Political Reporter

Tendai Biti, the interim vice president of the Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC), was defeated by Allan Markham in that party's primary candidate selection process held in Harare East constituency yesterday.

Biti, a former Finance Minister, reportedly got paltry votes as he was being accused of being a bully, corrupt, and not loyal to CCC leader, Nelson Chamisa.

A source who spoke to this publication said that prior to today’s candidate validation process in Harare East constituency, Biti had crisscrossed the constituency, labelling his rival, Markham a snake and a foreigner.

"Biti’s defeat was engineered by Chamisa. Chamisa is the one who encouraged Markham to move from Harare North constituency to challenge Biti in Harare East constituency. Biti’s defeat is a sign that Chamisa is determined to throw his vice president to the political dustbin," said the source.

The source added that yesterday, Amos Chibaya, the CCC interim organising secretary, directed the street and ward champions in Harare East to tell other members that Chamisa was backing Markham, not Biti.

The source further said that Chamisa wanted to surround himself with young and obedient legislators and wanted all CCC legislators who received the US$40,000 loans from Government to be ousted.

According to the source, Budiriro legislator,  Costa Machingauta, Happymore Chidziva, and Fungai Chiposi are some of the CCC bigwigs who failed to get the ticket to represent that party in the upcoming elections.

Political analyst, Terrence Chipwanya said that the defeat of Biti and Machingauta was a major blow to the CCC, as the duo were seen as some of that party's most popular figures.

The CCC is expected to face a tough challenge from Zanu-PF in the upcoming elections. Zanu-PF conducted its primary elections two months ago and has since capacitated the winning candidates with brand new vehicles to assist during the campaigns.