's directionlessness when he told his supporters in Highfield that CCC had no ideology. It is just rolling aimlessly on Zimbabwe's political landscape. The chequered track record of his party's predecessor in Zimbabwe's urban areas is a silent, but salient warning of what the Zimbabwean urban electorate should expect from CCC councillors and legislators should they win in their areas this month and next year.

As this month's by-election and next year's polls draw near, the electorate should know that forewarned is forearmed. Voting for CCC candidates is voting for more of the MDC Alliance's poor service delivery and agitation for sanctions against innocent Zimbabweans.