MDC Alliance president Nelson Chamisa has hinted, yet again, that the opposition party will adopt a new name as the party gears up for the 26 March by-elections and 2023 harmonised elections.
The MDC-T led by Douglas Mwonzora said it will use the MDC Alliance as its name in elections, leaving Chamisa’s party without a name.
Mwonzora has gone as far as writing a letter to the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) asking the electoral body not to allow any other political party to use the name MDC or its derivatives in any election as it is their identity.
Tweeting on Sunday morning, Chamisa hinted of a new party name by referring to a Biblical story of a quarrel between the patriarch, Isaac and the Philistines over wells of water.
The Philistines were jealous of Isaac’s wealth and they claimed a spring he had dug as theirs.
Isaac then dug another well and gave it a new name, and yet again, the Philistines claimed it as theirs, forcing him to move to another place and digging another well and giving it a different name. Wrote Chamisa:
WE WILL FLOURISH… Then they dug another well, but they quarrelled over that one also; so he named it Sitnah.
He moved on from there &dug another well, no one quarrelled over it. He named it Rehoboth, saying, “Now the LORD has given us room & we will flourish in the land.” Genesis: 26.20-22.
University of Kent law lecturer, Alex Magaisa, a former advisor to the late MDC founding president, Morgan Tsvangirai, recently urged Chamisa to abandon the MDC brand and adopt a new name for the party
Magaisa argued that there are some battles that are not worth fighting. That was after the Chamisa-led party had vowed not to give up the MDC Alliance name without a fight.