THE PLOT AGAINST NELSON CHAMISA

There is no doubt now that there is a plot against Nelson Chamisa, one designed to obliterate his political career by the end of next year. Or sooner.

Let me explain.

Morgan Tsvangirai ran a solid outfit as MDC leader. He gathered around him people of intellectual capacity and strategic prowess. People like Welshman Ncube, Tendai Biti and a host of other backroom operators the public does not know about.

These minds are still in place. Those people, even ones who had disagreed with Tsvangirai and walked away, are all back at Chamisa's disposal.

It is inconceivable then, that, with such a deep well of talent and brains that he could tap into, Nelson Chamisa is repeatedly having to be on the back foot, speaking out of turn and being caught in downright lies.

He started with airports at your house, bullet trains and spaghetti roads.

When that elicited derision and a backlash, someone apparently told him to pivot and project himself as a statesman. Which he took to mean that he must appear to be familiar with world leaders, to move in their circles.

So, we then got what is a million times worse than the airports at your front doors etc.

We first got an indication of it when, in one of the most cringe-worthy moments of Zimbabwe's political history, Nelson Chamisa tweeted from the United Kingdom that he had just been greeted by the British Prime Minister, Theresa May;

This is the first time ever in history that the leader of an political party anywhere on earth has tweeted that it is great news that they have been greeted by the leader of a foreign country in a foreign parliament. It was cringeworthy and made the leader of the MDC-T sound really out of his depth.

Then, of course, we had the Trump meeting and the $15 billion promised to him and to Tendai Biti, apparently. 

Now, we have the latest in the Paul Kagame saga. The President of Rwanda, an actual soldier who fought a war and gained Rwanda and then launched another war that toppled Zaire's Mobutu, had to t respond on twitter to refute claims by Nelson Chamisa that he had helped to shape Rwanda's ICT Policy. 

Clearly, there is a plot to destroy Chamisa, to see him implode and explode so that someone else may gain after the elections.

There is no political party in the world that would watch its leader melt so painfully in public and fold its hands to let him go ahead and destroy himself and the party in the process. Unless of course, it is a set up and the people who are supposed to be helping him are rubbing their hands in glee behind the stage curtains.

There are real issues in this country and the MDC-T leader appears not to be leading the conversation on this front.

This has to stop at some point, because whatever is going on, it is not damaging just Chamisa. That is what the MDC establishment should understand.

His missteps will colour judgement of the whole opposition movement for years to come. Remaining quiet or defending these things will only ensure that our democracy suffers in the long term.

When you do what the MDC is doing, which basically equating themselves with Mugabe's ZANU PF, you trigger the well-known psychological fall-back amongst wary voters: "better the devil you know". If you say, we are a devil, yes, but we are a better devil than the other guys, there is no telling what devilish things you would do if you got the chance.

So the people will say, "At least we know how far the devil we have now can go and we've survived under him. Who knows if we survive the new devil. Stick with the one we know."

If it is Chamisa who is refusing to listen to counsel and it is indeed being offered, then something has to be done about rescuing the larger democratic edifice of this country. I am certain that even President Mnangagwa agrees that a political landscape devoid of any serious opposition is extremely bad for democracy.