After months of firefighting following a bold move by a previously unknown activist to destabilize the Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC), party leader Nelson Chamisa is now fending off spirited attempts by some opposition supporters to challenge his leadership.
The year-old CCC party, which morphed from the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) coalition after Douglas Monzoralide’s revolution, was thrown into turmoil shortly after the August 23 and 24 elections after Senginzo Chabangu claimed he was the party’s interim secretary-general and began summoning lawmakers. and newly elected councillors.
The courts temporarily halted Chabangu’s rampage, but he vowed to continue his mission of destruction. Only a few CCC members have been publicly associated with his campaign.
The Standard says the battle for control of the party is about to take a new dimension with some senior CCC officials planning to go to court to force Chamisa back into the MDC alliance structures.
Senior party members feel they have been sidelined by the CCC’s presidential candidate in the August elections.
One of their main arguments was that the CCC was not a new party as it had been rebranded from the MDC Alliance and should operate using the structures that emerged at its fifth conference held at Ascot Stadium in Gweru in May 2019.
Some of the conspirators are said to have tried to influence former CCC lawmaker Job Sikhala to sign an affidavit stating that he chaired an MDC coalition committee meeting that decided to rebrand it as CCC, which they will use to launch their court proceedings.
A senior CCC member, who spoke on condition of anonymity, claimed that the likes of Charlton Hwinde, Tendai Biti, Welshman Ncube, Lynette Corr and Maureen Kademawga support the idea of returning to the 2019 structures.
Officials said part of the plot included negotiating with Chabangu to give up his claim to be interim secretary-general of the PCC to pave the way for the return of the old structures.
“He was promised a fortune and hence we are unlikely to see more recalls of lawmakers or council members in the CCC,” the official said.
“This was agreed upon during the meeting held at (name of hotel provided) by the affected members.
“They sent Chabangu’s lawyer (Louis) Oriri who went late at night to Chikurubi to have Sikhala sign an affidavit supporting Chabangu’s claims that CCC is a new brand of MDC Alliance.”
Oriri denied the allegations and said he only met Sikhala on a “friendly” basis during one of his court appearances. The controversial politician has been in detention since 2022 and faces a series of charges.
“I met Sikhala at the Harare Magistrates Court and spoke to him in the presence of his lawyer and the court was completely packed,” Oriri told The Standard.
“We didn’t discuss anything like that.
“I also did not take instructions from Chabangu because I am a lawyer. I get instructions from his lawyer.
“So I did not receive any instructions that we needed to sign an affidavit.”
When contacted for comment, Chabangu bragged that he was now in charge of CCC.
“We are in charge now. The people who are the owners of the party are now in charge of the movement now,” he said.
“Now Chamisa can sleep peacefully because the criminals are no longer in the institution.
“This is what is important. Whether there is a withdrawal or not I cannot say.
“But people may skip floors, so if people decide to separate we will take appropriate action.”
Chabangu said “work is underway” to reinstate Biti and Ncube as active members of the party.
For his part, Hwinde said he never participated in meetings to conspire against Chamisa.
“Why are we holding a meeting in this hotel? It’s a cheap hotel,” he said.
“On the issues of dialogue between President Chamisa, Welshman Ncube and Biti, party spokespersons are in a better position to respond to that.
But what I know is that the two are still members of the party even though they do not have positions, like anyone else except the president.”
Hwinde also denied assertions that his relationship with Chamisa had become frosty.
“These are absolute lies. My relationship with President Chamisa goes back a long time. We have a personal relationship other than a political relationship,” he said.
Kaur said she was on leave to “focus on my family matters.”
“In short, I can say that I have no comment on all these allegations,” Kademawga said. “I’m younger than that.”
CCC spokesperson Promise Mkwananzi said their party was different from the MDC Alliance.
“The CCC is a new party and not a new version of the MDC,” Mkwananzi said.
“Champions who have issues with the party are free to bring it up on appropriate party platforms such as the National Citizens Assembly and many others including directly with the President.
“Taking the party to court is not the DNA of the leaders of the democratic movement.”
Chamisa has previously accused Zanu PF of engineering chaos in his party in order to create a one-party state in Zimbabwe.
Zanu PF spokesman Christopher Mutsvangwa said on Friday that the ruling party had nothing to do with the recall of elected representatives of the CPC.
“To the CCC I say stop kicking each other out,” Mutsvangwa said.
“Try to find each other so that even if you say it is Zanu PF that is fueling your divisions, the strength of your ability as a party is the ability to withstand any pressure from anywhere because it is a power contest game.
“I don’t know why Zanu Pf is expected to be free for CCC when we compete.
“Have you ever seen the Welshman with Mwonzora or Hwinde or Chamisa – trying to get together and try to unite? No, they don’t. Standard
