Nelson Chamisa, the former Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC) leader, has claimed that he is not involved with any current political organisation or movement.
This was disclosed in Chamisa’s opposing affidavit filed at the Bulawayo High Court on February 27, 2024, in response to Sengezo Tshabangu, who, posing as the interim CCC Secretary General, filed an urgent chamber application in early February to recover the party’s provincial offices in Bulawayo, which had been taken over by some youths who claimed to be Chamisa’s supporters.
This came after Chamisa resigned from the CCC in January.
Chamisa alleges that “many people” who have no connection to him misappropriated his name and image.
In the CCC’s urgent court application, Tshabangu stated that their office – the Gertrude Mthombeni House – situated at Number 41 Fort Street between Second and Third Avenue in Bulawayo is where all provincial party documents are kept, party activities and programs are conducted. He noted that Chamisa’s supporters forcibly took “control, occupation, and possession” of the building and painted the whole office and precast wall, which was “unlawful, prejudicial, and amounts to spoliation.”
Chamisa’s assertion that he is not involved in any political activity comes as former CCC members Gift Ostallos Siziba and Moses Chibaya have been reportedly going around the country laying the groundwork for a new political movement claiming to be led by Chamisa.
Siziba and Chibaya have hinted that Chamisa will lead the Democratic Alternative in Zimbabwe, represented by a blue colour.
However, in his opposing affidavit filed at the Bulawayo High Court on February 27, 2024, Chamisa reiterated that he is not currently part of any political organization.
“In fact, the irony of the application is that since I resigned as the leader of the Citizens Coalition for Change, the Applicant and the deponent to the founding affidavit have continued to use my face on their preferred logo. I wish to reiterate that I have no current special association with any colour, any political organization, or any movement,” he said.
Chamisa stated in his affidavit that he had “absolutely” nothing to do with the takeover of the offices.
“I deny all of the allegations of fact and conclusions of law made in this application in their entirety. I did not despoil any person of any premises or offices anywhere in Zimbabwe, and I have certainly not done so in Bulawayo. I have a set of offices which are located in Harare. I am presently not affiliated with any movement, grouping, or political party,” said the former CCC leader.
“I did not direct, require, or encourage anyone to take over the premises which are referred to by the deponent to the founding affidavit as attributed to me. I resigned as the leader of the Applicant, and since that resignation, I have not been to Bulawayo physically. I completely have nothing to do with the Applicant.”
Chamisa said that if Tshabangu, as the applicant, knew the people who had repainted the CCC party premises, he should sue them.
“If there is anyone in occupation, the deponent to the founding affidavit knows who they are, and that it’s not me. The Applicant must sue those people, if they exist, instead of harassing me,” he said.
“I submit that this application is a revolting abuse of the court process to grandstand and seek relevance by the deponent to the founding affidavit through dragging my name into this charade. The claims that I have despoiled the Applicant because some premises which I have no current connection to have been painted blue and my face has been painted on the wall of the premises is completely bizarre.”
Chamisa claimed that his image and name have been misappropriated by many people who have no connection to him.
“The present application is a nuisance and a frivolity in the highest degree which seeks to drag the Court into the deponent’s tired and base political schemes. It is an egregious violation which has been concocted by the deponent to the founding affidavit and other similar-minded persons,” he said.
