The Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC) president, Nelson Chamisa, has made a noteworthy announcement about his party’s position in the upcoming parliamentary by-elections that are set for December 7.
Sengezo Tshabangu, posing as the CCC’s acting secretary general, recalled 15 legislators, claiming they were no longer party members, which resulted in these by-elections.
The Nomination Court will meet on December 7 of the next month, and the by-elections are scheduled on December 9.
Also Read: Govt Warns Chamisa Against Protests
Chamisa’s Response
CCC legislators have since approached the courts challenging the recalls. Chamisa firmly stated that CCC would not participate in the by-elections if the courts did not overturn the recalls. He emphasized that engaging in these elections would mean endorsing an unconstitutional and criminal act. Chamisa expressed his concern about the validity of the recalls, labelling them as fraudulent and not representative of CCC.
“We should not waste time on unconstitutional acts or criminal acts. We don’t participate in crime. It would be a different ball game had these vacancies been created by a proper case of law and the course of law. But you can’t say you choose to criminally produce an impostor, a fraudster. A bogus recall which is not from CCC. Everyone knows who CCC is. They know it. ZEC, the Parliament. Mr Mnangagwa. They all know who CCC is,” Nelson Chamisa declared.
You can watch the video of Chamisa’s full response below:
On participating in the by-elections if it gets to that, this is how @nelsonchamisa responded. Video Credit Source Media pic.twitter.com/OGNPqqNHSA
— Gerrard Anko Ged Belts (@MacBelts) October 25, 2023
Meanwhile, Tshabangu says he will be in charge of screening and endorsing CCC candidates for the forthcoming by-elections. He told VOA Zimbabwe Service he has a list of candidates for the by-elections saying,
“This right to recall will give us the authority to endorse and sign for the candidates. So, the party is going to use the same criteria they used because we have the database. We know who in this particular ward, in this particular constituency was the favourable candidate (in the selection process). Those candidates are there in our database. It’s a question of cut and paste and then putting in candidates who were selected by the people.”
