via Zimbabwe: Chamisa Slates MDC-T – allAfrica.com 18/12/2015 By Tichaona Zindoga
Opposition MDC-T member Mr Nelson Chamisa has slated the opposition, describing it as weak, anaemic and dangerous for failing to provide alternatives to the ruling Zanu-PF party. Mr Chamisa’s posted on his social media accounts on Wednesday that, “A Government that cannot fix common problems for common men is unnecessary and irrelevant . . . but an anemic (sic) and weak opposition that fails to expose such a government is both dangerous and unpardonable!!!”
The remarks were largely interpreted as a dig at party leader Mr Morgan Tsvangirai with whom Mr Chamisa is believed to be embroiled in a bitter leadership struggle which has divided the opposition party. Last night, Mr Chamisa said as a scholar he commented on anything from world affairs to opposition politics in Zimbabwe.
“I am a political scientist and I comment on a lot of things,” he averred. “I know people misconstrue some of the things that I say but I am a scholar and I do not deserve this,” he said referring to the storm his post created.
Some respondents referred to him as “my leader” in clear reference to him being an alternative to party leader Mr Tsvangirai. This is the latest of potshots that Mr Chamisa has aimed at his party leader who has had 15 years at the helm and has superintended over successive defeats and splits in the main opposition.
Well aware of the growing influence of Mr Chamisa, Mr Tsvangirai allegedly engineered the former’s loss of the powerful post of secretary general at the last congress in 2014 and has at rallies condemned what he claims are moves to depose him from the party leadership.
However, in October the Kuwadzana East legislator thumbed his nose at Mr Tsvangirai, accusing him of “seeing shadows” and later wrote on his Twitter account that, “The guilty are afraid but the innocent are courageous and indomitable!!!”
The factionalism in the opposition camp, which has led to physical confrontations, has also sucked in the MDC-T’s western handlers. Our sister paper The Sunday Mail, this week quoted Britain’s Ambassador to Zimbabwe Mrs Catriona Laing backing Mr Chamisa to take over the party’s leadership from Mr Tsvangirai.
Ms Catriona Laing is reported to have recently divulged to World Bank staff at a function to officially open the Bretton-Woods institution’s offices in Mount Pleasant, Harare that Mr Chamisa “represents the future” of opposition politics in Zimbabwe.
She is said to have spoken highly of Mr Chamisa, reportedly also saying “she doesn’t have respect for Tsvangirai because he has failed to dislodge President Mugabe.” Last night, MDC-T spokesperson, Mr Obert Gutu, refused to comment on the latest twist to the fight for Harvest House.
“I cannot comment on a Facebook post that I haven’t seen,” he said. “There is also the issue that it is not uncommon to have fake accounts because I can actually open account using your name… so I will never comment on a post on Facebook whose authenticity I cannot verify,” Mr Gutu said.
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