Nelson Chamisa hopes to replace the MDC, which dissolved in acrimony, with a new party that can take on the government, On 24 January, President Emmerson Mnangagwa s main opponent in the last general elections, Nelson Chamisa, launched a new political party, hoping to close the chapter of rivalries and splits that marked the demise of the country s dominant opposition party for over 20 years, the late Morgan Tsvangirai s Movement for Democratic Change (MDC).
Jonathan Moyo
The political opposition in Zimbabwe, particularly the MDC, is stuck in the middle: between making news headlines and making reform headways.
This is not new.
Being stuck between making news headlines and making reform headways, has been the bane of opposition politics in Zimbabwe as far back as one cares to remember.
By “making news headlines”, I mean engaging in fleeting issues to politick and pander to the gallery of popular sentiments and political slogans of the day, which are bereft of constitutional or political reforms.
And by “making reform headways”, I mean taking concrete steps to exploit historic moments that, fortuitous circumstance, throw up opportunities that have the potential for major constitutional and political reforms.