Contrary to the widely held but very erroneous perception of an all-powerful Mugabe and now Mnangagwa, the ZANU-PF leader has never been more popular than the party according to the electorate.
Even when Mugabe won a 61 percent victory in the 2013 elections, he still polled fewer votes that the party in the Parliamentary elections. Mugabe won 2 110 434 votes and the party 2 116 116. A small but telling margin.
Mnangagwa too failed to beat the party in the 2018 elections. He polled 2 456 010. The party won 2 477 708.
Tsvangirai on the other hand, always beat his legislators even though his own support declined steadily with every election. In 2013, he polled 1 172 349 votes against the party’s 1 027 412.
Chamisa’s margin was even higher. He polled 2 151 927 against the party’s 1 624 875.
This has probably propelled his ego to believe that he is bigger than the party. The question is should individuals continue to be more powerful than the party? If so does this not result in arrogance which puts the party at risk of extinction?
Only time will tell.
But even if Chamisa turns out to be smarter than Mwonzora, will be outsmart Biti and Job Sikhala – two highly ambitious politicians who seem to be capitalising on Chamisa’s all-talk but no action?
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