NATHAN GUMA
PAYDAY has finally arrived for self-proclaimed opposition Citizens’ Coalition for Change (CCC) secretary-general Sengezo Tshabangu and his cabal which usurped control of the party from Nelson Chamisa with the aid of state security services and three pillars of the state — the legislature, executive and judiciary.
Tshabangu is smiling all the way to the bank- after Treasury disbursed ZiG70 million (US$5 039 234.03) to Zanu PF and his CCC faction under the Political Parties (Finance) Act.
The government last week gazetted and proportionally disbursed ZiG47 883 500 (US$3 447 088.04 at the interbank or official rate) to Zanu PF and ZiG22 116 500 (US$1 592 145.99) to CCC.
CCC infighting and capture by Tshabangu forced Chamisa to quit in a huff amid turmoil and chaos, effectively killing the opposition political party which is now effectively a Zanu PF appendage.
Veteran opposition leader Welshman Ncube and others, including the architect of the palace coup against Chamisa, Tshabangu, are now in charge.
The authorities have a soft spot for Tshabangu. For capturing and destroying the CCC, Tshabangu had already been handsomely rewarded with a position, car and money, and the US$1.6 million is the cherry on top.
As revealed by The NewsHawks in February, money had taken centre stage in the chaotic opposition CCC infighting triggered by recalls of elected legislators, senators, councillors and mayors by Tshabangu.
One of Tshabangu’s closest allies, Mbuso Siso, a member of the self-appointed nine-member interim steering committee which effected the recalls, said senior party leaders Welshman Ncube and Tendai Biti are what Shona-speaking people would call “vana mucheka dzafa” (opportunists in this case) as they have now leapt into action to claim leadership after Chamisa abandoned the party in January complaining about infiltration by “fraudsters” and Zanu PF political agents.
Siso told The NewsHawks: “We started this battle f ighting against the imposition of candidates before the elections. We fielded double CCC candidates to challenge imposed candidates. We came back after the elections with recalls. Our committee gave Tshabangu the mandate to lead to the recalls initiative and processes to put the party on a constitutional, structures and democratic path.”
“Ncube, Biti and Jacob Mafume (Harare mayor) and all those people now calling themselves the ‘2019 structure’ were not there. Directly or indirectly they did not contribute anything useful to the initiation of the recalls. They may have sympathised with us because they also felt sidelined by Chamisa, but they were not there in a meaningful way or at all. They even went public to clear their names, saying they are not involved or working with us. It was not a strategy on their part; they did not want their names to be associated with us.”
Siso added: “Now they are running around saying they are the 2019 leadership structure which emerged from the Gweru congress. That is political opportunism and dishonesty. The 2019 structure died with the MDC-Alliance, particularly after the Supreme Court ruling in 2020 which said Chamisa was not the legitimate leader of MDC-T after he seized power from the legitimately elected deputy T hokozani Khupe and ordered a congress in 90 days. Chamisa came to the MDC-Alliance representing the MDC-T, so if his leadership of that party was nullified by the court, it naturally affected his position in the MDC-Alliance. For better or worse, the court judgment ended up with Mwonzora being the MDC-T leader after controversially beating Khupe.”
“That is why after his victory, he claimed the MDC-Alliance leadership by virtue of being MDC-T. So going back to the 2019 MDC-Alliance structure amounts to inviting Mwonzora back Self-proclaimed opposition Citizens’ Coalition for Change secretary-general Sengezo Tshabangu to our political affairs and getting into yet another political entanglement with him.”
So why were Ncube and Biti, as well as their faction, pushing for the 2019 MDC leadership structure to be revived and imposed on the CCC?
Siso said: “Obviously, they will say the CCC is an extension, expression or manifestation of the MDC as it was formed through a resolution of its predecessor. But that is a convenient explanation. T he truth is that the 2019 structure ceased to exist and was overtaken by events when the Supreme Court made that ruling on the MDC-T leadership and Chamisa, which has implications for the MDC-Alliance.”
“There may be different interpretations of that, but these leaders are lawyers and experienced politicians, good old people; they know very well it was better for us to dissociate ourselves with that MDC political baggage, which is why we formed the CCC, but for political expediency they now want us to go back there. The truth is that they are eyeing the money which has to be disbursed to the party in terms of the law, Political Parties (Finance) Act that provides for financing of political parties in Parliament by the state.”
“The US$2 million or so at stake is the real issue, not what they are saying. They have no legitimate claim to the party leadership and the money. That money belongs to the party and for now until congress, I’m the treasurer-general of the committee which effected recalls and ran the party, meaning the de facto leadership structure.”
“The 2019 MDC-Alliance structure does not come in. It no longer exists. So they must not mislead the people. Even the constitution that we submitted to Parliament (lower House), Senate, the courts and the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission is different from the one that MDC-Alliance used in 2019. So on what basis does the 2019 structure, including Ncube and Biti, come in?”
Chamisa dropped a political bombshell, abandoning the opposition which has MPs, senators and councillors, as well as mayors, some of whom have been recalled and replaced by Tshabangu’s supporters and Zanu PF MPs through by-elections.
The by-elections on 3 February, for instance, gave Zanu PF a two-thirds majority in the National Assembly, but not in the Senate.
“As acting treasurer-general, I want all the books, accounts and records of expenditures for accountability purposes. We need to know from records of how much the party received from the state, donations and how the money was used. We also need to know if the party has some assets that should remain in its name after his [Chamisa’s] departure,” Siso said.
“The money due to the party from the state must come through the committee structures so that there is accountability. Otherwise, it will also be misused at the expense of the party. The committee remains in charge until congress. Anything else is just opportunism.”
The committee running the CCC has Dingilizwe Tshuma, former legislator for Entumbane-Njube constituency in Bulawayo as chair; Albert Mhlanga (former Pumula MP and deputy); Tshabangu (secretary-general); Khaliphani Phugeni (information); Sikhululekile Moyo (interim chairperson for women); Nomvula Mguni (ex-proportional representation MP), Siso (treasurer) and Benoni Ncube (youth).
This is the self-imposed CCC structure which implemented the recalls, leading to Chamisa quitting, saying the party has now been “hijacked, bastardised and contaminated” by impostors and fraudsters. Siso said the committee is the de facto structure running the party, especially after Chamisa’s departure and will push to take it forward to congress and into the future.
