Chamisa last week dumped the MDC Alliance name, saying it
had become toxic and unveiled CCC, which uses the colour yellow, departing from
the MDC-A red.
Soon after the launch, party supporters and celebrities
initiated a campaign to promote the brand and colour a development that has
apparently angered the ruling party, which now wants to usurp the colour.
Yesterday, at the launch of the Zanu PF by-election
campaign in St Mary’s, Chitungwiza, ruling party’s politburo members insisted
that Chamisa’s CCC party should desist from using the colour.
Zanu PF’s acting
youth league secretary Tendai Chirau, provincial chairperson Godwills
Masimirembwa, deputy national political commissar Omega Hungwe told dozens of
party supporters that Chamisa’s party must be ignored as it had nothing to
offer, including the yellow colour.
The Zanu PF party leaders described CCC’s pointed finger
symbol as “satanic”.
“When the liberation struggle was fought, it was Zanu PF
that mobilised the masses and one of the key fundamentals was the fight for
mineral resources, the fight for independence and that is why Zanu PF chose
yellow as (one of) its colours. The reason was because it was symbolising the
national resources in terms of mineral wealth,” Chirau said.
“So these minerals we still have them up to this day and
this explains why Zimbabwe has the largest number of artisanal miners and
indigenous people who own minerals. Yellow, to us, represents wealth, it’s not
just the colour that we took on ourselves, but most importantly, you should
also take the fact that we have four colours, (that is) green and yellow, red
and black. These colours will never change because of someone who wants to take
them. They remain our colours, they symbolise the importance of the rich
minerals that we have.”
Chirau said Zanu PF was formed before the MDC was born and,
therefore, would maintain its symbols, including colours.
Masimirembwa weighed in saying: “They want to shine with
the yellow colour. Yellow has always been a Zanu PF colour. It is our special
colour as Zanu PF because we brought independence. Yellow represents the wealth
of the country. The wealth of this country was brought in the country from
whites by Zanu PF and not by CCC.”
He said Zanu PF supporters should not be ashamed of wearing
yellow as it belonged to the ruling party.
Hungwe also weighed in, describing Chamisa’s new outfit as
“satanic”, adding that the Chitungwiza voters, who have consistently voted
against Zanu PF since 2000, should now be wiser.
“Voting for MDC or CCC shows that you are lost. Do you know
what CCC means? It’s an animal that was spoken about in the book of Revelations
and it means being used by the devil or the beast,” she claimed.
In line with the claims by Zanu PF leaders, police last
Thursday arrested five CCC activists and charged them with “public nuisance”
for allegedly wearing yellow regalia.
Police claimed the five were arrested for blocking a
pavement and disturbing the flow of human traffic in central Harare.
In response to the Zanu PF claims, CCC spokesperson Fadzayi
Mahere said: “Yellow is a colour that symbolises hope, energy and a fresh
start. The CCC citizen movement has thrown Zanu PF into panic mode so they are
desperately trying to dampen the spirits of the people who are ready to win the
nation for change. They won’t succeed. CCC is here to stay. CCC is here ready
to lead. CCC is ready to secure victory.”
Observers say Zanu PF is fretting over Chamisa’s
newly-found mojo after he opted not to fight former MDC Alliance
secretary-general Douglas Mwonzora over the MDC Alliance name.
Chamisa accuses Mwonzora of being used by President
Emmerson Mnangagwa to decimate the biggest opposition party.
Recently, Zanu PF secretary for finance, Patrick Chinamasa
took to Twitter to warn Chamisa against forming the CCC party, saying he was
“playing with fire”.
“Chamisa needs to be warned that he is playing with fire
abusing the democratic space and the rights and freedoms that were won for the
people of Zimbabwe on the battlefield. Those with eyes let them ‘eye’ and those
with ears let them hear,” Chinamasa said. Newsday
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