Eddie Cross says Chamisa is just a kid, Mwonzora is a mess

Former Movement for Democratic Change policy coordinator and secretary for economic affairs, Eddie Cross, says he could not be part of the Movement for Democratic Change after the death of founding president Morgan Tsvangirai because he felt that the new leadership was off the track.

In an interview with Alpha Media chief executive Trevor Ncube, Cross said MDC-Alliance leader Nelson Chamisa was a sharp guy but he was just a kid. He was not mature enough.

Douglas Mwonzora who was secretary-general and now leads the MDC-T was a mess.

“Look, I think Chamisa is a sharp guy but he is still a kid and I’m not sure, I’m not sure…You know the Chinese have a saying ‘If you are going to ride the tiger you gotta be able to stay on’ and I don’t think he had the wisdom and I don’t think he had the maturity,” Cross, who turned 81 in April, said.

On Mwonzora he just said: “Look at the mess. Just look at the mess. I had written the manifesto for the 2018 elections they just ignored it, just brushed it aside. I just thought, ‘well they must get on with it. New generation. Let them go. I’m the past. They are the future’”.

Cross has been working with President Emmerson Mnangagwa from the time he assumed office following military intervention in November 2017 and has just authored Mnangagwa’s biography.

He has been an advisor to the President to Finance Minister Mthuli Ncube and was a member of the inaugural Monetary Policy Committee.

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This post was last modified on September 18, 2021 11:41 am

Charles Rukuni

The Insider is a political and business bulletin about Zimbabwe, edited by Charles Rukuni. Founded in 1990, it was a printed 12-page subscription only newsletter until 2003 when Zimbabwe's hyper-inflation made it impossible to continue printing.

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Kombai says:

February 10, 2022 at 6:13 am

Respectfully, I don't think you have to be one foot in the grave to qualify for leadership, Mr Cross. Thank you for revealing that you don't know Chamisa well enough. No leader is supposed to rule alone. He works with a team which does not have to be a pool of tribesmen as we have seen lately, but well selected competent men and women. With mature mentors around him he can do a lot better than we have seen older men do in this country.