Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC) leader Nelson Chamisa claims that President Emmerson Mnangagwa has returned to his violent ways in order to prevent competition ahead of this year’s election.
When Mnangagwa took office in 2018, he promised not just Zimbabwe, but the world, a departure from the violent past that distinguished and tarnished the late President Robert Mugabe’s regime, casting himself as a reformer.
However, citing the ongoing arrests of opposition legislators and supporters, Chamisa says that Mnangagwa’s administration has reverted to the past, including “assassination, bribery, intimidation and arrests” to combat the opposition.
“(CCC legislator) Job Sikhala has been in prison for almost seven months, now we have Honourable (Amos) Chibaya, Honourable (Costa) Machingauta and many of our leaders from Budiriro who are change champions (arrested),” stated the CCC leader to the press after attending a court session for party members arrested in Budiriro on January 24, which also happened to be the CCC’s first anniversary.
“What is clear is my brother, Mr Mnangagwa is back to his old ways, he is panicking, is jittery, he knows the writing is on the wall. He knows that defeat is imminent and this is why he is resorting to desperate tactics of fighting what is inevitable.”
Despite the obstacles faced by the opposition, the CCC leader said a change of governance was possible in Zimbabwe.
“Change is coming, change is in the air and because they are so scared of the change, scared of our strength, we are just one year old today. We announced (last year) that we are going to have a new movement, they thought that they had finished us, they have used every tactic, assassination, bribery, intimidation, arrests – they have not worked and we are here,” Chamisa noted.
He stated all of the problems afflicting Zimbabwe’s socio-political environment were a symptom of a lack of leadership.
“This is evidence that Zimbabwe is broken, evidence that rule of law has departed us and we are orphans in leadership. We are in a famine and drought of leadership as a people because governance has broken down, because Mr Mnangagwa is on a rampage,” Chamisa said.
“Mnangagwa has taken from the page of Robert Mugabe and Ian Douglas Smith of autocracy and dictatorship. That is what we are fighting and we are determined to fight them to the end because we believe peace is always victorious.”
Chamisa asserted that the CCC was a peace-loving party that preferred peace.
“We are peace loving people, it’s not because we are weak but because we love Zimbabwe better,” he said.
Also posting on his twitter, Chamisa said in one year, CCC had “excelled and moved mountains.”
“Because God is in it you won 19 out of 28 parliamentary seats, and 89 out of 149 councillors in by-elections (held last year). Thank you for your solidarity and support for believing. You have supported us against all odds. A new Great Zimbabwe,” he said.
