In an interview with online news agency, CITE, at the
weekend, Chamisa said the recent defection of elected MDC Alliance
representatives, among them top party executives, to Zanu PF had taught them
hard lessons and forced them to tighten screws in the selection process.
Chamisa, who narrowly lost to President Emmerson Mnangagwa,
the Zanu PF leader, in the disputed 2018 harmonised elections, said the MDC
Alliance would now settle for “change agents committed to the struggle” ahead
of the 2023 harmonised elections.
“What has happened is that a lot of our MPs and a lot of
our councillors are people who are looking for opportunities,” he said.
“In fact, I have learnt from what has happened that instead
of having people coming across as change seekers, change agents and change
makers, they are actually job seekers, and so the preoccupation is to preserve
a job as an MP or councillor,” said the youthful opposition leader, who has
lost over 40 MPs and about 80 councillors in recalls orchestrated by the rival
MDC-T party led by Douglas Mwonzora and Lucia Matibenga of the People’s
Democratic Party.
Following the mass recalls, several other MDC Alliance
legislators and councillors also crossed the floor to the ruling party to
safeguard their jobs.
Chamisa described the defections as “a survival strategy”
as well as a great betrayal of the struggle for democracy.
He accused Zanu PF and the MDC-T of conniving to decimate
his party by dangling trinkets to elected MDC Alliance representatives.
“That is why I am now apologising to the people of Zimbabwe
to say that we had not thought through the processes of our candidate
selection, and that is why we have to go back to the drawing board to say we
don’t have a party candidate, but a community candidate, a collective ethic and
converged process run by community and opinion-makers as opposed to a political
party because these processes produce candidates who do not have their loyalty
in communities and to the people,” Chamisa said.
“Most of the MPs and councillors who have remained in
Parliament on account of allegiance to a counter party formed by Mnangagwa have
not shown loyalty to the people and we are going back to the drawing board.”
The MDC Alliance leader said communities and stakeholders
would now lead the candidate selection process as opposed to using party
structures.
“There will be a radical shift and change to the current
candidate selection process in this organisation to allow the community to lead
the process,” he said.
But MDC-T spokesperson Witness Dube scoffed at Chamisa’s
claims, saying the MPs had dumped him after realising that the MDC Alliance had
low regard of constitutionalism.
“There were no defections and the MPs only decided to stand
on the side of their party constitution and the country’s Constitution. It is
misleading for long-time comrades like Chamisa to believe in the lie he started
himself that there is money involved or buying of people involved. He cannot be
the only paragon of political correctness,” he said. “He must not trivialise
issues to that extent. It is very regrettable and insulting to people who made
this party to be what it is.”
Chamisa also accused the Zanu PF government of engineering
the arbitrary arrests of MDC Alliance activists, but the State has denied the
charge.
“All the elected people were elected on the MDC Alliance
ticket, but what we have seen is lawfare, the abuse of the courts in this case
by Mr Mnangagwa to recall by his created surrogates whom you know, to then say
all MDC Alliance MPs now belong to the MDC-T,” he said.
The MDC Alliance leader said the takeover of the party
headquarters by Mwonzora’s MDC-T was a temporary setback, adding that his party
would soon reclaim the property. “What we have seen is authoritarian
consolidation, an escalation of tyranny and we have seen the panic mode by Zanu
PF and Mr Mnangagwa on account of our strength. We have remained steadfast, we
have remained very strong and that’s why you have seen that they are in sixes
and sevens. If we were such a non-factor in the politics of this country, they
would have simply ignored us, but they can’t ignore us. They have discovered
that we are too strong on the ground and want to weaken us, decimate our
structures but they will not succeed,” Chamisa said.
Recently, Zanu PF spokesperson Simon Khaya Moyo told
NewsDay that his party was not involved in opposition party fights. Newsday
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