Chamisa in a tit for tat after ED deny him quid pro quo for participating in rigged elections P Guramatunhu

During the 2008 to 2013 GNU, Morgan Tsvangirai shameless used his political position as Prime Minister to promote his selfish interests at the expense of the commonwealth. Nelson Chamisa is doing the same thing today!

“Things are moving from bad to worse for Nelson Chamisa after more MDC legislators defied his decree to withdraw their services from Parliament,” reported Bulawayo 24.

“The 3 parliamentarians elected on the MDC-Alliance ticket yesterday defied a boycott and attended a sitting of the Portfolio Committee on Lands, Agriculture, Water and Rural Resettlement. The three are Ms Virginia Mafuta (Proportional Representative), David Tekeshe (Makoni Central) and Ms Joyce Makonya (Proportional Representative).”

Morgan Tsvangirai withdrew MDC leaders from attending cabinet meetings, the first and last time he ever did this, to pressure Mugabe to let Tsvangirai stay in Zimbabwe House. Tsvangirai relented after he was given the US$4 million Highlands mansion. He was so content, he and his MDC friends never lifted a finger to implement the democratic reforms, the primary purpose of the GNU.

MDC leaders knew implementing the reforms were the key to ending the curse of rigged elections and good governance; the thing the nation was dying for. They also knew that Mugabe did not want to lose his dictatorial powers and so they throw all reforms out of the window to please the dictator.

MDC MPs, senators and councillors should have never taken their seats following the July 2018 elections because the whole election process was a farce. Zanu PF blatantly rigged those elections.

Indeed, MDC and the rest of the opposition candidates should have never participated in July 2018 elections without first implementing the reforms to ensure the elections were free, fair and credible. They participated out of greed; they knew Zanu PF would give away a few gravy-train seats as bait.

What is more shocking is that the opposition candidates knew that by participating in the flawed and illegal elections they will give credibility to the process and thus give some modicum of legitimacy to the result as David Coltart readily admitted in his book.

In his Book, The Struggle Continues 50 years of Tyranny in Zimbabwe, David Coltart, former MDC – Ncube Senator and Minister of Education in the 2008 GNU, gave details of how Zanu PF was flouting the electoral rules in the upcoming 2013 elections. It was clear the elections would not be free, fair and credible.

“The worst aspect for me about the failure to agree a coalition was that both MDCs couldn’t now do the obvious – withdraw from the elections,” wrote Senator Coltart.

“The electoral process was so flawed, so illegal, that the only logical step was to withdraw, which would compel SADC to hold Zanu PF to account. But such was the distrust between the MDC-T and MDC-N that neither could withdraw for fear that the other would remain in the elections, winning seats and giving the process credibility.”

So, Nelson Chamisa and his MDC friends participated in the July 2018 elections knowing fully well that doing so gave the rigged elections credibility and Mnangagwa and his Zanu PF regime legitimacy. The MDC winning candidates took up the allotted seats and Chamisa banked the MDC’s share of the Political Party Finance (Act) pay out.

Chamisa did not care that the elections were rigged denying the ordinary Zimbabweans their right to a meaningful say in the governance of the country and, most important of all, denying them any hope of having a competent government that will address their worsening economic situation.

However, when the Supreme Court confirmed the High Court judgement that Chamisa’s seizure of power following Tsvangirai’s death had indeed violated the MDC’s own constitution; all hell broke loose. Chamisa’s hold on power is being threatened and now he wanted maximum pressure brought to bear on Mnangagwa and his Zanu PF regime. Now Mnangagwa and his regime are illegitimate and MDC MPs, senators, councillors, ambassadors, everybody must stop engaging with the regime!

Chamisa knows that what he did in seizing power was unconstitutional just as he has known all along that participating in these flawed and illegal elections gave the process credibility and Zanu PF legitimacy. He is angry that Mnangagwa did not instruct Supreme Court to overlook his transgression, in a quid pro quo. If the judiciary was instructed to judge the November 2017 military coup “justified, legal and constitutional”; this was nothing!

So, Chamisa is calling for a belated boycott of the Zanu PF regime to underline its illegitimacy as a tit for tat!

How ironic that Morgan Tsvangirai did not hesitate piling the pressure on Mugabe to get his US$4 million mansion but could not be even bothered to lift a finger to implemented the reforms to end Zanu PF dictatorship.

Similarly, Chamisa participated in flawed and illegal elections to give the vote rigging and per se illegitimate Zanu PF regime legitimacy but only now wants to boycott participating in government because Mnangagwa would grant legitimacy to Chamisa’s unconstitutional seizure of MDC leadership.

Both Tsvangirai and Chamisa have bargained the right of the people of Zimbabwe to free, fair and credible elections, like mangoes at the market, for their selfish individual gain! Shame on these MDC leaders and shame on us the people to be so shamefully abused again and again and again!