Mbuso Siso, campaign manager for Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC) Ward 1 candidate Mduduzi Sibanda, has accused independent candidate Shepherd Sithole of circulating an artificial intelligence (AI)-generated Zanu PF membership card in an apparent attempt to discredit his rival.
The allegations come after social media commentators questioned how CCC could field a candidate who was allegedly a card-carrying Zanu-PF member to represent the party in Ward 1 following his nomination.
The controversy arose after a purported Zanu PF membership card circulated on social media, identifying Sibanda as a member of the ruling party’s main wing, with membership number 152049, under the Metro Peech branch and St Patrick’s polling station.
Some commentators claimed the alleged membership was evidence that CCC had been compromised.
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However, Siso, who manages Sibanda, dismissed the card as fake, alleging it had been generated using AI and circulated by rival candidate Sithole in an attempt to discredit the CCC candidate.
“It has been a shock for the CCC faction that calls itself the Blue Movement that we are fielding a local candidate, born and bred in Bulawayo, while the independent candidate was imported all the way from Kuwadzana in Harare,” Siso claimed.
“That AI-manufactured membership card does not even have a signature on it.”
Siso, who also identifies himself as the CCC’s National Interim Treasurer-General, said the alleged fabrication demonstrated the desperation of their opponents ahead of the October 3 Ward 1 by-election.
“It is unfortunate that the independent candidate is so desperate to manufacture a fake AI card,” he said.
“It tells that the CCC party is a threat to the Blue Movement, while we all know the game of politics at this time is to smear other candidates, which is not mature politics practised by the desperate.”
While speaking in an interview after the Nomination Court sat at Small City Hall on Wednesday, where three candidates were duly nominated to contest the Ward 1 by-election, Siso said the CCC had decided to continue contesting elections in Bulawayo and had deliberately selected a candidate with local roots.
“We saw it better to continue as a contesting party in Bulawayo, which is choosing people of Bulawayo,” Siso said.
“We chose Mduduzi Sibanda, who is 42 years old and lives in Jabulani Flats in Bulawayo. He was born here and he is not a visitor.”
He urged Ward 1 residents to turn out in large numbers and elect a candidate with roots in the city.
“We hope people will come out in their numbers, defend Bulawayo by electing one of them who is Bulawayo-born,” Siso said.
Siso also outlined some of the issues the CCC candidate would seek to address if elected, including public transport management and illegal vending in the city centre.
“Ward 1 is the centre of the city. It is where all the businesses of Bulawayo happen. We know there is a problem. Public transport parks anywhere in the city, but we have Godini Mall, which was proposed for public transporters to use, but it seems the vehicles are not going there,” he said.
“We will try to encourage Council to correct the situation, even for illegal vendors, so that we bring back the old clean Bulawayo.”
Reached for a comment, the independent candidate, Sithole, however dismissed the claims made by Siso.
“ It’s obvious those are lies. I also saw the card circulating on Facebook,” he said.
The Ward 1 seat became vacant after the Ministry of Local Government and Public Works declared the position vacant following the removal of former Zanu PF councillor, Josiah Mutangi, after an independent tribunal found him guilty of misconduct.
The by-election is scheduled for October 3,2026.
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