TYPICAL of the biblical foolish man who built his house on sand, the political winds seem to have come to blow the MDC-T house away, three months after its construction.
Hardly three months after it was conceived, thanks to the Supreme Court judgment of March 30 which inexplicably gave Thokozani Khupe the reins of a party she was not part to, there is chaos in the camp. There are just too many people in the brand MDC and what it is supposed to represent.
Now that the date for the extraordinary congress has been pronounced, September 4-6 to be specific, it is apparent that the campaigning for the leadership has started and violence is at the centre of it.
Yesterday, we carried a report that aides belonging to Khupe were assaulted by the security team that referred to a “president Mwonzora” ahead of the party’s national standing committee meeting at the Morgan Richard Tsvangirai House.
This points to an already broken relationship built on unbridled ambition from all involved parties. It now appears that Khupe and self-imposed party secretary-general Douglas Mwonzora have set swords upon each other, ready to fight ugly to win power in September.
Characters whose names have been thrown into the ring for the top post are themselves no strangers to ambition and controversy. It is apparent that the forces that built this coalition of ambition and opportunity were only held together by their desire to get rid of Nelson Chamisa. Somehow, they both think they should be the face of the opposition.
Khupe feels she must be president of the MDC-T because the late party founder Morgan Tsvangirai allegedly said so two days before his demise.
There is Mwonzora, who thinks he has the acumen and the people to be leader of the opposition and Morgen Komichi, who thinks he is the real deal and people see the resurrection of Tsvangirai in him.
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Lastly, there is Elias Mudzuri who also thinks Tsvangirai wanted him to take over the leadership and he was the last acting president when Tsvangirai was on his death bed.
Khupe’s camp is seeing shadows and thinks there is a plot to elbow her out. Her close relationship to President Emmerson Mnangagwa through the Political Actors Dialogue will be a club to be used against her.
Mwonzora’s use of the military and police — two security arms forever identified with the oppression of opposition leaders, especially Tsvangirai — means he has already ruined his opposition credentials.
The political house called MDC-T is built on sand and it is shifting. The period to the September meet is going to be very bumpy and full of intrigue worthy of a chess grand prix. For most of the players in this game, this is their political waterloo.
