Political Reporter
The Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC) has serious financial problems and may not be able to hold its anticipated elective congress as well as effectively fund its campaign, the Harare Post has learnt.
A source who spoke to this publication confirmed that CCC was broke and had been abandoned by donors because of the continuous infighting within that party.
According to the source, donors have been angered by recent misunderstandings between Nelson Chamisa, Charlton Hwende and Tendai Biti and have told CCC to put its house in order to receive financial support from donors.
"We are in a bad situation. It has been bad for a while, but we are now hitting rock bottom. It's not helping that the party has apparently lost the support of some of our traditional donors, and it looks like there is no quick way out of our funding predicament," said the source.
The source added that the highly anticipated CCC inaugural elective congress might be abandoned as there were no adequate funds.
"We are supposed to hold our elective congress in February or March this year, but funding has been a problem. I don't see us holding congress on time. At this rate, it may never be held,” said the source.
The same source added that there was a feeling among donors that CCC had "enjoyed the trapping of power too much" and some leaders were too cosy with ZANU PF.
"No one wants to fund a disorganised or non-performing organisation, and we are paying for that. The companies that used to support us have stopped because of the liquidity crisis in the country. Besides, our numbers in Parliament are too few, so we have lost the punch we had in the last Parliament, and who wants to fund an opposition whose role in Parliament is diminishing,” said the source.
Meanwhile, there are reports that Chamisa has been urging his supporters to donate money, which will lessen the party's reliance on donors. However, Chamisa’s supporters believe donors are withholding funding in an effort to ensure there was leadership change within CCC.
