Chamisa says he received a call from UN secretary general congratulating him for winning the elections

Movement for Democratic Change Alliance leader Nelson Chamisa has dropped another bombshell by telling the South African Broadcasting Corporation that he received a call from the United Nations secretary-general Antonio Guterres congratulating him on his victory in the just ended elections.

However, when pressed he said they had only told him that he had done very well.

In an interview with SABC, Chamisa said: “I have had calls from the secretary general of the United Nations, from the British government from the United States, they have all been saying you have done very well.”

When told that being commended that you have done very well does not mean you have won, Chamisa responded: “Of course we have won this election. They were waiting for the declaration of the Constitutional Court but beyond that I have not been able to engage with them to hear their views.”

Asked: “So you haven’t spoken them after the Constitutional Court,” Chamisa responded: “Yes but of course they know that we have won this election……”

Guterres indeed spoke to Chamisa and President Emmerson Mnangagwa on 7 August but he asked Mnangagwa to rein in his security forces  while he told  Chamisa to turn to the courts – and not the streets – if he planned to challenge Mnangagwa’s election victory.

Chamisa lost the Constitutional Court case in which he was challenging President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s victory.

He has, however, rejected the decision and is planning to approach the African Commission for Human and People’s Rights to get the decision nullified.

Analysts say the ACHPR can only make a recommendation but it cannot nullify the court ruling.

The MDC national council this week said Chamisa had won the election by 2.6 million and was thus the country’s legitimate president.

Analysts say Chamisa’s insistence that he won the elections is aimed at inciting people to resort to violence.

He had planned to hold a “thank you” rally at Mbizo in Kwekwe on Sunday but police refused to grant him permission saying health officials had said there should be no public gathering in the Midlands province because of an outbreak of typhoid.

Organising secretary Amos Chibaya is, however, reported to have said the rally would go ahead despite the ban.

Chamisa blasted the police decision saying: “BACK TO THE PAST..It is a new of the old. So bizarre that our Mbizo (Kwekwe) Thank you & Way forward rally has been belatedly barred by the Police on grounds that there is a typhoid outbreak. After notifying police on Monday our local leadership only got a -response yesterday.”

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