{"id":29965,"date":"2020-11-10T22:37:16","date_gmt":"2020-11-10T20:37:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.com\/zimbabwe\/?p=29965"},"modified":"2020-11-10T22:37:16","modified_gmt":"2020-11-10T20:37:16","slug":"chamisa-invokes-his-mothers-strength","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.cc\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/chamisa-invokes-his-mothers-strength","title":{"rendered":"Chamisa invokes his mother\u2019s strength"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The MDC leader says the continent needs a blueprint that honours democracy and human rights As I was preparing to interview Nelson Chamisa, the popular leader of Zimbabwe\u2019s opposition MDC Alliance via WhatsApp, my domestic worker excitedly told me she had been listening to the Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation (ZBC). The presenter had announced that \u201cthey\u201d (read the notorious Central Intelligence Organisation) was looking for Chamisa, to arrest him.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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When I quizzed him on this, he said the unit was always trying to arrest him for one thing or another. \u201cBut this time it is because I will not agree to take up a position that they have created for me that they think will give their government some sort of legitimacy, when that could not be further from the truth\u201d, he said.<\/p>\n

Zimbabwe\u2019s Zanu-PF-led government is desperately campaigning for the lifting of sanctions on the country, a misleading cry given that the sanctions are not on Zimbabwe per se, but targeted sanctions imposed by the EU and US on certain individuals and corporations that, along with travel restrictions, have had their cash and assets frozen.<\/p>\n

But they will not be lifted until Zimbabwe can demonstrate it practices good governance, democracy, a high standard of human rights, and guarantees freedom of speech. Bringing Chamisa into the fold could be good for its quest.<\/p>\n

Since the 2018 election, which was allegedly manipulated and has never been satisfactorily settled by the courts, Chamisa has been, in the words of St Paul in a letters to the Ephesians, \u201ctossed about by the waves and carried around by \u2026 the clever cunning of men in their deceitful scheming\u201d.<\/p>\n

He was taken to court on behalf of former deputy president of the Movement for Democratic Change \u2014 Tsvangirai (MDC-T), Thokozani Khupe who said that in 2016 Chamisa was illegally appointed as a co-deputy president by former president Morgan Tsvangirai. Previously a motion at the 2014 Congress that Tsvangirai could appoint officials outside Congress was passed, but never recorded by then secretary-general Douglas Mwonzoro, who is now firmly in the Khupe camp.<\/p>\n

In 2017, Tsvangirai and his colleagues formed the MDC Alliance, a coalition of the parties that had broken away from the original MDC so they could contest the 2018 election as a united front. They arguably won. After Tsvangirai died in February 2018, the MDC Alliance, which had reverted to being the MDC, resoundingly declared Chamisa as his successor at Congress. In the presidential race, Chamisa won more than two million votes, while Khupe got little more than 45,000.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Yet more than a year after the election Khupe\u2019s faction took Chamisa to court, saying he was illegally appointed as deputy -resident of the MDC-T. As the 2014 congress minutes could not be produced, the court found Khupe was\u00a0 the legal leader of the MDC. This was despite that by the time the case was heard, Khupe\u2019s five-year term as deputy president had expired.<\/p>\n

Emmerson Mnangagwa\u2019s government is supporting and promoting Khupe as the official leader of the opposition, giving her access to party funds. She has also appropriated party headquarters. She has clung to the MDC-T name, though for all intents and purposes the party united under the alliance before the 2018 poll resumed being the MDC. She has also been firing MPs and councillors loyal to Chamisa, including the MP for Binga, Prince Sibanda, who won far more votes in his constituency than Khupe did across the entire country. This applies to most MDC MPs.<\/p>\n

So it is true to say that, for Chamisa, getting into politics has not been easy, not that he expected it to be. He was, perhaps, prepared for a life of leadership by his mother, Alice. He grew up in Chiwara, Gutu, Masvingo. His father, Sylvana, worked in Harare for Dairyboard as a salesperson and it was up to his mother to raise her six children to be hard working, God fearing and responsible.<\/p>\n

Like many of Africa\u2019s leaders, among them Nelson Mandela, after whom he was named, life was not easy. Each morning he got up, tidied and went to the river to wash. He then dressed, had a quick breakfast, grabbed a packed lunch and rushed to Gumba primary school, where he started his education in 1984. Later he would return home, do his chores, such as weeding the fields, tending the vegetable garden and herding cattle, before tackling his homework.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was tough, but a good life lesson, as you were exposed to the vicissitudes of life. It toughens you up and you learn to do your best,\u201d he recalled.<\/p>\n

His mother was a devout Christian and imparted these values to her son, to the extent that he eventually, in addition to his other studies, studied theology. In 2017 was ordained a pastor in the Apostolic Church. It was, possibly, Alice Chamisa\u2019s proudest moment.<\/p>\n

When he was nine and still at Gumba primary, the young Nelson\u2019s thirst for justice was first ignited. He heard about the plane crash that claimed the life of Mozambique president Samora Machel. It was popularly assumed at the time that the crash was caused deliberately by SA\u2019s apartheid government forces, something which was only confirmed when testimony given at the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) in 1996 was declassified in 2017.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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\u201cIt was at that point I knew I would spend my life fighting for a more just society. I knew it was important to challenge injustice, I knew that to do that I needed to learn about justice. You cannot contest that which you do not understand. The background of marginalisation, deprivation and oppression sets you on a course to understand the other side of life and eventually you see it is commonplace. It is the common battle of all human beings,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The MDC leader says the continent needs a blueprint that honours democracy and human rights As I was preparing to interview Nelson Chamisa, the popular leader of Zimbabwe\u2019s opposition MDC Alliance via WhatsApp, my domestic worker excitedly told me she had been listening to the Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation (ZBC). The presenter had announced that \u201cthey\u201d […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":29967,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,8,12],"tags":[113,88],"class_list":{"0":"post-29965","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-all-news","8":"category-head-lines","9":"category-policy","10":"tag-chamisa","11":"tag-mdc"},"yoast_head":"\nChamisa invokes his mother\u2019s strength - zimbabwe<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The MDC leader says the continent needs a blueprint that honours democracy and human rights As I was preparing\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/chamisa-invokes-his-mothers-strength\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Chamisa invokes his mother\u2019s strength\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The MDC leader says the continent needs a blueprint that honours democracy and human rights As I was preparing\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/chamisa-invokes-his-mothers-strength\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"zimbabwe\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2020-11-10T20:37:16+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/sites\/14\/2020\/11\/Chamisa-in-office.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"678\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"381\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/chamisa-invokes-his-mothers-strength\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/chamisa-invokes-his-mothers-strength\",\"name\":\"Chamisa invokes his mother\u2019s strength - 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