STAFF REPORTER
Acting president of the Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC), Welshman Ncube, has accused former party leader Nelson Chamisa of reducing the opposition party into a one-man operation.
The party was taken from Chamisa by Sengezo Tshabangu, the self-appointed interim secretary general, who then recalled council members and legislators. After that, Chamisa left the CCC, citing infiltration.
Since then, the CCC has been divided into three factions: those loyal to Chamisa, Tshabangu, and the group that has come together under the MDC 2019 structures , with Ncube serving as the group’s first acting president.
On a 90-day rotating basis, Ncube, Tendai Biti, and Lynette Karenyi-Kore will serve as acting CCC presidents.
Ncube subtly poked fun at Chamisa’s leadership style in an interview with an internet news outlet CITE, claiming it was the cause of the problem plaguing the opposition.
“We got here because we now had a situation where(by) collectively, the democratic collective leadership no longer worked as one and we were unable to meet as elected individuals, as elected leadership, to address the challenges that we were facing,” Ncube said.
He added: “We had suspended meetings of the national council. Some of us believe that we are fighting Zanu PF which is authoritarian, which is undemocratic and which has one centre of power. We must demonstrate that we are the opposite of Zanu PF.
“We must do while in opposition things we are expected to do when we get into government, not running an autocratic, an authoritarian, theocratic opposition then expect sincere genuine people to believe that once in power, you no longer believe in autocracy and theocracy.
“These are the differences we had in opposition. Now that the president of the party had resigned and dissociated himself with the party, it was necessary for us to step up to the plate, to take responsibility and to ensure that the party is brought back on track, and hence that we will rotate.”
