In recent days, Douglas Mwonzora has once again spoken about unity, legitimacy and the future of the opposition. It is not the first time these themes have been raised, and it is unlikely to be the last. But it is precisely because we have lived through this cycle before that his position now rings hollow.
I am not a politician. I have never claimed to be one. But I do have a voice, and like many Zimbabweans, I have been part of the long struggle for a credible, democratic opposition. I was there through the battles over legitimacy, over names, over symbols, and over property. I watched as the opposition was deliberately fractured, not by popular will, but through legal manoeuvres and elite bargaining.
The so-called litmus test of opposition leadership was not about who controlled the MDC name or its assets. It was about who carried the trust of the people. Nelson Chamisa passed that test decisively. Not because of courts, titles or inheritance, but because Zimbabweans recognised in him a legitimate vehicle for challenging ZANU PF.
Mwonzora may have won the party name. He may still control the MDC brand and its properties. But he lost the people. And in politics, that loss is terminal.
The truth is simple. Zimbabweans did not rally behind a name or a constitution. They rallied behind a cause. They wanted a real opposition, not a legal shell. When Chamisa emerged, stripped of the MDC label but backed by popular support, it became clear that the MDC as an institution was no longer essential to opposition politics.
To now claim leadership of the opposition, or to speak of unity on the basis of a hollowed-out structure, is laughable. Unity cannot be built around something that has already lost relevance. It must be built around legitimacy, energy and public confidence.
There is also a generational reality that Mwonzora and others refuse to confront. Many young Zimbabweans have no emotional attachment to the MDC at all. For them, the MDC is history, not hope. If elections were held tomorrow, a significant number would be voting for the first time without any sense that the MDC represents their future.
That is why the insistence on reviving the MDC misses the point. The party has served its purpose. It played its role in Zimbabwe’s political evolution. But history does not pause out of sentiment.
Mwonzora is welcome to keep the MDC. He has earned the name, the buildings and the letterhead. But he should not confuse ownership with relevance. Chamisa has already demonstrated that the struggle against ZANU PF does not require the MDC brand to succeed.
Zimbabwe’s opposition does not need to look backwards. It needs to be honest enough to let what has died finally rest, and brave enough to build something new.