Tshabangu should remain in charge until congress’ ….Promise Mkwananzi is an imposter…

By Agencies

One of the members of the opposition CCC’s self-appointed nine-member interim steering committee,  Mbuso Siso says the intensifying political turmoil engulfing the party is unnecessary because the Sengezo Tshabangu-fronted team should remain in charge until congress.

Siso says the MDC Alliance National Standing Committee which met on Sunday to discuss CCC affairs is illegitimate as it was overtaken by events after the Supreme Court ruled in 2020 that Nelson Chamisa was not the legitimate leader of the MDC-T.

He says that ruling effectively rendered the MDC Alliance congress of 2019 in Gweru null and void as the events were intertwined, hence its structure cannot be revived and imposed on CCC.

Siso adds claiming the CCC is now under the MDC Alliance structure drags the party back to its messy past, inadvertently inviting Douglas Mwonzora, leader of the now practically defunct MDC-T, back into the game.

Further, he adds that some power-hungry opposition figures are now crawling out of the woodwork to claim to be leaders when they were scared of fighting Chamisa before he quit in a huff CCC last week.

“Now that Nelson Chamisa has quit CCC, we now see some power-hungry leaders coming out of the woods to cause unnecessary confusion in the party. Why would anyone say the MDC Alliance structure of 2019 is now in charge of CCC as if they don’t know that the party was forced on 24 January 2024. The CCC is not one and the same thing as MDC, they are related yet also different.

That 2019 MDC structure was effectively nullified by the Supreme Court decision and it no longer exists. So how can a structure which no longer exists be in charge of CCC?

When the Supreme Court issued that judgment, saying Chamisa was not the legitimate leader of MDC-T and congress should be held in three months, everything else associated with that was reversed and things changed. It affected the MDC Alliance as well because MDC-T was part of the alliance. So it nullified everything, basically. We all know that. That is why Mwonzora later claimed the MDC Alliance, forcing Chamisa to lead us to form CCC. That MDC 2019 structure is dead. It can’t lead CCC.

“Besides, the constitution that was used at the 2019 Gweru Congress and the one we used to field double candidates in last year’s general elections, and later for recalls – which we sent to Speaker of Parliament, President of Senate, Zimbabwe Electoral Commission and the Minister of Local Government – are different.

“That is why the 2019 structure can’t be revived to lead CCC.”

Siso says CCC remains under the control of the self-imposed interim steering committee.

“We appointed interim secretary-general (Tshabangu) to run the affairs of the party before we call for congress. So that structure remains and it’s the one that should be running the party, not this 2019 thing. Even though the committee only comprises people from Bulawayo province, it’s not a problem as this is only an interim structure before a new executive which is national and representative is elected. So there is not 2019 executive which is in charge of the CCC.

 Those are power-hungry people now trying to position themselves as leaders to loot.”

Siso lambasted CCC spokesman Promise Mkhwananzi for claiming to be the new interim party leader.

“Promise Mkhwananzi is not a bona fide opposition member. We don’t know him in the MDC and all other subsequent parties. We only know him as leader of the pressure group Tajamuka/Sesijikile. That’s where he belongs and not at the CCC. He was imposed by Chamisa, so we don’t want him.

“On top of that, he is being looked for by the police. He is a criminal. If police allow me to effect a Citizen’s arrest I will get him for them. He can’t be CCC leader that criminal; he must go back to Tajamuka.”

Siso says interim steering committee must be in charge until congress and Tshabangu must be accountable to it.

The committee includes 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).

This structure implemented the recalls, leading to Chamisa quitting, saying the party has now been “hijacked, bastardised and contaminated” by impostors and fraudsters.

Siso says the committee is the legitimate structure running the party, moreso after Chamisa’s departure and will soon organise a congress new party leadership.