THE CITIZENS Coalition for Change (CCC) candidate for Hunyani constituency in the August 2023 elections, Lovemore Chinoputsa has bemoaned the state of affairs in the two-year-old opposition movement, describing it as a far cry from the days of the late former MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai.
Tsvangirai succumbed to colon cancer on February 14, 2018.
Chinoputsa, a former MDC youth assembly secretary-general, said the unexpected resignation of former CCC president Nelson Chamisa created more factions in the opposition movement.
Chamisa caught his supporters by surprise when he quit the CCC last month claiming it had been hijacked by Zanu PF and the State. He has not yet announced his next move.
His close allies, former legislators Amos Chibaya and Gift Siziba, have been on a countrywide whirlwind tour to prop up Chamisa’s alleged move to a new political outfit called the “blue movement”.
Siziba and Chibaya have, however, attracted brickbats from fellow CCC members for conducting the tours without consulting them.
In a scathing broadside titled: The State of the Opposition In Zimbabwe, Chinoputsa said he had decided to quit politics because of the confusion on the way ahead.
“…the resignation of the leader, it seems more factions have been created and I can number them to four or five,” Chinoputsa said.
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“The sum of it all is that the toxicity coming from all the factions is sickening and energy draining.
“These champions of mudslinging continue to make it difficult for individuals who cherish shared responsibilities, values justice, fairness, equity and meaningful solidarity with nowhere to belong to.”
He added: “In all this, we have people among fellow comrades who have deliberately and conveniently begun to use the machinations of Zec and the shenanigans of (Sengezo) Tshabangu as an excuse to entrench dictatorship, muzzling of people’s views and opinions all in the name of defending the leader.”
Tshabangu emerged as the self-styled interim secretary-general of the CCC and snatched the party from Chamisa and recalled CCC legislators, senators and councillors elected in the 2023 polls.
Chinoputsa said Chamisa’s allies were sowing seeds of division by not consulting other members.
“Their endgame cannot be understood, their motives cannot be understood, their handlers remain a mystery and I suspect that they are strategically positioned around the leader to ensure that he is in constant fear of a non-existent threat,” he said.
“I have decided with immediate effect to dissociate with partisan politics, by quitting politics and move away from the toxic politics of the day. I retreat into being a private citizen who will have nothing to do with the politics of the day.”
Yesterday, CCC activist Makomborero Haruziishe said he was also taking leave from active politics.
On Tuesday, Chibaya told NewsDay that he was merely doing his task as the party organiser, while Chamisa said he would announce his next move soon.
