1. Some people ask why Mwonzora was selective in recalling MDC Alliance MPs. Several reasons can be proffered including personal relationships which even at his most vindictive he cannot ignore. But the major reason was an attempt to use a strategy of divide and rule.
2. You may recall that the first purge in May 2020 affected 4 MPs most of whom held leadership roles in parliament: Tabitha Khumalo, Prosper Mutseyami & Lillian Timveos. SG Hwende’s sacking was personal after he defeated Mwonzora for the SG role in the MDC Alliance.
3. Sacking these senior MPs was meant to signal a threat to junior MPs. They were supposed to run for the hills. Some did but the majority held on. The strategy didn’t work very well and Mwonzora had to fire another batch and then yet another batch.
4. If you remember, there were loud calls for the rest of the MDC Alliance MPs to resign in solidarity. It a seductive call, seemingly based on principle but ultimately it was emotional & not strategic. It would have played into Mwonzora’s trap.
5. Mwonzora knew that MPs & councillors would not volunteer to resign. Self-interest prevents people from making such sacrifices. Therefore, it would fall on Chamisa to make the call. Mwonzora wanted Chamisa to be the one driving them out of Parliament.
6. This situation would pit Chamisa against his representatives. This carried a high risk because they might disobey him out of self interest which would cause embarrassment. But this would be a victory for Mwonzora. He would say, look his people aren’t even obeying him!
7. Some of us thought, why carry Mwonzora’s burden? If he wants to fire MPs & councillors let him be the one to do it so that the costs fall on him. Because the more he fires them, which we knew he would do, the more he would discredit himself in the eyes of the public.
8. The logic was: if your opponent is the villain, make sure you give him plenty of room to demonstrate his nature. And that’s what happened. He continued to sack them in batches, all the time hoping to scare the remainder into turning. He may have picked a few by this method
9. Some say why not resign? But ask another way: why make it easy for him? He is the one who wants them out of parliament & council, so why do the job for him? Let him carry the costs of removing elected representatives. And he has duly incurred those costs over the past 2 years!
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