15/01/2022
The Rise of the Chamisa Chete Chete Political Cult and its threat to Democracy in Zimbabwe
By Zadziso Nyikayaramba
In 2000, Dennis Tourish and Tim Wohlforth penned a quite interesting political book titled “On the Edge: Political Cults Right and Left”. The book traces what they call political cults in The United Kingdom and United States of America. They described political cults as cults with a primary interest in political action and ideology. This scenario aptly describes the political outfit led by Nelson Chamisa.
Decades of economic mismanagement and erosion of political freedoms has left most Zimbabweans vulnerable to snake oil sales men masquerading as political saviours. The ideological rapture that occurred in the MDC T after the passing away of Morgan Tsvangirai resulted in the full-fledged rise of the Chamisa Chete Chete political cult.
Like typical cult leader, Nelson Chamisa is surrounded by a team of hard core supporters who are intolerant to divergent views and another layer of apparently good standing and seemingly well-educated self-styled supporting political commentators that daily manufacture lies, distorts history and creates conspiracies using academia and both social and mainstream media platforms. The likes of Alex Magaisa, Pedzisayi Ruhanya, Thabani Mpofu, the notorious Concourt mascot, and commissariat journalism, mentioned in my previous article, easily come to mind. According to Tourish, the word cult is not a term of abuse, but in fact it is nothing more than a shorthand expression for a particular set of practices that have been observed in a variety of dysfunctional organisations, like the Chamisa outfit. Dr Magaisa’s BSR is now hero worshipped as an authentic legal journal by the cult followers whilst Dr Ruhanya’s Twitter lies and jabs at Sen. Mwonzora are now being considered factual to the point of some media houses creating stories from them. This is all to feed on the insecurities of the cult followers while diverting from the genuine matters at hand. Anyone, including those within, who dares criticise Adv Chamisa or the cult faces the wrath of the sympathisers and a well-oiled ruthless social media army. Like in all cults, the organisation and its leader CANT be criticised for whatever reason.
The Chete Chete cult mirrors Trumpism but the vulnerability and disenfranchisement of the local electorate coupled with weak and compromised Zimbabwean institutions separates the two. Mr Trump was thrown out of office and those cult members who undermined the democratic fabric in the name of the dear leader have already been sentenced in Federal Courts, with political stone throwers currently appearing before the Jan 6 Congressional Committee. Our institutions, undermined for decades by Mugabe and some elements in Zanu PF for their selfish means, are too weak to deal with the political cult that has become of Adv Chamisa’s nameless outfit.
The proclamation of the by elections has seriously rattled the cult. As usual, instead of interrogating the disfunctionality of their “organisation” and lack of leadership abilities by Adv Chamisa, the inner circle of the cult have diverted their attention to bash Sen. Mwonzora and the MDC T. In the process, their educated layer backed by their academic titles have been misleading their sympathisers on the structure of MDC Alliance, its structure, leadership and its duration. Led by serial political turncoat Prof Jonathan Moyo, the cult has gone into overdrive trying to confuse the electorate, whip up sympathy for their incapable leader and creating enough emotions to hide their incompetence when they lose the elections.
The truth is as white as snow. Nelson Chamisa bastardised the MDC T constitution when then President Morgan Tsvangirai died. He went on a scorched earth policy against anyone who called him to order, Sen. Mwonzora being one of the victims. He was humiliated at every leadership meeting for speaking truth to power. It took another bold MDC T member Elias Mashivara who took the party leadership to court, and he won. It came at a cost to his own personal security. He had to be in hiding during the duration of the court process, fearing for his life. The Chete Chete Cult had openly tried to burn two sitting Senators in full glare of the world, with diplomats led by the US Ambassador present and global TV stations filming
The cult does not have a plan to the point that they don’t even have a name. Contrary to what is being purposively stated, Sen. Mwonzora is not undermining the people’s struggle, rather the Chete Chete cult is. Sen. Mwonzora did not steal the party name or building, he preserved them.
Sen. Mwonzora will be vindicated by history for his unwavering commitment to see Zimbabwe being fully democratic and everyone, including those in the opposition, following rules of the land. History will also vindicate Sen. Mwonzora for fighting to keep the institution that is MDC T intact despite a systematic attack from the Chete Chete cult, now more recently sympathisers like Piers Pigou and Jonathan Moyo. Zimbabwe needs strong institutions, not strongmen and that applies to all political players.
The Chete Chete mantra is a dangerously toxic personality cult that should never be allowed in the Zimbabwe body politic.
