Harare, (New Ziana) – When Nelson Chamisa hastily wrestled the throne from Morgan Tsvangirai while the demised Movement for Democratic Change (MDC-T) party leader lay in a morgue in 2018, he justified it on grounds that the ‘cockpit’ could not be left unoccupied. The dash for power just a day after Tsvangirai’s death immediately stirred up infighting in the party, and caused consternation in the late leader’s family which considered it, and subsequent succession tussles that ensued before burial, as taboo and disrespectful. So annoyed was Tsvangirai’s mother that she declared Chamisa persona non grata at the funeral in Buhera, but the newly self-crowned party leader attended nonetheless.
Party congress elected deputy, Thokozani Khupe, and Elias Mudzuri who was hand-picked by Tsvangirai to be another of his deputies, were furious at being outmanoeuvred by Chamisa, and each tried in vain to mobilise internal support to overturn the power-grab.
The only result they achieved was splitting the MDC-T yet again, along the lines of its rival leaders, much to the benefit of the ruling party. One of the products of the split is Chamisa’s latest political offering, the Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC), now the biggest opposition party in the country.
Fast forward to early this year, ahead of the August 23 general elections. Chamisa de-occupied party ‘cockpits’ at all levels, including that of long-serving stalwarts such as vice presidents Tendai Biti and Welshman Ncube, to remain the sole known CCC figurehead.
As if this was not enough shock and pain caused, he was allegedly at it again in the run-up to the elections – this time delivering euthanasia blows to party rivals. Using the CCC primary election process as cover, Chamisa allegedly weeded out all potential contenders for the throne in the party, which saw both Biti and Ncube falling out of any elective race in the August polls.
In their place, insiders say, loyalists to the young throne holder were allegedly foisted to run for both the local government and parliamentary segments of the elections.
As a result, for the first time in over two-decades, Biti, Ncube and a host of other opposition stalwarts have been left outside any party, parliamentary or government structures, and are seething with anger on
the sidelines.
Complains Sengezo Tshabangu, self-styled CCC interim secretary general: “The (CCC party) nomination process for the 2023 harmonised general election was turned into a circus as party officials ran roughshod over the will of the people. In some cases, candidates nominated by citizens were disqualified by dubious vetoes that had no legitimate basis at all, besides the pursuit of nefarious personal agendas.”
“In Bulawayo, for example, total strangers from other parts of the country were imported to replace local candidates selected by the local community. In a nutshell, our internal electoral processes became a corrupt and blasphemous insult and brazen act of disenfranchisement.” Two weeks ago, Tshabangu stirred up the hornet’s nest by recalling CCC parliamentarians from the lower house and senate suspected of benefiting from the alleged irregular selection during the party’s primary elections, and is threatening more of similar self-cleansing in the days ahead.
Fifteen MPs in the lower house, and nine in the senate fell victim, potentially setting the stage for parliamentary by-elections, worse, yet another opposition split.
While Chamisa sees an external hand in the melee, shorthand for the ruling party, many independent-minded observers see his own, and that of his aggrieved lieutenants, in the unfolding political drama, originating
from his perceived underhand assumption of power from Tsvangirai, right through to how the CCC primary elections were managed – or mismanaged – as well as the leadership and administrative structure of the party – or
lack of it.
Tshabangu again: “It is against this background of a rigged internal electoral process that I, as a bona fide interim secretary general (of the CCC), after nationwide consultation with the citizenry and our structures as they existed in January 2022, and as they still are, decided to bite the bullet to stand up for justice and truth and to recall those MPs who are a product of a fraudulent and corrupt internal
electoral process that is inconsistent with and contrary to our constitutional ethos and founding as (a) political party.”
From the above, it is clear that while Chamisa assumes he runs a structure-less and leaderless CCC, save for his own position, many others in the party still recognise, and operate in accordance with, party ‘cockpit’ office-holder structures he thought he had dismantled. In other words, the party is operating two parallel administrative structures – one with Chamisa as sole high-ranking office holder, and
another in which all previous office bearers are recognised and operative.
Chamisa should take the blame for the state of affairs in the party, many observers note, as surely what is good for the goose should be equally good for the gander.
If he considered it ill-advised to leave Tsvangirai’s ‘cockpit’ unoccupied for even 24 hours, surely it should be the same, if not worse, to de-occupy all CCC leadership and administrative structures, more so when the party was heading into an election.
New Ziana
