Source: Sikhala claims MT can still win – DailyNews Live
Mugove Tafirenyika 12 January 2018
HARARE – An ailing Morgan Tsvangirai and his MDC Alliance can still defeat
President Emmerson Mnangagwa and his “reformed” Zanu PF hands down in this
year’s eagerly-anticipated harmonised elections, an MDC official has said.
MDC national executive member Job Sikhala told the Daily News this week
that if Mnangagwa was to allow a free and fair election, he would be
Tsvangirai’s political breakfast.
“Tsvangirai can still blow Ngwena (Mnangagwa’s nickname) out of the water
even in his current state of health.
“All things equal, a sick and ailing Tsvangirai, … will defeat a fit
Mnangagwa any day in a free and fair contest. In Zambia, a sick and ailing
Sata defeated a fit Rupiah Banda when no-one gave him a snowball’s chance
in hell.”
But Sikhala together with thousands of opposition supporters might be
disappointed.
With just a few months before elections, Tsvangirai, 65, has thrown the
MDC Alliance preparations into disarray after hinting on Monday at his
possible early retirement, less than two months after his long-time foe
former President Robert Mugabe also threw in the towel after a four-decade
rule.
Mugabe, 93, resigned after a near-bloodless military intervention in the
pre-dawn hours of November 15, 2017 with his deputy, Mnangagwa taking
over.
The former president’s resignation had raised hopes for MDC members who
felt Tsvangirai would at long last be able to win this year’s presidential
elections, something he has over the years since 2002 been denied by
Mugabe.
Tsvangirai, who has been in and out of a South African hospital since
divulging his illness in 2016 triggered succession debate within the MDC
immediately after his Monday announcement with names of two of his three
deputies, Nelson Chamisa and Elias Mudzuri being bandied around as
possible replacements.
Sikhala, however, said Tsvangirai’s three deputies Thokozani Khupe,
Chamisa and Mudzuri’s brands would be difficult to market in time for the
elections. He dismissed them as `too small for his boots’.
“I still believe an ailing Morgan Tsvangirai is a better brand than all
ambitious people in the MDC put together, so the only solution lies in us
praying that he recovers and that God gives him better health,” said
Sikhala.
In his New Year’s message soon after Mnangagwa had visited to check on
him, Tsvangirai released a statement saying he was “looking at the
imminent prospects of us as the older generation leaving the levers of
leadership to allow the younger generation to take forward this huge
task”.
He added that his decision to appoint two other vice presidents, Mudzuri
and Chamisa was not by accident as he was preparing for the future.
“As I have said before, while politicians only think about the next
election, true statesmen think about the next generation, for current
leaders are only but caretakers for future generations. We do not have any
entitlement to lead but we have a duty to serve.
“We must recognise the imperative that new hands, with the full blessing
of the people, must take this struggle and this country forward with the
destination remaining the same – a society that prides itself for not
leaving anyone behind in their pursuit of freedom, prosperity and
happiness.
“That is the only lasting legacy and precedence that we must leave to
future generations.”
Meanwhile, Sikhala said the MDC was confident of winning the elections as
the party covered a lot of ground in voter mobilisation during the ongoing
biometric voter registration exercise.
“The party worked extremely hard to have its people registered as voters
and I am saying this from an informed position.
“People are not aware that the MDC worked in an extraordinary way, the
strategy in deployment that our party silently employed, was amazing.
“I can confidently tell you that the about 70 percent plus of the
registered voters today came from the MDC but this is information we will
not normally share but that is the truth.”
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