A source who spoke to this publication has revealed that the CCC councillors allege that Coltart was imposed on them by their party leader, Nelson Chamisa without their consultation.
“The Bulawayo CCC councillors have refused puppets imposed by their party leader Nelson Chamisa. It is not surprising to note that the Bulawayo CCC councillors are boycotting council meetings as a way of protesting against David Coltart who was imposed by Chamisa to be the Bulawayo mayor.
“The boycott is crippling the operations of the Bulawayo City Council, as the CCC is the majority party in the council. The council has been unable to hold meetings or pass resolutions, as the CCC councillors are needed to make up a quorum,” said the source
The source further revealed that the councillors accused Chamisa of dictatorial tendencies, saying that he was running the party like a one-man show and was imposing decisions without consulting its elected representatives.
The source disclosed that the CCC legislators in Bulawayo have advised Coltart to postpone the council meetings because they risk being expelled as councillors. This is in accordance with Chapter 32 of the Councils Act which states that if a councillor misses three consecutive meetings he or she will be chucked out of office.
Political analyst Terrence Chapwanya stated that the rebellion within the CCC was more likely to split the CCC further than before.
“The rebellion within the CCC is a major threat to the party's unity and its chances of success. Chamisa must address the concerns of his party members or else he will risk losing party members en masse.
“The boycott of council meetings by CCC councillors in Bulawayo is a direct result of Chamisa's dictatorial tendencies. This is a major threat to the party's unity and its chances of success,” he said.
Chamisa has a history of making decisions without consulting his party members. In 2022, he imposed Coltart as the party's provincial spokesperson in Bulawayo without consulting CCC party members at provincial level. Chamisa further imposed Coltart as the mayor of Bulawayo last month a move that was against the CCC members in Bulawayo who preferred a Bulawayo resident as mayor of that City.
The people of Bulawayo and the councillors in that city had vowed to sabotage Coltart until Chamisa replaces him with a Ndebele mayor.
The boycott of council meetings is just the latest sign of rebellion within the CCC. In recent months there have been reports of growing dissatisfaction with Chamisa's leadership among party members and legislators. One Sengezo Tshabangu who claims to be CCC interim Secretary-General wrote a letter to the speaker of parliament Jacob Mudenda earlier this month indicating that he had recalled 15 CCC members of the national assembly and 17 councillors. Tshabangu stated that the recalled members were imposed by Chamisa against the will of the CCC supporters.
