By Dalubuhle Khumalo
The world is fast crumbling for Citizens Coalition for Change, (CCC), deserter, Nelson Chamisa, after two of his close associates hailing from his home province of Masvingo, announced their exit from active politics.
The two, both products of student activism, Lovemore Chinoputsa and Makomborero Haruzivishe chose Valentine’s Day to announce their departure, which they attributed to lack of serious leadership and the rise in the politics of opportunism in the Chamisa led outfit following the demise of Morgan Tsvangirai.
In a terse statement published on his X handle, Haruzishe said most of the senior members of the opposition were a liability as they heavily relied on party coffers to support their lavish lifestyles.
Recently, former CCC Secretary General, Chalton Hwende, accused that party’s former National Organising Secretary, Amos Chibaya and Deputy Spokesperson, Gift Ostalos Siziba, of misappropriating party funds. Some of this money was earmarked to pay the party’s polling agents, who remain unpaid up to this day.
Chamisa also stand accused of misappropriating funds the party had received from the European Union. He is said to have bought a mansion in Sandton, South Africa, using part of the money.
A distraught Haruzivishe announced that he was going into a 12-year sabbatical which is aimed to end after Chamisa would have long left the political dance floor.
Haruzivishe regrets the time he dedicated to the futile opposition struggle. He wrote: “I will get back to mainstream politics after at least 12 years. I gave the most productive 12 years (2011 - 2023) [from when I was 19 to when I was 31 years old] of my life to the national democratic cause.
“It’s only logical for me to focus the next 12 years to my academic, social and economic development to recover and empower myself. If I don’t recover and empower myself; I risk becoming a liability to the people’s struggle for a better Zimbabwe as I will be expecting the struggle to take care of my very personal needs like bills et al.”
On his part, Chinoputsa writing on his Facebook page said under Chamisa, the opposition party had “digressed from the aspirations of President Tsvangirai who sought to create a democratic vehicle to fight the excesses of the ruling ZANU PF.”
He added: “The toxicity and hatred amongst colleagues left many of us who cannot be cajoled into perennial in-house fighting with no home.
“The jostling that had become the order of the day has inevitably brought two main factions where you either swallow hook, line and sinker the machinations of the ever-scheming boys and girls who I call the see no evil and hear no evil brigade and remain committed to centralising decision-making in one individual or you had to be on the other side with a grouping of people who will do anything to ensure that they take down the leader by any means necessary.”
Self-destruction is becoming the hall-mark of the legacy Chamisa is leaving in the CCC. The obtaining situation in the opposition camp is symptomatic of a dearth in internal democracy, contrary to the narrative of champions of democracy, which the CCC leaders peddle.
