Political Reporter

Members of the Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC) have lampooned their leader, Nelson Chamisa, following that party's loss to the ruling ZANU-PF party in the just-ended 2023 Harmonised General Elections.

A senior CCC member who spoke to this publication said that Chamisa had become a liability and had no leadership skills that could steer CCC to victory.

"Chamisa is a liability to the party. He has no leadership skills, and he is only interested in himself. He is the reason why we lost the election," said the source.

The source said CCC lost because it had no clear structures and that Chamisa had personalised the party.

"There was no clear chain of command. Everyone was just doing their own thing. This made it difficult to coordinate our activities and made us look disorganised,” added the source.

The source also said that the party's slogan, "Ngaapinde Hake Mukomana," was not inclusive and promoted Chamisa alone at the expense of the other party candidates.

"The slogan should have been 'Ngatipindei Tese’. This would have shown that we were a team and that we were all in this together. The slogan made it seem like the election was about Chamisa, not about the party, claimed the source.

The same source further blamed Chamisa for not having a convincing message to the electorate, as he ended up lying to them or making unrealistic promises.

The source claimed that even former MDC Director General, Toendepi Shonhe has been complaining about the party's lack of organization. The source said Shonhe claimed that CCC, under the leadership of Chamisa, had no capacity to organise demonstrations or challenge ZANU-PF because the latter is a more organised party.

Meanwhile, a number of CCC legislators have vowed to defy Chamisa's directive not to attend the swearing-in ceremony at the New Parliament Building today.

"We are elected representatives of the people, and we have a duty to attend the ceremony. We can't blow the opportunity just to please Chamisa," said one CCC legislator.