Judge for yourself: Transcript of BBC Hardtalk interview with Nelson Chamisa

There has been a of lot talk about how Movement for Democratic Change Alliance leader Nelson Chamisa fared in his interview with Stephen Sackur of the British Broadcasting Corporation’s Hardtalk.  Here is a transcript by The Insider of the interview but you may need to watch the interview because as they say, a picture tells a thousand words.

Sackur: You are 40 years old. Not so long ago you were the youngest Zimbabwean Parliamentarian. Now you are about to challenge for the presidency of your country. You are clearly a man in a hurry but your critics think you are in just a bit too much of a hurry. You understand that criticism?

Chamisa: Well I’m a man on a mission, a man willing to change the face of politics not just in Zimbabwe but on the African continent. I’m a democrat. I’m a revolutionary. I believe in the transformation of promise and this is why I’m willing to take up the challenge, no matter how big.

Sackur: Talking about the man in a hurry because it was quite extraordinary what you did. Your former leader of the Movement for Democratic Change Morgan Tsvangirai died on February14th after a long struggle with cancer, one day later you decided to seize the interim leadership of the party much to the consternation of other party members.

Chamisa: Nature has a vacuum. After the death of our icon, a great revolutionary on the African continent, the face of change in Zimbabwe, we had to make sure that within the confines of constitutionalism, rule of law the party constitution, we kick in to provide leadership because we have such….…

Sackur: (Wasn’t there need) for some decency, respectfulness for a man who has just passed and for his family and for the feeling the party as a whole needed a pause and yet you wouldn’t pause?

Chamisa: There was a pause and of course what we did was within the constitution. To then do it much, way after, in fact it was two weeks after the demise of our President that we had to have the internal processes that then gave way to a democratic outcome in terms of who should then be leading the Movement for Democratic Change.

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