Welshman Ncube exposes Nelson Chamisa’s ‘dictatorial’ leadership

CITIZENS Coalition for Change (CCC) interim president Welshman Ncube has accused former party leader Nelson Chamisa of transforming the fledgling opposition party into a one-man show before stepping down.

Chamisa resigned from the CCC last month, alleging infiltration after self-appointed interim secretary-general Sengezo Tshabangu hijacked the party and recalled legislators and councilors.

Chamisa launched the CCC in January 2022, after losing control of the MDC Alliance to Douglas Mwonzora.

The CCC has subsequently broken into three factions: one led by Chamisa’s adherents, another by Tshabangu, and one that has merged under the MDC 2019 framework, with Ncube serving as its first acting president.

Ncube, Tendai Biti, and Lynette Karenyi-Kore are acting CCC presidents on a 90-day rotational basis.

In a wide-ranging interview with Bulawayo-based online news channel CITE, Ncube indirectly took a dig at Chamisa’s leadership style, which he said created the crisis bedeviling 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,” he said.

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Ncube said there were fundamental differences in the party, with key meetings and other platforms for engagement suspended.

“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,” he said.

“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.”

Ncube said he was elected to be the first acting vice-president of the opposition because of his seniority.

“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,” he said.

“And the standing committee decided that I will go first as being the most senior of the three vice-presidents as elected at Gweru, so that, therefore, I have been mandated in the next 90 days to do all that I can, working with the other vice-presidents, working with the secretariat of the party, working with the rest of the departments of the party to address the challenges that the party face today.”

Welshman Ncube revealed that he last spoke to Chamisa two months ago.

He distanced himself from Tshabangu.

Previous reports said Biti and Ncube were some of the disgruntled party bigwigs behind Tshabangu as they sought to snatch the party from Chamisa.

Chamisa has not announced his next move since he stepped down as CCC leader.

Some CCC legislators have chosen to stay put, saying they could not resign in solidarity with Chamisa because of lack of clarity on the way forward.