Political Reporter
The embattled Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC) interim co-vice president Tendai Biti is contemplating ditching that party and revive his now defunct People’s Democratic Party (PDP) following a series of clashes with Nelson Chamisa.
A source within the CCC said that Biti was not happy with the manner in which he was treated by Chamisa at a recent CCC meeting where he was told not to claim the CCC vice presidency, since no one had appointed him to that position.
“At a caucus meeting recently held in Harare and chaired by Chamisa, Honourable Judith Ncube stood up to stress a point and she addressed Biti as vice president. Chamisa abruptly corrected her and said he was the only person with a substantive position in the party.
“He told Biti that he should not call himself vice president as no one had appointed him to that post. Chamisa suggested that Biti should be referred to as Honourable Biti not vice president Biti,” said the source.
According to the source, Biti felt belittled by Chamisa and was now telling his close associates that he was not seeing a political future in CCC.
The source added that Biti recently held a secret meeting with former PDP members including Jacob Mafume and Lucia Matibenga where he tabled the idea of reviving the PDP.
“Following his humiliation by Chamisa, Biti held a clandestine meeting with former PDP members where he suggested that the PDP should be revived to accommodate members that were now frustrated by Chamisa’s style of leadership. Biti suggested that they should start reactivating former PDP structures with the hope of contesting the 2023 elections under the PDP banner,” added the source.
The source further revealed that it was not only Biti who was getting agitated by Chamisa’s dictatorial tendencies but a number of CCC big wigs such as Welshman Ncube, Tabitha Khumalo, Charlton Hwende and Job Sikhala were now doubting Chamisa’s acumen as the CCC leader.
Meanwhile, there are reports that Chamisa would soon reshuffle the CCC interim structures where Biti would be demoted to the position of interim national treasurer. The idea is to frustrate Biti to force him to resign.
