‘Impostor’ Tshabangu tells opposition leaders elected at MDC 2019 congress to “stand up and be counted” as he continues power trip in CCC |

By Darlington Gatsi

SELF-APPOINTED Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC) secretary general (SG) Sengezo Tshabangu has called for the opposition to revert to the leadership structure that was elected at the 2019 MDC Alliance elective congress.

Tshabangu, who is on a power trip after the High Court upheld his recall of Members of Parliament (MPs) and senators, says CCC has thrown away constitutionalism which has left room for the problems bedevilling the opposition.

“It is an open matter of palpable consternation among our party’s membership that our party, that was formed by the toiling working masses with the agenda to fight for democratic constitutionalism, job creation and sustainable livelihoods, ended up operating structureless, without a constitution, having wantonly and inexplicably disregarded the resolutions of the party’s 5th National Congress held in Gweru in 2019.

“Also, our party’s membership and supporters were profoundly perturbed and watched helplessly when the party’s National Leadership elected at the Gweru Congress in 2019 was quietly but effectively and unceremoniously purged unconstitutionally and displaced through opaque processes under dark circumstances that left a gaping vacuum that was illegally filled by a handful of scheming individuals with a nefarious agenda – some of them with no history in the democratic movement-who had neither a mandate nor the requisite experience to implement the people’s agenda and programme of action for the change that the citizens expect and deserve.

“In the circumstances, we call on these leaders who were elected at the Gweru Congress to now stand up and be counted by coalescing and uniting as per their collective mandate to restore the party back to its constitutional foundation and to reset it towards its historic and traditional constitutional pathway, as per the historic decisions of the party’s National Council meeting that founded CCC on 22nd January 2022,” said Tshabangu in a statement.

Sengezo Tshabangu

Before morphing into CCC, MDC Alliance elected its leadership in 2019, the first since the death of its former president Morgan Tsvangirai.

The hierarchy of the party was silently purged when Chamisa launched the CCC last year declaring everyone “Change Champions” arguing the opposition would operate without structures.

Interestingly, among the leaders elected in 2019, Kuwadzana East legislator Charlton Hwende emerged as the SG, a position that Tshabangu claims to be holding on an “interim” basis.

Tshabangu said the 2019 leadership structure will pave the way for the congress, a subject that CCC has been avoiding since its formation.

He added: “Finalise the correction of processes and conduct that undermined the party’s internal democracy and collective decision making through ego-tripping, self-aggrandisement, fear-mongering and corruption. This is because we are aware that most of the party’s faithful deployees who enabled the corrupt practices did so out fear and desperation and had nowhere and nothing to fall back on, in the wake of the demobilisation of the party’s constitution, formal structures and processes.

“Resume the holding of the party’s mandatory constitutional meetings at all levels of the party to enable members to regain their decision making power. As a social democratic and people driven party, the participation of citizens in decision making process is paramount and thus non-negotiable. Commence the preparation for Congress in terms of the interim constitution of the party, beginning with the election of branch committees.

“Ensure that the preparatory process for the National Congress crystalizes an inclusive programme of mobilisation and ground action in preparation for the next harmonised general election due in 2028”.