Chamisa keen to exploit Zanu-PF G40 faction




MDC Alliance leader Nelson Chamisa
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THE fissures emerging from within the rank and file of the ruling Zanu-PF party have grabbed the attention of MDC leader Nelson Chamisa, who is looking to capitalize on the internal fights to upstage President Emmerson Mnangagwa.

Former members of the deposed Generation 40 (G40) faction have secured positions in the opposition MDC party’s Harare provincial executive. G40 is a Zanu-PF faction that worked tirelessly to secure former president Robert Mugabe’s political interests before it was vanquished in November 2017 when the military forced the former ruling party strongman to resign.

Following Mugabe’s forced resignation, G40 members were purged from Zanu-PF, with some of its prominent members – among them Jonathan Moyo and Patrick Zhuwao – going into self-imposed exile.

In an interesting development, two ex-G40 members Shadreck Mashayamombe and Jappy Jaboon were both appointed into Harare MDC provincial structures recently.

Last week, war veterans leader Christopher Mutsvangwa said Chamisa’s association with the deposed G40 faction of Zanu-PF scuttled a government of unity arrangement that Morgan Tsvangirai had stitched up with President Mnangagwa.

Chamisa took control of the MDC when the founding president Morgan Tsvangirai died in February 2018, just three months after President Mnangagwa had taken over State power.

Mutsvangwa says Chamisa was influenced by the G40 which wanted to overthrow President Emmerson Mnangagwa from being the First Secretary of the ruling party.

“We held meetings at a Fourways Hotel in Johannesburg with Morgan Tsvangirai, and the ex-prime minister was most impressed with the unifying initiative.

“Unfortunately, his health failed as the fateful transition rolled out in 2017. The sad tragedy for Zimbabwe is that an emboldened Chamisa threw his lot into pursuing a coup within Zanu-PF,” Mutsvangwa told the Daily News.

The Daily News further says Chamisa admitted that there was indeed a deal between Mnangagwa and Tsvangirai, but blamed Zanu-PF for tricking Tsvangirai and the late national hero, Dumiso Dabengwa.

Chamisa reportedly said that the plan was for Mnangagwa to become interim president with Tsvangirai and Dabengwa as his deputies to institute reforms leading to a credible election.

National Patriotic Front (NPF) spokesperson Jealousy Mawarire once likened Chamisa to members of Zanu-PF’s erstwhile Generation 40 (G40) faction who were ousted from the ruling party.

Speaking during a Zimbabwe Election Support Network political debate, Mawarire said NPF was throwning its weight behind Chamisa in the polls because he perfectly fits the characterisation of the G40 members who now constitute the NPF.

“Deliberately, we are supporting the MDC Alliance, presidential candidate Advocate Nelson Chamisa. Mind you, NPF is coming on the backdrop of a very robust position that was pushed by most of our members when they were in Zanu-PF. We are the ones who were pushing for G40 and Nelson Chamisa actually fits the characterisation of the G40,” Mawarire said.

Source – Newsday