Ahead of the 2023 elections, then CCC leader Nelson Chamisa made quite a startling statement that sadly was not given the attention that it deserved.
In explaining his deputy Tendai Biti’s absence on the party’s nomination list, Chamisa said parliament was “not the station of choice, our station of choice is government”.
While one can argue that this showed confidence that he would win the election and that he was now eyeing forming the next government, the reality is that it betrays a disconnect with the people that the party sought to represent.
Make no mistake, Chamisa remains quite popular, but there is more to elections and winning power than popularity and that is where our opposition has come unstuck.
The problem is that as Zimbabweans we tend to treat elections as a one day event, rather than a five year process that needs continuous investment and attention.
It is rumoured that Chamisa is planning a new movement, where instead of a political party, he will be the figurehead and candidates will be selected in each community to represent this new structure but there will be no party per se.
Quite bold if it is true, but it is inherently problematic and issues of yore will resurface.
If the opposition is to make any meaningful headway in the elections, hopefully in three years’ time, then it is already two years late and is playing catch up, but still something can be salvaged.
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Contrary to what Chamisa said that the station of choice is the government, the real station that he should seek to occupy is every council seat, every parliamentary seat and government will only be the natural cherry at the top.
By looking at the government as the main goal, there is a risk that every aspect of the party will become weak, while leadership goals become incoherent, as the people who are supposed to communicate and action them lack the capacity to.
Concentrating on government as the station of choice creates a top-down approach, the hallmark of autocracy, while focusing on other aspects of the party creates a bottom up and democratic movement.
As it is, CCC, even those that proclaim loyalty to Chamisa are like headless chickens all doing as they want rather than following a structured and collective approach.
There is a lack of an identity in the party and even if Chamisa were to form a new movement, the same problems would persist.
Let us look at the brouhaha of the past week where some members of the party washed their dirty linen in public as the fallout over stands that were given to legislators took a nasty turn.
Instead of the opposition playing its role as a watchdog of the executive, what we got were exchanges on sexual impropriety and abuse.
This does not cast the opposition in good light and rubbishes the claim that they are the “alternative”.
Instead, we as citizens are none the wiser about why the stands were suddenly parcelled out at this hour and why the scheme did not start with legislators that were in parliament in 2013.
But now we know about the affairs of our legislators and how they allegedly got to where they are.
This does not sound like an alternative, but rather a party that long imploded and is decaying quite rapidly.
The genesis of all this is an approach where the party concentrated on the wrong station of choice.
For now, if Chamisa or the CCC are to have a meaningful impact in the next polls, they need to start planning now and organising at grassroots level, with the idea being to occupy every democratic space available.
This should not be an ad hoc approach but rather a deliberate process that should see the party getting out of its comfort zone and putting the shoulder to the wheel.
The race for 2028 will not start in three years’ time, but rather it started the moment President Emmerson Mnangagwa was sworn in two years ago.
Not that there is much to emulate from Zanu PF, but the party did not stop campaigning, sadly sometimes at the expense of governance.
Come elections, the party’s systems will be ready and its base will have long been activated.
This way, even chancers will fall by the wayside, while those that stay the course will seek to be councillors and legislators.
Zanu PF is not the best example, but at least there seems to be coherence in the message that they are portraying.
On the other hand, CCC could not agree on literally anything after last year’s elections, they lacked a unified voice.
For example, the party sort of pulled out of Parliament when Sengezo Tshabangu’s shenanigans began, but you never got a feeling that CCC had addressed the “what next” question.
Sheepishly, the legislators soon trooped back to Parliament and they have continued to be at the mercy of Tshabangu and Zanu PF.
Two legislators took a stand and resigned from Parliament as they felt they could no longer be party to the circus, but there was barely any word of solidarity from the leadership or from other Members of Parliament.
In the end, it has become a free for all, where everyone does as they please.
Meanwhile, the other side is united, whether through cohesion or through their own will, and they continue with their agenda.
Zimbabwe should be a case study for Charles Peguy, who said “tyranny is always better organised than freedom”.
Those that promise freedom seem in disarray and there is literally no light at the end of the tunnel.
