Chamisa in crucial meeting
By Blessings Mashaya
The national council of the MDC party led by Nelson Chamisa is meeting in Harare tomorrow to map the way forward, amid indications that it may roll out crippling demonstrations against President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s government.
Party secretary-general Douglas Mwonzora confirmed to the Daily News that the MDC’s highest decision-making organ outside congress will convene its first meeting tomorrow after its presidential hopeful lost his case in the Constitutional Court (Con-Court) on Friday.
He said: “Yes we are meeting but get full details from the president’s office”.
Last week, Chamisa told mourners at the funeral of former minister of Housing and Social Amenities Fidelis Mhashu that the national council would meet soon.
The 40-year-old opposition leader had hoped to overturn Mnangagwa’s victory in the Con-Court, but his case was dismissed with costs last Friday.
He told journalists in his first media briefing after the Con-Court judgment that he respectfully rejected the ruling, before his party escalated its case to the African Commission for Human and People’s Rights.
Chamisa said it was not the duty of the court to confer legitimacy.
“I respect the Constitutional Court but I have problems with their findings. Chief Justice (Luke) Malaba made it clear that it is not the duty of the court to confer legitimacy on any particular candidate.
“He said the legal door was not the only door to happiness and democracy.
“There are many other doors, and the political doors are going to be opened very soon using our Constitution,” he said.
On Sunday, Chamisa snubbed Mnangagwa’s inauguration, dealing a major blow to the Zanu PF leader’s call for peace and unity.
A number of opposition party leaders from other fringe political parties attended Mnangagwa’s inauguration, among them Thokozani Khupe of the MDC-T.
Chamisa’s absence was a huge setback for Mnangagwa in the sense that he leads the largest opposition party in the country.
Countries such as the United Kingdom and the United States have called on the protagonists in the Zimbabwe crisis to dialogue and break the political impasse.
Chamisa’s spokesperson Nkululeko Sibanda told the Daily News yesterday that apart from the meeting of the MDC’s national council, his boss was also consulting with the people of Zimbabwe on the way forward.
“The president is always meeting the people. He is meeting the people every day. He is engaging the people on how they can defend their votes,” Sibanda said.
The national council is the MDC’s highest decision-making body in between congresses, comprising 198 members drawn from the national standing committee, national executive and members of the National Assembly, among several others from the provincial structures of the party.
