Harare (New Ziana) – In what is turning into an implosion, the main opposition Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC) party has recalled nine of its legislators from the senate, adding to fifteen others also withdrawn from the lower house of parliament.
The recalls, made by the party’s interim secretary general Sengezo Tshabangu, were announced by both houses of parliament on Tuesday, and took immediate effect.
The nine senatorial recalls followed that of fifteen legislators from the lower house of parliament earlier announced and effected, sparking skirmishes between marshals and police, on one hand, and resisting CCC parliamentarians, on the other.
Police had to forcibly kick out the affected legislators by force, to restore order.
The majority of the party’s legislators disputed the recalls, claiming Tshabangu had no legal authority to demand their expulsion from parliament.
But speakers of both houses ignored the protests, and effected the recalls, nonetheless, throwing the party into a deep crisis only days after parliament started sitting following the August general elections.
The affected legislators, and others in the party, claim Tshabangu was not CCC secretary general, and therefore did not have the legal standing to recall them from parliament.
But their case seems to fall flat in that the party has no clear leadership nor administrative structures for parliament to use as reference point to determine who had what right or authority in the CCC.
The party’s presidential candidate in the August elections, Nelson Chamisa, claims to be CCC leader, but this is not rooted in any recognised administrative structure.
In the absence of this, parliament appears to be acting on any instructions received from the party.
There were reports on Wednesday that Chamisa himself faced possible expulsion from the CCC over an array of alleged transgressions, mostly financial.
As the crisis in the party deepens, CCC legislators skipped a key parliamentary function on Wednesday to hold marathon caucus meetings to map the way forward.
New Ziana
