MDC Alliance presidential candidate Nelson Chamisa had an unlikely backer at the Constitutional Court hearing last Wednesday.
By Everson Mushava
A woman in her eighties, who only identified herself as VaChihera, hogged the limelight when she stormed out of the overflow tent pitched outside the ConCourt shouting: “These crooks, these fraudsters” in the middle of the hearing.
For a moment, the audience following the gripping hearing where Chief Justice Luke Malaba was grilling Chamisa’s lawyer, Thabani Mpofu, had to shift its attention to VaChihera as she continued shouting while brandishing her walking stick.
As she left the cordoned area, the old woman created a scene as she demanded her mobile phone back from police officers.
She made her way out past the security where she earlier on made a scene after she attempted to resist a directive to hand over her cellphone before entering the court.
Further enquiries revealed that she was the old woman whose video went viral after she shouted: “I voted for Chamisa” to people queuing to vote at a polling station on July 30.
Initially, she was reluctant to be interviewed saying this journalist must prove he was not an intelligence or police officer.
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“I will not give you my name, but they call me VaChihera,” she said.
“I stay in Glen view (Harare) and I came here to follow the proceedings in court alone. Chamisa is going to win this.”
When asked who were the crooks she was complaining about, she answered briskly: “Obvious, you know them,” pointing at Mnangagwa’s campaign poster plastered on a wall across the road.
“They are thieves, they want to steal Chamisa’s victory. This time it won’t work,” she said in fluent English. “We want change, I supported (the late Morgan) Tsvangirai,” she said.
“Now I support Chamisa. We need change, these old people have failed and we want this young boy to lead us.
“I have suffered all my life and all my problems are caused by Zanu PF. “They have failed to address the issue of the economy. Let Chamisa do that for them.”
After the petition was dismissed, VaChihera said she was heartbroken, but would not stop supporting Chamisa. She insisted the youthful politician was cheated.
