I have watched, reported on and participated in the past 10 elections that Zimbabwe has held so far. The 2023 elections due in six weeks are quite different. The lackadaisical attitude of the opposition towards the elections is baffling.
Citizens Coalition for Change leader Nelson Chamisa, despite being the most formidable candidate who could beat current Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front leader Emmerson Mnangagwa, seems to be doing everything to make sure that he loses the elections which are just 73 days away.
He has so far not openly campaigned. He has not disclosed the names of his parliamentary candidates yet nomination is 10 days away. He is only visible on twitter where he says:”This time, its time”.
Rewind to 2018. Chamisa usurped leadership of the Movement for Democratic Change-Alliance within hours of party leader Morgan Tsvangirai’s death in South Africa. By 8 July, he had held 57 rallies and had one more, the final one, in Harare.
Chamisa has been very secretive about his campaign as well as the structure and leadership of the CCC since it was formed in January last year after the Alliance was taken over by Douglas Mwonzora following a Supreme Court ruling that Chamisa’s leadership was null and void.
Only three people are visible within the party, Chamisa himself and his spokesmen, Fadzayi Mahere and Ostallos Siziba.
The party has so far not unveiled its constitution and it is going into the elections before it has been officially launched.
While most media reported the announcement of the new party in January 2022 as its launch, party deputy spokesman Ostallos Siziba said that the party had not been officially launched and would be launched before the 2023 elections.
“Our launch will be a confirmation beyond any doubt that we are new in form, character and strategy,” Siziba told the Standard on 11 December 2022.
“We have been building the alternative from below and now we are satisfied to a greater degree that we are ready to unleash the citizens’ potential in a bid to win Zimbabwe for change. We have built networks domestically with key players and internationally we have made our case beyond any doubt. We have had to build our electoral infrastructure to the level and extent that we got 61% of the total by-election outcome.”
Six months have now gone by and nomination day is 10 days away but the party is still to be launched. Candidates that will represent the party are still not yet known.
CCC has been shrouded in secrecy since its formation ostensibly to shield itself from infiltrators and to avoid arming ZANU-PF. This might sound plausible to the layman but throughout the history of independent Zimbabwe, ZANU-PF has infiltrated every political party that has been formed in the country from inception and usually has someone within the new party’s top 5.
Chamisa’s lackadaisical approach to this year’s elections gives the impression that everything that he is doing and the promises he is making to the electorate are all a charade. He is doing everything to make sure Mnangagwa wins the elections.
The only thing that is standing in Mnangagwa’s way is the economy. If the current situation prevails, Zimbabweans could vote for anyone, or anything, to get rid of Mnangagwa in the hope that this will end their suffering.
In fact, the current situation is reminiscent of 2008 when then President Robert Mugabe lost to opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai. This was more of a protest vote. That same year a Nkayi woman was quoted as saying: “Given a choice between a donkey and a ZANU-PF candidate, people would vote for the donkey.”
One could say the same thing about Mnangagwa today. Things are bad. But, Mnangagwa is a hard nut to crack as former ZANU-PF secretary for administration Didymus Mutasa said six months ago.
“One thing the povo doesn’t realise is that ED Mnangagwa is a deft strategist of unparalleled brilliance,” Mutasa said. “He essentially handled Mugabe and everything around from the late 1970s up until Grace came along when everything went haywire. The brilliance in Mugabe’s heydays was partially influenced by Ngwena’s hand. He was the untiring and ever reliable hand behind the scenes. Even Mugabe acknowledged Ngwena’s brilliance & hard work after just before the 2018 elections.”
Mutasa added: “I’m sharing this information to contextualise Chamisa’s chances in 2023. I have observed the young man for a number of years and frankly speaking he can never match Ngwena even if Ngwena decides to sleep until after the election. They’re just incomparable.”
Chamisa is banking on one thing- people’s dissatisfaction. But Mnangagwa today said he does not waste what he termed a good crisis. Every bad crisis, he said, can be turned into a good one. Can he turn the present currency crisis which has resulted in skyrocketing prices to his advantage?
