THE MDC has entered a crucial week after it set the ball
rolling on provincial nominations for the party's national leadership over the
weekend, ahead of next month's do-or-die elective congress.
Coming against the background of intense jostling for
positions within the main opposition party, the congress scheduled to run from
May 24 to 26 will either make or break the 20-year-old party.
The provincial nominations are likely to settle or
complicate the long-standing rivalry between MDC leader Nelson Chamisa and
party secretary-general Douglas Mwonzora as they go head-to-head for control of
the party.
Failure to secure a nomination would spell doom for either
party. In the event that both candidates are nominated, congress delegates will
then settle the matter next month.
Political analysts canvassed by the Daily News said the
nomination process is crucial, considering the ugly scenes of violence that
characterised the process in Chitungwiza, where suspected Chamisa supporters
were involved in bloody clashes with Mwonzora's followers.
Political analyst Admire Mare said it is important that the
MDC conducts its congress in the most professional, credible and free manner so
that the leadership elected at the congress has legitimacy and mandate to drive
the ship towards 2023.
"Unfortunately, incidences of political violence and
name calling have scuttled the build-up to the first congress since the death
of the doyen of democracy within the party … Tsvangirai.
"One can view these issues as a teething problem in
the transition towards the post Morgan Richard Tsvangirai politics in terms of
opposition politics in Zimbabwe.
The unfinished business of succession continues to rear its
ugly head despite Nelson Chamisa's incredible showing in the last
election," Mare said. Chaos has already marred some of the processes
preceding congress, the first since the death of the party's founding leader
Morgan Tsvangirai.
Tsvangirai died on February 14 last year, after a long
battle with cancer of the colon. As the process gathers momentum, the United
Kingdom branch set the ball rolling on Saturday, after it came up with its own
list of nominations.
According to the
party's spokesperson Jacob Mafume, the process is set to continue and expected
to be finalised within three weeks.
The UK branch has nominated Chamisa for president, Morgen
Komichi (vice president), Welshman Ncube (vice president), Lilian Timveos (vice
president), Tabitha Khumalo (chairperson), Happymore Chidziva (deputy
chairperson), Chalton Hwende (secretary-general), Settlement Chikwinya (deputy
secretary-general), David Coltart (treasurer), Rusty Markum (deputy treasurer),
Amos Chibaya (organising secretary) and Mafume (national spokesperson).
Aware that nothing is guaranteed in politics, the bigwigs
in the MDC seeking to retain their positions or snatch "safe posts"
are said to be reviewing their interests - which has seen pacts being made
ahead of the congress next month.
Already, Chamisa is said to have cut a deal with vice
president Elias Mudzuri, so that the two will not contest each other in the
forthcoming congress. This leaves Mwonzora as Chamisa's only possible
contender. The Daily News can report that re-alignments and "marriages of
convenience" between senior party officials and new blood are being formed
ahead of the May gathering.
The re-alignments and pacts are also reportedly informed by
whether or not the bigwigs' supporters landed influential positions in the
lower structures of the party since they form the Electoral College at the
congress.
Political analyst Piers Pigou said the credibility of the
nomination and delegate process in the MDC is under spotlight and that whoever
prevails must be able to show that violence and other unconstitutional
behaviour has not advantaged them.
"What we have witnessed thus far is not encouraging
and illustrates a culture of intolerance remain alive and kicking inside the
MDC. This must be distinguished from the acceptable norms of political
disagreement and competition. "Sadly, elements of the MDC's leadership
appear to have enabled this situation, compounded by a failure of key elements
in the senior leadership to give unambiguous direction on these matters,"
Pigou said.
Analyst Maxwell Saungweme said the forthcoming congress is
important in that it will put to rest the legitimacy issue within the MDC.
"If Chamisa wins, it puts to rest his legitimacy questions as the leader
of that party. If Mwonzora loses, he goes down as a true democrat who believes
that power must be contested.
I don't believe Mwonzora's political life will die after a
loss; in fact Zimbabwe lacks politicians like him who focus on issues and
middle ground. This enabled him to lead the constitutional review
process," he said.
Another political analyst Rashweat Mukundu said his take is
that while Chamisa is almost a step into the office of the leadership after the
congress, he still needs to reach out to all those who are contesting him and
all those who are interested in other positions in the party.
"Those who are contesting Chamisa at this moment, it
could be Douglas Mwonzora, it could be whoever, they tend to benefit from the
negative perception of the party, because essentially the MDC and Nelson
Chamisa are synonymous. He is the person who has taken the MDC to where it is
right now after the death of Morgan Tsvangirai and any negative perceptions on
the party are largely a negative also on his name," he said. Daily News
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