The Chronicle
ON Monday, Mr Nelson Chamisa, the former MDC-Alliance leader formed a “new” party the Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC) after throwing in the towel in the battle for the control of the MDC-T party, properties, colours and symbols.
Mr Chamisa claimed that the party was starting afresh by abandoning everything associated with MDC-Alliance and MDC-T but to those who have followed the politics of the MDC since its formation in 1999, know that the CCC is just a splinter in the fractious politics of the MDC under a new name.
The abbreviation of the party’s name CCC also flows with the ‘‘Chamisa Chete Chete’’ slogan which they have carried over from the “old party” while at the same time telling Zimbabweans to “behold the new.”
The cultist politics around Mr Chamisa from the MDC-T and MDC-Alliance has influenced the very identity of this supposed new party.
The same cultist politics that saw Dr Thokozani Khupe being violently hounded out of the MDC-T in 2018 by Mr Chamisa’s supporters who went on to try and burn her inside a hut during the burial of founding MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai are lurking around.
One wonders then what is new.
The name change by Mr Chamisa’s grouping also comes at a time the country is preparing for by-elections in March with the Nomination Court sitting yesterday.
And by yesterday there were ructions in the CCC over the alleged imposition of candidates in Bulawayo and Masvingo which led the party to field double candidates in some wards. Behold the what?
To those who wondered if the new name comes with a change of behaviour and culture or it is a continuation of old practices under a new name which will not help stop them fracturing into the dustbins of history, yesterday’s events at the Nomination Court is their answer.
If there was anyone still in doubt as to whether Mr Chamisa is the democrat that he projects himself to be, the events of yesterday confirm that old habits die hard, if at all.
And will they blame Zanu-PF again this time for chaos in a three-day old party? Has the ruling party sponsored imposition of candidates?
Has it funded the deployment of double candidates?
In just three days Mr Chamisa and his crew have exposed the lie that they have always peddled blaming the ruling party for their failings. The evidence is there for all to see.
On top of that, there are reports that Mr Chamisa has his preferred people he wants to work with as he does not trust his deputies, Professor Welshman Ncube and Mr Tendai Biti.
There is also word that Mr Chamisa is not really in good books with the likes of Mr Job Sikhala because of differences over a number of issues.
As a result, Mr Chamisa is accused of leading a parallel structure of loyalists outside the structures that have been sold to the public.
These are issues from the MDC-T era, from the MDC-Alliance era and are now issues for the CCC era. So, what has really changed?
It is on record that in the MDC-T, MDC-Alliance, Mr Chamisa failed to unite structures as he opted for a divide and rule strategy.
In May 2019, Mr Chamisa got a hostile reception from disgruntled MDC-A officials in Bulawayo after they painted graffiti at the party’s provincial offices denigrating him for alleged dictatorship and tribalism.
He had been dragged into a tribal storm when the party held a provincial congress in Bulawayo the previous month where Mr Chamisa was accused of manipulating processes so that his desired candidates, chosen on the basis of ethnicity, win the positions they were contesting.
After the chaotic congress, losing Bulawayo provincial executive aspirants took on Mr Chamisa head-on accusing him of manipulating processes to achieve his desired outcome.
In a letter to the party’s national executive, 12 losing candidates blamed Mr Chamisa for the chaotic congress.
It was not Bulawayo alone that accused Mr Chamisa of dictatorship as a number of senior officials left his grouping accusing him of dictatorship.
That said, there is nothing new to behold but the cementing of the Chamisa Chete Chete cultist politics.
The only new thing about CCC is the colour and symbol. On the driving seat is the old Mr Chamisa famed for going against every tenet of democracy.
Article Source: The Chronicle