Nelson Chamisa may be the finest example of what’s ailing the Zimbabwean opposition. Nelson Chamisa has never been voted in or out of his "leadership" position since 2013. He illegally claimed the MDCT presidency in 2017, and nicodemusly the MDC Alliance and then CCC.
I wrote about Nelson Chamisa's lack of legitimacy when he hijacked the MDC Alliance in 2017 my opinions on it have not changed since then.
Nelson Chamisa has tried to portray himself as a mass movement leader. A mirage of great proportion in his own mind and few bootlickers around him. The fact is that until Nelson Chamisa can be democratically elected to a leadership position his political career will never truly take off.
Alongside this weakness Chamisa is paranoid and he is afraid of people around him to the point of failing to delegate his "authority" to legit structures of his so-called "mass movement".I also talked about his student politics approach to national politics. He foolishly tried to alienate and isolate his fellow leaders in the opposition. People like Tendai Biti, Welshman Ncube and Thokozani Khupe have been the victims of Nelson Chamisa's fundamental leadership weakness.
In other words, Nelson Chamisa's weakness and paranoia have caused him to surrender his CCC presidency. He has no real supporters within the mass movement. This is the result of the personalisation of the CCC movement.
What the reader may find interesting though is that Nelson Chamisa should have called for a Congress instead of surrendering the CCC presidency. The decision to step down was selfish and individualistic. The decision has split CCC between his bootlickers and the real opposition. We now have two or three main camps.
I have seen and heard the noise from the bootlickers and others. The bootlickers have showered Nelson Chamisa with praises and the other camps have also quiped in with equal measure of anger. The perennial bootlickers like Fadzayi Mahere have resigned from Parliament in solidarity with Nelson Chamisa.
Nelson Chamisa's leadership style attracts a certain type of person. The bootlicker and the hangers-on, people who have no ideology and the cash activists. These people will hang on to Nelson Chamisa's every word and ideas. They believe in him and if you disagree with them they will label you a ZANUpf infiltrator. This bootlicking mentality is what drives Nelson Chamisa's ego. The bootlicking mentality masks the mediocre leadership qualities of Nelson Chamisa.
Finally, I would like to point out that the cracks in the opposition are due to a lack of true elected leaders. We cannot blame Sengezo Tshabangu, ZANUpf or other external forces for the crises in the opposition. The blame has to fall at the door of Nelson Chamisa and his bootlickers. We must not forget "strategic ambiguity" or "God is in it" and the odd bible verse on Nelson Chamisa's social media handles.