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Gift Mashoko Correspondent
MDC’s political history since its formation in 1999 has been characterised by monumental failure from demonstrations, Presidential election and service delivery in urban councils, to mention just a few.

The reason behind MDC’s failure is that they are fighting against the will of the majority of Zimbabweans; calling for sanctions which are causing untold suffering of the people and organising violent and destructive demonstrations, including the recent flopped one at the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) in New York.

Using funds the MDC received under the Political Parties Finance Act, the opposition party sent a delegation headed by its deputy organising secretary, Happymore Chidziva, to New York to organise the protests ahead of the UNGA, which turned out to be a damp  squib.

The protests were said to be on the alleged human rights abuses by the Zimbabwean Government, the so-called abductions, the deteriorating democratic space and bad governance in the country, all meant to humiliate President Mnangagwa.

One wonders what democratic space the MDC is crying for, when they are always holding rallies, Press conferences and posting whatever they want on social media. One also wonders at the bad governance they are also making noise about, when the Government of Zimbabwe is servant leadership personified. And the President called for the Political Actors Dialogue (POLAD), where all political parties that participated in the 2018 harmonised elections are partners.

Magombeyi

Their New York demonstration also flopped following a very poor turnout, and the resurfacing of “self-abducted” Dr Peter Magombeyi, which killed their morale. They had also planned to demonstrate blaming Government for the alleged abduction. Their tactics and timing unfortunately failed, exposing  them.

Their plan of embarrassing President Mnangagwa at UNGA failed, and they are obviously back at the drawing board. As usual, they wanted to take the opportunity at the international forum to portray President Mnangagwa as a leader who does not observe human rights. In the end they embarrassed themselves.

Instead of planning for the 2023 presidential elections, they are busy fighting with a President, who is doing a good job in leading Zimbabwe.

Instead of MDC standing with the rest of the country and Africa, SADC in particular, in the fight against sanctions imposed on Zimbabwe by the United States of America, the hapless opposition party is busy fighting against its own fellow countrymen. It only goes to show that the opposition party is being used, and they are trying to please their masters, who want them in power.

As a norm Zimbabwe’s all-weather friend, December 12 Movement, a US-based pan-African group, stole the limelight over MDC, following its well-organised anti-sanctions march planned by Friends of Zimbabwe and ZANU-PF supporters at the UNGA.

The movement is calling for the removal of sanctions imposed upon Zimbabwe as they are causing untold suffering to citizens. Maybe, the MDC is not supporting the call for the removal of the sanctions since they are the ones who helped in the crafting of the infamous Zimbabwe Democracy and Economic Recovery Amendment Act of 2018 (ZIDERA). They recently called for more sanctions. Are these MDC leaders forgetting that their supporters are part of and living in the same country, Zimbabwe, where sanctions have wreaked havoc on their lives?

The MDC protestors had to retreat after they realised that the December 12 Movement had overshadowed and outnumbered them. This shows that people refused to be taken for fools by the MDC, and they realised the disorganisation and lack of direction of the opposition party.

The MDC demonstration in New York adds to the narrative that the opposition party is working tirelessly to attract international attention to Zimbabwe in a bid to ruin the re-engagement efforts by President Mnangagwa and Government.

The MDC is fast running out of ideas, and its members are becoming disoriented with the leadership, which rely only on demonstrations in their fight against ZANU-PF.

The MDC has lost focus as it is now concentrating more on demonstrations than winning the hearts of the electorate, hence the continued losses to ZANU-PF in by-elections, as evidenced in the recent Zaka  polls.

The MDC’s confusion is also visible in most urban councils, where they are concentrating on power struggles diverting from their core mandate of delivering services to   ratepayers.

MDC has always had problems in strategic planning; maybe the problem starts with their top management because their leader, Nelson Chamisa, clearly has no idea on what he is supposed to be doing, or where he is supposed to be taking the party. All he wants to do is lead, but how to do so is something he is still to learn.