This came out of one of the CCC Whatsapp groups in Manicaland Province yesterday, when members were assessing Chamisa’s poll performance this year and his chances of unseating ZANU PF.
“Ini ndakatoona kuti Chamisa chigaro haachiwane. Munhu haagone zvese. Shuwa blaz waye wanogona zvimwe but to push kutora chinhu ngatikanganwei hedu. Hameno Mwari waanonamata,” posted one member who was only identified as Budzi.
As the discussion progressed, it became clear that the number of CCC supporters who have become disenchanted with Chamisa after his two election losses is increasing. Some suggested that the party needed to replace Chamisa if it nursed the hope of ever ruling Zimbabwe.
“Haa hapana nyaya paya. We need another leader. The best possible candidate would have been (former Zengeza West legislator) Job Sikhala and (Transform Zimbabwe leader, Jacob) Ngarivhume. A combination of those two would change Zimbabwe. Manje pavachabuda from kwavari uko!” posted another member who uses the name Vimbai Mukandi.
Other members contended that Sikhala and Ngarivhume were not too different from Chamisa as Sikhala once left the MDC and formed MDC 99 before retracing his steps back to the MDC-T ahead of the 2018 elections. Ngarivhume runs TZ but has failed to make any significant impact on the local political landscape. In 2018 he only garnered 638 votes against ZANU PF Johnson Madhuku’s 10 261 in his Bikita West home constituency.
Given the fact that CCC is staring at lack of leadership, the members ended up seeing that neither Chamisa, Ngarivhume nor Sikhala had the requisite leadership pedigree to unseat ZANU PF. They agreed that Chamisa lacked the late former MDC-T leader, Morgan Tsvangirai’s popular political appeal. The group members agreed that the supporters that Chamisa had were inherited from Tsvangirai, whom he succeeded in February 2018.
“Nero haana support (of his own). He inherited it from Mudhara Morgan,” posted one Whatsapp user who only identified herself as Nyasha.
It emerged from the discussion that some members of that party in Manicaland Province have come to accept the reality on the ground that the little support that Chamisa enjoyed is waning following his second electoral loss. They doubted that he would last the distance to contest again in 2028.
“Nero support yaakutopera kana musingazvione. Do you think (in) 2028 vanhu wanonovhota (for him) futi?” Budzi queried.
When some members of the group suggested confronting Government violently to protest Chamisa’s loss, others pointed out the stupidity of the thought.
“Haaaa kuita shiwindi kungonetsa. Ungopfa uisiya mhuri iripezi, shuwa zve. Check wari mumajail now. Mhuri dzawo dziri kuchema. What more wapfa?” posted Nyasha.
When one UK-based member argued that it was unfair to pin all the blame for the opposition’s failure to conquer ZANU PF on Chamisa, some shot right back pointing out how Chamisa has elbowed out all the founding members of the MDC-T from CCC.
“But Nero haade hake masenior members eparty muface uya. Anoda kutonga party na(Fadzi) Mahere na(Gift) Ostallos (Sibanda) waanoziwa kuti haamubvunze chinhu. Muface uya atorinewo chimboko ndosaka asiya Tendai Biti na Professor Welshman Ncube. Chamisa ane hudictator uya,” Budzi posted.
It is evident that most CCC members from senior level such as Biti down to grassroots members like Nyasha have become disgruntled with Chamisa. This seems to resonate with Mahere’s X platform post refrain: “We need new leaders” when she was still the party’s spokesperson.
