By Tafadzwa Masango

ON July 25 2016 Michelle Obama made one of her most emotional speeches at the Democratic Party’s National Convention.
In her speech, she focused on the qualities and character it takes to be a good leader and a president.
While her speech was targeted at exposing Donald Trump, excerpts of her speech would make some Zimbabweans believe she has some prophetic powers as the characteristics she described as belonging to individuals not suited to lead the nation pinpoint a certain politician right here in Zimbabwe:
“The presidency doesn’t change who you are, it reveals who you are.
And the same thing is true of a presidential campaign.
So, if a candidate is erratic and threatening, if a candidate traffics in prejudice, fears and lies on the trail, if a candidate has no clear plan to implement their goals, if they disrespect their fellow citizens, including folks who make extraordinary sacrifices for our country.
Let me tell you, that is who they are.
That is the kind of president they will be.
Trust me.
A candidate is not going to suddenly change once they get in office.
So when it comes to the qualifications, we should demand in a president, to start with, we need someone who is going to take this job seriously.
Someone who will study and prepare so that they understand the issues better than anyone else on their team.
And we need someone, not with good judgement, but someone with superb decision in their own right.
We also need someone who is steady and measured because when you are making life-or-death, war-or-peace decisions, a president can’t just pop off.
Being president isn’t anything like reality TV.
It’s not about sending insulting tweets or making fiery speeches.
It is about whether or not the candidate can handle the awesome responsibility of leading this country (sic).”
We need a leader not a drama queen
What do you call a person who grabs power from the clutches of a dying man?
What do you call a man who uses violence against rivals in a power struggle?
What would you call a man who thrives on controversy, on inflaming emotions, on setting fires and pouring oil on those fires to remain relevant?
A man who came in through the backdoor, a man who hijacks and manipulates democratic processes for his selfish gain!
The MDC claims to have been founded on the tenets of ‘democracy’, ‘transparency’ and ‘rule of law’.
It drew most of its political ideas, such as advocacy for freedoms of association, press and majority rule, from Western democracies which were the hand that directed the puppet leaders.
However, that is a story for another day.
Since its inception, the MDC has sold itself as the opposite of ZANU PF; where ZANU PF was the villain of the Zimbabwean story as told by those who pursue the regime change agenda, the MDC was the complete opposite — in fact the MDC was the hero, the David fighting the Goliath.
This so-called difference was epitomised in the open palm symbol and slogan of ‘Chinja Maitiro’ , all intended to reinforce this so-called change that the MDC was.
The Palace coup
Right off the bat, MDC leader Nelson Chamisa has proved that he is not a democrat, despite leading a party that centres its ‘ideology’ on democracy.
Chamisa’s ascendency to power is best described by the picture of him exiting Harvest House through a makeshift portal to address party supporters who had lined up to mourn Morgan Tsvangirai.
The young man is the classic definition of an opportunist. Chamisa and his crew grabbed power from Thokozani Khupe as Tsvangirai was having his last breath on a hospital bed.
At a time when the party was supposed to close ranks, Chamisa and his crew were plotting a hostile takeover.
That fatal day, when he made his balcony speech at Harvest House, alarm bells should have sounded in the minds of right thinking democrats.
His use of a youth §§ militia (Vanguard) on numerous occasions after this palace coup to silence any objections to his power grab and to force all to tow his line cemented his position as the only rooster in the fowl run.
It is an open secret that the late Tsvangirai kept a reserve squad of youths who acted as his disciplinary mechanism. Anyone who did not see things Tsvangirai’s way was made to see the light through physical persuasion.
The likes of the late Trudy Stevenson, Priscilla Misihairambwi-Mushonga, Welshman Ncube, Tendai Biti and Elton Mangoma, at one time or another, were made to see the light through generous beatingsthe from of these youths.
So, of all the things that Chamisa chose as part of his inheritance from Tsvangirai, it was that same culture and tradition of employing young men who would use violence, intimidation and coercion on those who did not agree with him in the opposition.
Chamisa’s sycophants claim he did not ‘steal’ the presidency, but moved in to fill the void as his co-vice-presidents were in South Africa and he stepped in so that supporters had a leading figure they could turn to in their hour of mourning.
However, was Chamisa still filling that void when his Vanguard threatened to burn Thokozani Khupe and Douglas Mwonzoro in a hut at Tsvangirai’s homestead?
Was he still filling a void when he accused ZANU PF of killing Tsvangirai and yet the man announced publicly that he was suffering from cancer of the colon.
Was he filling the void when he held a kangaroo meeting made up of mostly ambitious deputies who endorsed him as the new leader?
A dictator dressed as a democrat
Chamisa denied the opposition from following democratic norms of selecting a suitable candidate to lead the opposition in the harmonised elections of 2018.
Surely, a group of 15-or-so individuals cannot shoulder such a responsibility, and as exposed, it was all a façade, intended to sanitise a process that was barbaric.
Chamisa imposed candidates in the just-ended harmonised elections, much to the chagrin of MDC supporters.
Some of the imposed candidates were his relatives, cronies or relations of his cronies.
Additionally, others did not have a traceable history in the opposition movement and, much like Chamisa, they were opportunists who sought to ride on the presumed opposition popularity in urban constituencies to Parliament.
In certain constituencies, the MDC ended up fielding more than one candidate, thereby splitting its vote.
Ironically, those who resisted the candidate imposition and ran as double candidates or independents are being punished with suspensions and expulsions.
However, the root cause of this problem — Chamisa’s imposition of unpopular candidates — is ignored.
One would have thought the loss at the polls taught Chamisa a valuable lesson when it comes to imposition, but sadly not.
Chamisa was back at it some weeks back as he imposed mayoral candidates on some towns and cities such as Bulawayo, Chitungwiza, Masvingo and Victoria Falls, among others, to ensure full control of the urban areas.
The process once again laid bare Chamisa’s dictatorial tendencies as he defied the will of both party members and residents’ associations who form the electorate.
In Chitungwiza, he ensured that his preferred mayoral candidate, Councillor Gift Tsverere, won the mayor’s position against former deputy mayor, Councillor Goodwill Mushangwe, who was the popular choice of both fellow councillors and party members.
Mushangwe had to pull out his candidature before the elections under unclear circumstances.
Party members caused commotion outside the Chitungwiza Council chambers as they demanded that senior leaders from their party, Voice Chinake, Morgan Femai, Dickson Tarusenga and Job Sikhala, should leave the chambers but they refused in order to ensure that Chamisa’s choice prevailed against perceived Biti-inclined councillors through intimidating them.
In Victoria Falls, residents preferred Ward 9 Councillor Somvelo Dhlamini, whom they felt hailed from the area and understood their concerns better, while Chamisa preferred Ward 9 Councillor Eliphias Mambune and Ward 3 Councillor Margaret Valley as mayor and deputy mayor respectively.
The two were reportedly invited to the party’s Harvest House offices for interviews.
The election had to be deferred in mid-process after the director for mobilisation and party building, Farai Chinobva, tried to force Dhlamini to contest for the deputy mayor’s post since Chamisa’s choice was Valley, which incensed residents. The residents indicated they would not give in to Chamisa’s machinations.
People power prevailed over Chamisa’s selfish designs as Dhlamini eventually won.
Mayoral elections in Bulawayo were equally mired in Chamisa-authored controversy as he dispatched Chinobva to encamp in the city to ensure his preferred mayoral candidate, Solomon Mguni, won against Norman Hlabani who was the other councillors’ choice.
Mguni won, thus ensuring Chamisa’s interests would be taken care of in the city.
The unabated use of violence to silence naysayers and dissenters has also become Chamisa’s calling card.
In the Chamisa fiefdom, freedom of choice and freedom of association are only granted to those whose views are in tandem with the ‘democratic’ leader.
Democracy is the preserve of those who make the same choices as president Chamisa.
Unfortunately, even those who are not under Chamisa’s fiefdom sometimes end up on the receiving end of his ‘democratic’ benevolence.
During the Masvingo mayoral elections, party youths attacked and manhandled NewsDay Masvingo correspondent Tatenda Chitagu and dispossessed him of his mobile phone for trying to interview the winner, MDC Alliance Ward 12 Councillor Collins Maboke, who prevailed over their preferred candidate, Ward 4 Councillor Godfrey Kurauone.
These dastardly incidents invited concern and condemnation from both the Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA) and the Zimbabwe Union of Journalists (ZUJ).
We are informed that the MDC will hold its Congress in the first months of 2019.
However, what is supposed to be a mechanism for supporters to choose their leaders is already being touted as just a platform to rubber stamp an already determined outcome. Whispers making the rounds are that Chamisa and a number of his team have indicated that their positions are not up for contestation.
If what Zimbabweans have witnessed in the aftermath of Tsvangirai’s death is anything to go by, the Congress will once again make a mockery of democratic processes and I believe the ‘D’ in the MDC should changed from Democracy to ‘Dictatorship’.
What next?
Chamisa realises his pubescent-like excitement has cost him not just support of the voters, but even of donors and other foreign backers.
His overt undemocratic tendencies repulse many who believe that for the ‘opposition’ project to work, it has to have some semblance of democratic processes.
Chamisa’s dictatorial tendencies, coupled with the gaffes and antics of those who surround him and are propping his presidency, have exposed the opposition and now it’s back to the drawing board.
A few days back, those of us on social media witnessed yet another episode of ‘Keeping up with Nelson Chamisa’, as he went on a rant about how ZANU PF had taken ‘chinhu changu’, how he was the owner of some goats, and other crazy rumblings.
This has become Chamisa’s modus operandi – making childish speeches and throwing tantrums which are only good for making the audience laugh, but bereft of any meaningful content.
The significance of Dzikamai Mavhaire should not be lost on those who follow developments in Zimbabwe’s politics. Chamisa, or whoever is the brains behind Chamisa, has done the calculations and realises the only way for the vote gap, between Chamisa and President Emmerson Mnangagwa, to be narrowed can only be by targeting ZANU PF’s strongest constituencies.
These are the people who are not moved by fables of bullet trains and spaghetti roads, but an audience which deals in practicality.
Mavhaire and his NPP contingent are probably Ambrose Mutinhiri and the NPF’s replacements, the latter were supposed to bring in the liberation struggle element into the opposition.
The announcement of the imminent introduction of a war veterans wing in the MDC comes against a backdrop of attempts to woo the likes of Dumiso Dabengwa to overtly show support and recognition of Chamisa as the next best thing since sliced bread.
It is interesting to note the opposition believes that the rural constituency will fall hook-line-and-sinker for the MDC and Chamisa once they parade some war veterans who have joined their party.
These contemptuous views of the rural voter are the reason, even after two decades, the MDC is struggling to make inroads in the rural constituencies.