ORGANISERS of the GoFundMe campaign to buy an armoured vehicle for opposition Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC) leader Nelson Chamisa have distanced him and the party from the initiative, saying it was a private project.
The project is being spearheaded by a group called Citizens
Action for Change (CAC), which introduced the initiative last year in December
before Chamisa launched the CCC party.
The aim of the initiative was to raise over US$120 000 to
purchase an armoured vehicle for Chamisa after his convoy was attacked by
suspected Zanu PF supporters and State security agents during his
meet-the-people tours in the country’s rural areas.
In Mutare, Chamisa’s convoy was shot at on October 19,
2021, jolting the GoFundMe initiative, led by Juma Ulete, into action.
Yesterday, Ulete told NewsDay that the project to purchase
Chamisa’s bullet proof vehicle was still on and that CAC had recently met
Chamisa to make arrangements to hand over the funds.
“The campaign was started by citizens who were concerned
over Chamisa’s safety. It was introduced way before the CCC was formed and the
opposition is a mere beneficiary. The funds were only released last week after
we experienced administrative hitches, which were triggered by Zanu PF which
had complained to GoFundMe in California, the United States of America that
Chamisa was organising funds politically to purchase an armoured vehicle,”
Ulete said.
“We are citizens who raised this money, not for a political
party. We raised this money for a citizen whose name is Nelson Chamisa. We
started this fundraising on October 13, 2021 before CCC was formed, hence it does
not have any ties to CCC. We, as citizens, noticed that there is no even
playing field in Zimbabwean politics.
“GofFundMe was supposed to give us the money around
December when we reached the target, but Zanu PF was bombarding the campaign
saying why are these people politically fundraising?”
Ulete said the funds were eventually released to CAC by
GoFundMe last week, and they had already met Chamisa and his security team to
decide on the type of vehicle they wanted.
Zanu PF director for information Tafadzwa Mugwadi responded
by alleging that CCC always uses the ruling party as scapegoats for its
failures.
“In 2018, Chamisa who was leading the then MDC Alliance
ahead of the elections, swindled his supporters through another GoFundMe
initiative, where millions were embezzled and never reached their election
agents for whom that GoFundMe initiative had been taken. It is in their DNA,
and they are always using the excuse of being in opposition to dodge
accountability and transparency,” Mugwadi said.
“One wonders what kind of an alternative they are when they
steal in broad daylight from their supporters. When asked to account, they
point fingers at Zanu PF as if they share bank accounts with Zanu PF. Now, if
they can be easily possessed by stealing demons and reach orgasm at the sight
of US$120 000, you can imagine when they are in charge of the national cash box.”
Newsday
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