Staff Reporter

The Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC) leader, Nelson Chamisa have abandoned his initial litigation route against the winning ZANU PF party; and has resolved to push for negotiations to establish a transitional government facilitated by the Southern African Development Community (SADC).

Speaking to this publication, political analyst, Dorothy Maphosa indicated that CCC suffered lack of confidence toward a re-run against the ZANU PF party, and has roped in SADC to put pressure on the latter.

“There is no way that Chamisa will attempt a re-run against ZANU PF, as he is aware that ZANU PF won the elections free and fairly. Furthermore, Chamisa and his CCC party are currently under resourced, so Chamisa is aware that the second time around ZANU PF will win more resoundingly than it did now, so he closed that route.

“CCC is turning to SADC, a regional organization known for its involvement in conflict resolution and fostering stability among its member states. By appealing to SADC, the opposition aims to leverage the organization's influence to encourage dialogue and facilitate negotiations for a two to three year national transitional authority (NTA).  The CCC believes that SADC's involvement will help create a conducive environment for the creation of the transitional government. Within the period of the NTA, Chamisa hopes to have ample time to regain the people’s trust and confidence against ZANU PF,” said Maphosa.

According to Maphosa, Chamisa has failed to collect all the V11s that he claimed would expose ZANU PF’s rigging and has realised that approaching the Courts without tangible evidence was futile. 

“The CCC's decision to pursue negotiations for a transitional government rather than resorting to legal action is an indication that Chamisa’s legal team lacks the required V11 to prove their prima facie, as such, they have decided to leverage on Dr Nevers Mumba’s SADC Election Observer Mission (SEOM) adverse report to push SADC to force for a Transitional Government,” . 

Maphosa further indicates that the CCC party and its leader Chamisa are hanging on false claims presented in Dr Mumba’s report as a tool to compel SADC to push ZANU PF to enter into a Transitional Government.

“The report by Dr Mumba that claims that the Zimbabwean elections were not free and fair and that there was voter intimidation was a fall back for the CCC that was crafted by the Zambian leader, Hakainde Hichilema, CCC activist Elija Munyuki and Dr Mumba himself.  This document was crafted to give CCC a fall back in the event they lost in the free and fair elections as presented by the just ended 23 August 2023 Harmonised General Elections,” she said.

Meanwhile, President-elect, President Emmerson Mnangagwa has received congratulatory messages from almost all institutions and organisations in Zimbabwe, as well as many SADC leaders with the exception of President Hichilema of Zambia.