Political Reporter
The Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC) leader, Nelson Chamisa, continues to consolidate power around himself despite advice from gurus and party elders to decentralize party activities in order to maximize the limited time left for campaigns.
That party’s advisors recently sent a delegation to Chamisa with a suggestion to decentralize campaign activities. However, a contact said Chamisa turned down the suggestion.
"We suggested to him that he could decentralize campaign activities since time is not on his side. We thought it prudent, for instance, to have VP (Professor Welshman) Ncube and Madam (Dr Thokozani) Khupe run campaigns in the Matebeleland region. They command respect in those regions, and the same strategy could be employed in other regions. We have people who attract crowds in specific regions; why not capitalize on their charisma? That was our well thought-out proposition. Unfortunately, we have a know-it-all leader," said the contact.
He further said Chamisa reiterated that Prof. Ncube was not a CCC vice president, nor was Tendai Biti. He reportedly restated that the CCC was operating without structures and warned party members to stop dishing out party positions without the mandate of citizens. Chamisa reportedly told the delegation that Biti, Ncube, and Lynnette Karenyi-Kore were vice presidents in the MDC Alliance, not the CCC.
"There is a talk in the Matebeleland region that Prof. Ncube and Dr. Khupe were rejected and were being side-lined by the president. So we thought it could pacify them and their followers if they were given some responsibilities in the region. The talk of side-lining party bigwigs, especially the vice presidents, is making the rounds in the party. This is not healthy for the party," said the contact.
The contact further stated that Chamisa argued that there was no reason to assign the vice presidents since there were aspiring candidates who were already campaigning.
That party’s vice presidents have not been attending Chamisa’s rallies, triggering members of that party to inquire from Amos Chibaya on why they were not attending.
"Chibaya has been lying that they were deployed to campaign in some clusters. However, he failed to mention the clusters except for Bikita West and East, which he said were the constituencies where Kore was campaigning. He is just trying to downplay the fissures in our party. Things are falling apart," said Contact.
Fissures in the main opposition party continue to balloon ever since Chamisa manipulated the candidate selection process, which resulted in bigwigs falling by the wayside.
