Political Reporter
The Citizens Coalition for Change leader, Nelson Chamisa is sensing humiliating defeat and is now in panic mode. Several senior CCC leaders have confirmed this. The CCC leader, who is also under tremendous criticism for the shambolic manner in which he handled the selection and registration of the party’s candidates, is now fighting for his political life after defeat.
The CCC officials said in a bid to salvage his post-election political life Chamisa was considering four options.
The first option involves coopting Saviour Kasukuwere into CCC leadership with a view to getting his help in ensuring the regional condemnation of the outcome of the elections. Chamisa reasons that Kasukuwere has some friends in the SADC region that may help in lobbying for the condemnation of the election results. The CCC officials claimed that Julius Malema and some elements in the ANC were sympathetic to Kasukuwere and would drive the SADC prong of the election delegitimisation drive.
Chamisa has also decided to harness CCC sympathizers among the election observers and diplomatic missions. The CCC officials observed that Chamisa was hopeful that the European Union Observer Mission would condemn the elections. They pointed out that they had convinced Fabio Castaldo that EU should not bless the election outcome. Chamisa has however not yet decided how he would entice or reward Kasukuwere. The cooption of Kasukuwere would result in the displacement of one or two members of the CCC top leadership. Kasukuwere would be accompanied by Walter Mzembi and one or two others.
The third option entails causing CCC supporters to launch protest and demonstrations, preferably of the violent variety. Chamisa hopes to kick start these violent protests by threatening to boycott the elections. Some of the officials have said Chamisa may actually boycott the elections to avoid humiliation.
The fourth option involves scapegoating Ostallos and Biti. The officials said Chamisa had already decided to scapegoat Siziba for incompetence or selling out. They said it was very easy to blame Ostallos for either being bribed by ZANU PF or for incompetence over the Bulawayo candidates’ fiasco. Chamisa is also expected to blame Biti for playing Bhora Musango.
The officials said Chamisa was confident that these measures would ensure his political longevity after elections and provide him with a chance to play the Odinga trick post-elections. This refers to Raila Odinga's penchant for wriggling into a power sharing arrangemnet after every election defeat.
