The president of the MDC Alliance, Nelson Chamisa has suggested that if the MDC Alliance is not a party, then ZANU PF is also not a party since the basis for disqualifying MDC Alliance is that it is an alliance between two or more parties.
His remarks come amid disagreements over the Supreme Court ruling on the MDC leadership crisis that did not recognise the MDC Alliance as a party despite participating in the 2018 elections. Chamisa tweeted:
Is Zanu pf not a political party because it is an alliance or a unity accord between Zanu and Zapu??
In response to advocate Chamisa’s tweet another legal expert, David Hofisi said the comparison was wrong. He said:
False equivalence Cde President. The alliance was called Patriotic Front which reverted to its constituent parties after Lancaster just as MDC Alliance partners after elections. In ’87, (PF) ZAPU joined ZANU (PF) party just as PDP & MDC-Green/Ncube joined main MDC/MDC-T party.
The MDC Alliance, an opposition coalition, was formed in 2017 and it consisted of the MDC-Ncube, Movement for Democratic Change – Tsvangirai (MDC–T), the Tendai Biti-led People’s Democratic Party, Ngarivhume-led Transform Zimbabwe, Agrippa Mutambara-led Zimbabwe People First and others.
Some parties including Transform Zimbabwe have since left the pact while Biti’s PDP and the MDC-T (not Tkokozani Khupe’s) re-united under the original party name, the MDC after the election.
More: Nelson Chamisa; David Tinashe Hofisi
Chamisa is very correct. Prior to the Gukurahundi Unity Accord of December 1987, the two political parties were known as PF-ZAPU as led by Joshua Nkomo and ZANU as led by Robert Gukurahundi Mugabe. Rev Ndabaningi Sithole led ZANU-Ndonga. After merging the two parties, the new political outfit became known as ZANU-PF. The PF was retained for the very purpose of indicating the presence of ZAPU in the new outfit. It is not correct to say PF-ZAPU joined ZANU. ZANU-PF is not the ZANU led by Prime Minister Mugabe – it never used the PF in its name. So, Chamisa is correct to say, ZANU PF, like the MDC-Alliance is a political party in its own right. This is why it contested elections as such. There was never any debate about its political party status then, why now? Even Mwonzora himself never contested the party status – he never said he was a member of MDC-T.