NELSON Chamisa, left, has everything to gain by embracing
the growing calls for unity talks between him and interim MDC leader Thokozani
Khupe — and everything to lose by spurning the mooted dialogue, analysts say.
This comes as Khupe
and Chamisa have been involved in a fierce tussle for the control of the
country’s main opposition party ever since its much-loved founding leader,
Morgan Tsvangirai, died of colon cancer in February 2018.
It also comes amid a
renewed push by concerned MDC bigwigs for the two rivals to unite ahead of the
party’s court-directed extraordinary congress, in the interest of the party and
the country.
Political analyst
Maxwell Saungweme told the Daily News yesterday that both Chamisa and Khupe
needed to realise the importance of dialogue, “to create a win-win outcome”
rather than continue with their current and “unsustainable zero sum game”.i
He added that Chamisa also needed to understand the fact
that for him and the MDC to succeed, he needed to be inclusive in his approach
and to “carry everyone along, not just his favourite people only”.
“The issues matrix in that conflict is clear and the power,
positions, interests and needs analysis is simple.
“None of those leaders doubt that Chamisa is more popular
than all of them and that he is the best foot forward if they are to release
some political shock to Zanu PF in 2023.
“The disgruntled MDC leaders just need respect and
recognition, not necessarily the presidency that Chamisa has no competition
on,” Saungweme told the Daily News.
“But if both sides remain headstrong, the train will just
sink. Politics is not about just being legalistic and eloquent, but also about
being calculative and meticulously combining this with dialogue, compromise,
leadership and the law,” he said further.
Respected University
of Zimbabwe political science lecturer, Eldred Masunungure, weighed in saying
Chamisa and Khupe’s differences were not “unbridgeable”.
“They are offshoots of the same stem and they worked
together for a longer period than they have been adversaries. It is almost 20
years of working together, and so there is scope for unity, he said.
Masunungure also
praised MDC organising secretary Abednico Bhebhe for calling for an end to the
party’s mindless bloodletting — saying Bhebhe was being pragmatic given the
realities that if each one of them decided to go it alone “there will be no
winners”.
“It makes sense to hold a congress that resonates with the
MDC base because the problems between the two leaders are basically a matter of
personality, and with astute mediation unity is possible.
“Of course, there is bad blood, but there has not been any
bloodshed during their political gladiation.
“If Zanu and PF Zapu could work together in the aftermath
of Gukurahundi, then it is much easier for Chamisa and Khupe to work together.
“The postponement of the congress is either because Khupe’s
camp is ill-prepared in terms of organisation or that they are giving unity
talks a chance,” Masunugure further told the Daily News.
This comes as the
MDC’s senseless infighting has gone up a notch, following the Supreme Court’s
recent judgment which upheld last year’s ruling by the High Court which
nullified Chamisa’s ascendancy to the leadership of the party.
Contacted for a
comment on the proposal by Bhebhe, Chamisa’s spokesperson Nkululeko Sibanda
referred questions to MDC-Alliance spokesperson Fadzayi Mahere.
“I think if that is to happen, it will have to be the
decision of the party, so you can talk to the spokesperson,” he said.
Mahere was not
taking calls and did not respond to questions sent to her, despite her having
requested for them in writing.
Presenting a report to the party’s standing committee last
week, Bhebhe said it was time for the MDC leaders to bury the hatchet in the
interest of the party and the country.
“Our meeting today is founded on the reality of the
divisions sponsored by our own indiscretions and admittance of the fact that
there were two congresses — one at Stanley Square in Bulawayo and another at
Gweru — with two leaders who contested each other in the 2018 elections.
“It is our collective responsibility to bring the two
leaders to the table, whatever the stakes involved.
It has taken us
literally forever to meet as a team, and I want to speak to our mandates as
responsible adult citizens on whom the whole nation reposes,” Bhebhe said.
“I appeal that we be cognisant of the aspirations for
liberty, prosperity and happiness of the people that look up to us for an
alternative to the governance failures by the government of the day.
“Guided by the aims and objectives of the party,
particularly in terms of 3.7 of the … constitution, as well as the character
and culture of the party, as captured under 4.5 of the constitution, I propose
that we bring together party structures from both formations, invite national
executive committee and national council members from both formations.
“The different formations should start engaging and cease
forthwith the fights going on in the courts,” Bhebhe added
.
“We need each other if this struggle is to be won at all.“I appeal that as leaders we cast our sights into the long
run, ahead of the short-termism that manifested in the decisions, actions and
choices we have taken so far, both individually and collectively in small sub
groups.
“I am appealing to you as fellow trench men and women that
we treat each other with one eye to sustain the struggle against a common
enemy,” Bhebhe said further.
“Closely associated with the foregoing is the politics of
labelling erstwhile comrades Zanu PF, and making attempts to reach out to such
matters of treachery,” the former Nkayi South legislator added.
“I am hoping we can be mature to use the courts of law in a
manner which assists our struggle rather than one which serves to ventilate our
deficiencies in the open.
“I am hopeful, fellow comrades, that I am not asking for
too much on my modest request that we narrow the gaps between different groups
of the same family by suppressing the basest of our intuitions as motivators of
our decisions, actions and choices.
“In terms of the executing of my obligations, my task is to
mobilise stakeholders eligible for the extraordinary congress which is hard
upon us,” Bhebhe continued.
Both Chamisa and
Khupe have been criticised heavily for failing to heal their rift and focusing
on the failures of Zanu PF — whose incompetent handling of the economy has
angered long-suffering Zimbabweans.
Last month, former
MDC chairperson Lovemore Moyo also said pointedly that the brawling between
Chamisa and Khupe had “absolutely nothing to do with serving the long-suffering
people of Zimbabwe”. Daily News
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