United Kingdom-based legal expert Alex Magaisa believes Zimbabwe’s ruling establishment has warmed up to MDC-T president Douglas Mwonzora in order to undermine Nelson Chamisa’s MDC Alliance.
In a Twitter thread, Magaisa said the government is trying hard to portray Mwonzora as the late Morgan Tsvangirai’s legitimate heir but by doing this, they have dug the newly-elected former secretary-general’s political grave as voters are aware that the “real” opposition is the party most feared and loathed by the ruling ZANU PF, in this case, the MDC Alliance. Below we present Magaisa’s post in full:
They spent years and acres of space in state media lampooning Morgan Tsvangirai. But in death, they eulogise him. It is not because they have discovered respect for the man, no. They do it to use him as a source of legitimacy by way of heirship to their preferred “successor”.
They abused Tsvangirai while he lived. They still abuse him after his death. They think if they can attach their horse to Tsvangirai he will earn legitimacy in the eyes of the MDC community. The aim is not to praise Mwonzora but to undermine their true and feared rival Chamisa.
The irony is that they applaud Mwonzora for the so-called notion of “responsible opposition” while at the same time naming him the true successor to Tsvangirai as if they ever recognised Tsvangirai as “responsible opposition”. In fact, they called him a puppet and beat him up.
For someone trying so hard to uplift their chosen horse and to pretend the MDC Alliance is irrelevant, Charamba spends far too much time throwing jabs at Chamisa and the MDC Alliance. MDC people can tell who is the successor to Tsvangirai by the amount of abuse from ZANU PF people.
The MDC community knows that the Mnangagwa regime wants to build an opposition party that it can control. The MDC Alliance refused to be that kind of party. The regime found a willing horse in the MDC-T and they have been at it all year expelling MPs and grabbing party funds.
Charamba says he sees more high-level defections. Of course, some elected representatives will out of self-interest try to protect their small perks. But they will be signing their political death warrants in the eyes of the voters. They will never be trusted again.
The regime might give their preferred horse everything else but what it cannot deliver are the people to support them. This group damaged itself when it went on a rampage expelling elected representatives instead of showing forbearance. They lost the respect of the electorate.
But behind that velvet glove of apparent praise for Mwonzora, Charamba was wielding an iron fist. The instruction is simple: Join POLAD, like Khupe, did before you or you will be behaving irresponsibly. Mwonzora is going to have to join the band of enablers. It’s co-optation.
For ZANU PF there’s only ever one true adversary and that is the MDC Alliance led by Chamisa. It is the only one that poses a threat to its power. ZANU PF is not a party that treats rivals with kindness and respect as ZAPU, ZUM and the MDC led by Tsvangirai can testify.
For the MDCT, it must pray the suspension of by-elections stays on a little longer to keep the facade. Because it is on the electoral field where the lads will eventually be separated from the men. They will be punished severely by voters for political treachery and betrayal.
The warm embrace by ZANU PF is a kiss of death. People are accustomed to ZANU PF’s rough tactics against the opposition. When they see a wolf giving comfort to a lamb, they become suspicious. They start to think that there’s something sinister behind the lamb’s skin.
