The newly appointed acting president of the Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC), Professor Welshman Ncube has been mandated to address the controversy surrounding the secretary general (SG) position, as it is the source of the party’s problems.
This was revealed by acting party spokesperson Jacob Mafume at a press briefing in Bulawayo last Friday.
Mafume noted that the acting president was expected to address the grievances in the party, direct the party forward and solve issues about the SG’s post that Sengezo Tshabangu claimed as his and instituted recalls of electing officials citing impositions.
“The leadership is now there. The acting president is now there. He has been given the mandate to deal with various issues that are bedevilling opposition at the present moment to institutionalise the opposition, give it identity, character and restore to the dictates of the democratic movement that it ought to have,” Mafume said.
Cracks in the CCC widened after Tshabangu, posing as the party’s SG, began recalling several elected representatives from Parliament and councils across the country following last year’s national elections.
Tshabangu was also involved in several legal battles with former CCC leader Nelson Chamisa and the recalled officials.
Tshabangu now serves in the Senate after being named to a list of candidates nominated to fill upper-house proportional representation vacancies.
Without commenting on the fate of Tshabangu in the party, Mafume hinted that no one currently held that position in CCC.
“We have a situation to deal with around the SG posts. The acting president is being mandated on an urgent basis because it is the situation that has brought us to this place,” said the acting spokesperson.
“So as not to preempt the actions and the solutions that the acting president has but solutions will be found there is nothing that can happen in human interaction where solutions will not be found.”
Mafume added the ‘new’ CCC leadership was opposed to recalls, implying that they would not recall officials who did not recognise their leadership.
“We are of the view that recalls are unnecessary. Recalls cannot be a strategy in the sense that you disenfranchise the voters and what grievances we have amongst ourselves, we should be able to have mechanisms and systems to deal with challenges. The leadership has a mandate to deal with those issues,” he said.
The acting CCC spokesperson also noted that the party’s elective congress was due for this year.
“Going by the election five years ago, probably the elective congress will be around June, July or August. That programme is still on track and can be, will be adhered to within the confines of the constitution and as practicable as possible,” Mafume said.
Prof Ncube was appointed acting president of the party as he is the ‘most senior’ of the party’s three Vice Presidents within the context of the opposition’s leadership.
He will hold the position on a 90-day rotation basis, with the other two Vice Presidents, Tendai Biti and Lynette Karenyi-Kore taking turns in that role until CCC holds its anticipated elective congress.
