Constitutionalism vs Populism: the MDC story

When Nelson Chamisa organized a rushed National Executive Council (NEC) meeting barely hours after the demise of his longtime leader and mentor, Morgan Tsvangirai, that should have rang some serious alarms of the disaster that would follow.

As of last week, the MDC-T faction is now effectively fragmented into two main camps; one belonging to Nelson 'Wamba dia Wamba' Chamisa and the other loyal to Thokozani 'The Iron Lady' Khupe. The two former deputy presidents have been engaged in a cold war of words since the burial of Tsvangirai in February.

Now the gloves have come off and it is all out open warfare as Chamisa through his version of the NEC expelled Khupe and she likewise declared her own intentions to organize her own version of the same NEC to expel Chamisa and stand as the MDC 2018 presidential candidate.

Khupe now publicly refers to herself as the legitimate acting vice president of the MDC-T faction and similarly Chamisa is addressed by his followers as the rightful president of the party. Both sides have stated their willingness to field competing candidates in the upcoming general elections expected in the next three months.

The thing that puzzles the man on the streets is that both sides insist they are representing and respecting the party constitution and hence their actions are justified. However, a close analysis of the issues that led to the split of the country's main opposition outfit is clearly a case of constitutionalism versus populism.

Former MDC-T spokesperson and a loyal follower of Khupe, Obert Gutu, wrote on his twitter page that; "The genuine, lawful, rightful and legitimate MDC-T led by Acting President Hon.Dr.Thokozani Khupe will be fielding candidates in both Parliamentary and local authority seats throughout the length and breadth of Zimbabwe. More details to follow."

In sharp contrast, the deputy national chairperson and a staunch Chamisa loyalists wrote, "On VP Khupe, the national council noted the efforts for engagement made by the party President and the fact that VP Khupe remained stubborn, obdurate, intransigent and spurned all party efforts to address her grievances as she continued to hold illegal meetings and partake in unconstitutional activities, putting the party into disrepute and undermining the constitutional organs of the party," in a statement to expel Khupe.

Both sides cited the constitution to justify their actions, which is really the root of the MDC conundrum as one side is clearly misleading people and choosing to listen to noise on the streets at the expense of the constitution (populism).  

It does not take a rocket scientist to figure out that Chamisa enjoys the popular vote in MDC-T circles and he has managed to surround himself with praise singers who have convinced him that he is the legitimate heir to Tsvangirai's throne at the expense of following the party constitution.

Chamisa's popularity is nothing compared to that of Robert Mugabe before 1980 and we all know what happened there. The guy (Mugabe) had to be forced to resign after 37 years of stalling progress for the country. This just goes to prove that populism alone does not make a great leader; rather it would be a mistake to ignore proper procedures simply because someone has a sweet tongue that makes people cry when he speaks.

The MDC needs to listen to Khupe and company and go for congress and elect a new leader not just to fall behind the one whose name is being chanted the loudest in the streets. Otherwise they risk creating another Mugabe who will be a great orator but fails to deliver on any of his promises that made people chant for him in the first place.