OPPOSITION Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC) may diminish its image as a vanguard of democracy if it maintains its stance on not holding an elective congress before 2023 general elections, analysts have indicated.
CCC has said it
will not succumb to external pressure to hold a
congress although it says consultations with citizens about the issue
were still in progress.
Analysts insist
that CCC will be handicapped in challenging Zanu PF on democracy if it
continues to be run by an interim executive.
Political
analyst Methuseli Moyo said: “A congress is what constitutes a party, appoints
persons into position to exercise power and administration of party affairs.
One wonders how CCC will constitute itself and delegate authority to office
bearers.
“Without a
congress, CCC remains a collection of friends deploying each other into
positions. As such, they would be handicapped to challenge Zanu PF on any issue
to do with democracy and procedure.
“In a nutshell,
CCC must go to congress before elections to legitimise itself. It can’t take
over power when it has not been mandated by anyone. As things stand, CCC is a
party in-the-making, and only a congress can constitute a party.”
Another
political analyst Vivid Gwede said holding a congress was important for
democracy and nothing should override that.
“It is true
that a congress may be divisive for CCC ahead of the 2023 elections. But the quest for political change should not
trump the imperative for elected leadership as the cornerstone of
representative democracy,” Gwede said.
CCC interim
spokesperson Fadzayi Mahere, however, said the party was carrying out
nationwide consultations, the results of which will be made available to the
public at the appropriate time.
Said Mahere:
“Our priority at the moment is making sure we do the work to win Zimbabwe for
change in 2023 and form the next government — not the pursuit of internal
positions. We are all change champions who have been tasked with working to
mobilise the masses to register to vote, vote and defend the vote next year.
“The CCC is a
citizens’ movement that is introducing a new way of doing politics in Zimbabwe
with a specific focus on putting the citizens first in all decisionmaking. The
citizens are being consulted about the next steps concerning our internal
processes and the outcome of these deliberations will be communicated at the
appropriate time.”
She added that
the party would not be pushed into a corner by those who have different
priorities.
“Zimbabweans
have suffered enough and all citizens’ hands must be on deck to fight for
lasting change and transformation for the nation,” she said.
Exiled former
minister Jonathan Moyo challenged CCC to hold an elective congress as this was
according to the dictates of the country’s supreme law.
“The CCC is
saying no vacancies and no congress of any kind. CIO (Central Intelligence
Organisation) wants to infiltrate us; maybe a people’s convention, get the
nomenclature right. But a citizen’s convention is better nomenclature. Wait,
CIO can only infiltrate a congress; not a convention since it’s American,
right,” Moyo tweeted.
CCC deputy
spokesperson Gift Siziba last week said CCC had no plans of holding a congress
as Zanu PF plotted to infiltrate their movement.
“Let me clear
this once and for all, there are people who are motivated by Zanu PF, to
imagine and think that we are going for a congress. Look we are a new political
organisation, we do not hold congresses and we have no intention to hold
congress.
“In CCC, the
congress does not exist …it is in the headquarters of Zanu PF and CIO, who in
their imagination think we are going to have a congress and they can deploy
their people,” Siziba said.
Zanu PF
director of communications Tafadzwa Mugwadi said the infiltration claims by the
opposition were an indicator that Zanu PF is everywhere.
“Are they
suggesting that with that claim they are also Zanu PF? Zanu PF will be glad to
hear that the organisation which claims to be the biggest opposition is now
claiming that it has Zanu PF membership within it,” Magwadi said.
“But most
importantly, it is their fear of leadership acrimony which continues to dog the
organisation, the leadership acrimony which they carried from their old party
MDC. They are clueless. They don’t have a constitution, and they claim that the
citizens are the structures, but surprisingly they carry the titles which they
had when they were in the MDC Alliance.” Newsday
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