First it was Chamisa, now it's Biti, who is next?

WHEN THE KITCHEN GETS HOT, THEY  UNCEREMONIOUSLY BOLT OUT: FIRST IT WAS NELSON CHAMISA, NOW IT'S TENDAI BITI, WHO IS NEXT?

The recent state of the conduct of leadership ranks in the Zimbabwean political opposition is unprecedented in the country's political history.

Just last January, Nelson Chamisa bolted out and abandoned the presidency of his CCC faction founded under a 4-page constitution which made him synonymous with the party and its sole convenor and chief administrator, with no deputy and with no succession provisions. His sudden departure effectively meant the dissolution of his CCC by operation of law, notwithstanding the fact that there are some political vultures like Jameson Timba who are currently trying to find rotten meat from Chamisa's dissolved CCC carcass.

And there was the incredible spectacle of Fadzayi Mahere and Allan Norman Rusty Markham, whose real story and its implications are yet to be told, who bolted out not only from the CCC carcass deserted by Chamisa, but also from Parliament making never before heard arguments from any parliament anywhere in the world.

For example, Mahere whose letter of resignation was dated 29 January 2024, posted on X that one of her major reasons for bolting out of Parliament only after four months of a five-year term was because of "the tainted state of Parliament, coupled with sundry breaches of Parliamentary privilege, illegal suspensions and the decision by President Nelson Chamisa to dissociate himself from the captured CCC have made it untenable for me to continue as a member of parliament for Mt Pleasant Constituency under the CCC banner".

🟣 Dear Mt Pleasant Constituents,

RESIGNATION FROM PARLIAMENT

Above all, I want to thank you. I do not take your confidence in me for granted. It has been the honour of my life to represent you. This is not the end but the beginning of a different journey.

One of my first…

— Fadzayi Mahere🇿🇼 (@advocatemahere) January 27, 2024

And Markham whose resignation letter was dated 31 January 2024, who posted on X that, "my resignation note I referred to the "tick the box" and a "rubber stamp" parliament with no oversight"; as if he was ignorant of the fact that he had been elected in Harare East constituency precisely to provide the oversight that would make Parliament less of the "rubber stamp" he alleged that it was.

In my resignation note I referred to the " tick the box" and a "rubber stamp" parliament with no oversight .
Measures being considered to stabilize the exchange rate and reduce inflation are too late
- revenue has plummeted too low
- mining is in trouble
- maize crop crisis

— Rusty Markham Ex MP Harare East (@Katazamhondoro) February 7, 2024

That any serious Member of Parliament would invoke such frivolous reasons as made by Mahere and Markham to justify betraying the constituencies that elected them, and to bolt out, only four months after they were sworn in for a five-year term is shocking, to say the least. Clearly, Zimbabwe does indeed need better opposition leaders than these kinds who are given to such gross negligence, breached the duty of constituency-representation with reckless abandon.

Surprisingly, Tendai Biti is cut from the same cloth. Only some 60 or so days after he boldly declared that he was CCC Vice President elected by that party's congress and that he was "going nowhere", now he says he is actually going somewhere after all; by taking "time out"; taking a "sabbatical" to go to Washington DC, of all places.

And he's saying this at a time when he's in fact due to take over - something he accepted to do when he knew at that time that he was due to go to the US by this fall - as CCC acting president under the ‘rotational' arrangement they agreed to as the ‘leadership collective' under the ‘Gweru Resolutions'.

Effectively, like Chamisa, Mahere and Markham, Biti is bolting out. He is running away from leadership responsibility. This makes sense of their mantra that they ‘need new leaders'!