Political Reporter
The Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC) leader, Nelson Chamisa recently fumed at his party members saying that they should desist from making a comparison between him and the late Morgan Tsvangirai.
A source who spoke to this publication on condition of anonymity said that at a recent National Standing Committee (NSC) meeting, Chamisa was breathing fire and warned that those pushing the narrative that Tsvangirai was a better leader than him risked being expelled from CCC.
“He (Chamisa) was visibly angry at a recent NSC meeting. He fumed that CCC was a political organisation that was different from MDC and people should not try to smuggle the culture of the MDC into CCC. He said that Tsvangirai, just like the MDC, was now history and people should now embrace CCC as a new entity with a different way of doing things,” said the source.
According to the source, Chamisa was angered by growing whispers within the CCC corridors, of people who continue to emulate the late Tsvangirai as a democrat while labelling Chamisa as a selfish dictator.
“The lack of clear party structures has caused massive disgruntlements within the party. This has seen some members saying that Tsvangirai was a better leader as he made sure those elective congresses were held whenever they were due. Within CCC, Chamisa is already being labelled a dictator because he has ignored repeated calls for the party to hold an elective congress,” added the source.
Messages gleaned by this publication from a CCC WhatsApp group also exposed the chaos and disgruntlement within CCC.
One message reads that, “Mukuru (Chamisa) has turned the party into a fascist organisation where power is centred on one man. He should allow members to freely and democratically elect their leaders through congress. Izvi zvekushaya ma structures is not healthy for the party. Ndopamunoona tichizorohwa ne ZANU PF pamaelections. He must address the issue of structures and not threaten to expel people.
Another message from the same WhatsApp group reads, “Mudhara Tsvangirai was better. He followed the dictates of our party constitution. Manje zvedu izvi zvekuramba tichingonzi tine ma interim leaders hapana kwazvinotisvitsa.Ko iye mukuru arikutyei kuenda ku Congress? Honai manje nyaya yekushaikwa kwema structure is now disturbing our mobilisation exercise.”
Other members in that WhatsApp group castigated Chamisa for concentrating on social media while neglecting the real issues on the ground. The members said that it was disheartening that Chamisa was spending much time interacting with members in the diasporas, although the majority of them were not registered voters and not helpful to the CCC cause.
Contacted for comment, CCC interim spokesperson Fadzayi Mahere said that all was well within CCC and that their party was only focused on winning the 2023 Harmonised General Elections.
“All of those aspersions are obviously fake. We have a single focus which is to win the 2023 elections and to win big. All our energies are geared towards winning Zimbabwe for change, nothing else,” said Mahere.
