Political Reporter

Cracks have widened within the Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC) Bulawayo Province with reports pointing to a nasty fight between Welshman Ncube and Thokozani Khupe for the control of Matebeleland region.

A source who spoke to this publication said that the admission of Khupe into the CCC party sent shivers within Ncube’s camp as Nelson Chamisa has openly aligned himself with Khupe.

The same source confided in this publication that some CCC members who were aligned to Ncube have since jumped ship and aligned themselves with Khupe as a surety for their political careers.

“The infighting in Bulawayo has intensified with the coming in of Khupe. Previously, the fight in Bulawayo was between Ncube and Thabitha Khumalo. However, Khumalo is now out of the spotlight as Khupe has taken over. Both Ncube and Khupe want to be the godfather and godmother of the Matebeleland region. The fight between the two has escalated after reports emerged that Chamisa was siding with Khupe to be the godmother of the region,” said the source.

According to the source, Bulawayo Provincial chairperson James Sithole and his deputy Felix Mhaka has dumped the Ncube faction and openly aligned themselves with Khupe. The source said that the duo realised that the real power in Bulawayo now lies with Khupe not Ncube, hence their alignment with Khupe.

The source added that the Ncube and Khumalo factions were likely to be decimated soon as CCC members in Bulawayo have now realised that Khupe was Chamisa’s favourite.

“Sithole and Mhaka have dumped Ncube’s faction after realising that Khupe was Chamisa’s favourite. They know that the 2023 nomination papers would be signed by Chamisa, hence they want to be in good books with him.  They now want to use Khupe to bring them closer to Chamisa,” added the source.

According to a leaked conversation in possession of this publication, Ncube was heard complaining to an unidentified CCC member that Chamisa was now dumping party loyalists in favour of Khupe. In the same conversation, Ncube revealed that Chamisa was in constant communication with Khupe whom she wants to be the face of CCC in that region.

Ncube was bitter that Chamisa chose to designate Khupe to officiate at that party’s Rural Penetration Regional Launch which was launched at R10 hotel in Bulawayo on 27 May 2022.  Furthermore, he queried why Chamisa trusted Khupe with such a mandate at the expense of seasoned CCC members.

Meanwhile, political analyst Rueben Mhaka said that Chamisa was the architect of the chaos in Bulawayo as he didn’t want one faction to triumph over the other as a strategic way of consolidating his power.