POWER wrangles in the beleaguered Citizens’ Coalition for Change (CCC) are deepening amid revelations by a camp led by self-imposed secretary-general Sengezo Tshabangu that it will not budge or enter into any negotiations to disband its committee as suggested by another faction led by acting president Welshman Ncube.
BRENNA MATENDERE
Ncube is acting president for a rotational 90 days followed by Tendai Biti and Lynette Karenyi Kore, according to spokesperson Jacob Mafume. Recently, Ncube said in an interview that he will be engaging Tshabangu to “bring back our party”.
The drama intensified after CCC founding leader Nelson Chamisa quit recently, citing infiltration within the party following a series of recalls engineered by Tshabangu. Indications are that Chamisa now plans to form another opposition movement.
Tshabangu’s committee which hogged the limelight through recalls of MPs, has Dingilizwe Tshuma, former legislator for Entumbane-Njube constituency in Bulawayo as chair; Albert Mhlanga (former Pumula MP and deputy); Sengezo Tshabangu (secretary-general); Khaliphani Phugeni (information); Sikhululekile Moyo (interim chairperson for women); Nomvula Mguni (ex-proportional representation MP); Mbuso Siso (treasurer); and Benoni Ncube (youth).
On the other hand, the Welshman Ncube-led faction says it is leading a structure of officials elected at the 2019 MDC-Alliance congress.
In an interview with The NewsHawks, Phugeni said it is preposterous for the Ncube camp to wish away Tshabangu.
“We noted what Ncube said in an interview with Cite. However, CCC is where it is because of our committee and leadership of the interim secretary-general (Tshabangu). His position is undisputed. That is why at one time Chalton Hwende once labelled himself secretary-general on X and then deleted it,” he said.
Phugeni said claims by the Ncube camp that Tshabangu is an imposter and that he must relinquish his post together with his committee are inconsequential. “There are people who took the interim secretary-general saying he is an imposter. They failed to prove it and the courts threw away their cases. In the same vein, anybody else cannot overturn that precedent.
“When they say they want their ‘party back’ what do they mean? There can never be any negotiations about that. The interim secretary-general will stand his ground. The only negotiations that can be there may be centred on how we can safeguard the gains that have been brought about by the interim secretary-general,” he said.
When asked whether Tshabangu is thinking of making another wave of recalls, Phugeni said due to a court order that halted the recalls, it is unlikely that the recalls can continue.
“We are almost at a stage where we wanted to take the party. The cleaning of the party is almost done. There is a court order that put the recalls at halt until finalisation of an appeal so the interim secretary-general will abide by that,” he said.
The CCC has disintegrated into three distinct yet fluid factions following the resignation of Chamisa which took some legislators and party officials by surprise. The freeing of the fiery Job Sikhala from prison after he spent 595 days behind bars added other dynamics to the saga.
Chamisa’s resignation resulted in a scramble for the heart and soul of the party, with three factions emerging: one loyal to Chamisa, the other which has coalesced around former MDC-Alliance vice-presidents Welshman Ncube and Tendai Biti as well as the self-imposed CCC interim steering committee led by Tshabangu.
