A BEAMING and jovial self-proclaimed Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC) interim secretary-general Sengezo Tshabangu was sworn in as a Senator yesterday to cheers from part of the Upper House.
Tshabangu, who has been accused of gifting the ruling Zanu PF party a two-thirds Parliamentary majority, literally bounced his way into the Senate to be congratulated by Senate President Mabel Chinomona.
He was sworn in alongside 13 others after snatching the two-year-old party from former CCC leader Nelson Chamisa through the recall of dozens of the party's elected Members of Parliament, Senators and councillors.
The newly sworn in senators included his allies Lillian Mlilo, Kucaca Ivumile Phulu, Linda Sibanda, Collet Ndlovu, Maxwell Mdhluri, Sam Chapfudza, Teresa Kabondo and Grace Mumpande.
Those sown in for the National Assembly were Nomvula Mguni, Otilia Sibanda, Lungile Ncube, Sikhuphukile Dube and Sibongile Maphosa.
Tshabangu nominated himself for Senate barely six months after he seized control of the opposition political party that Chamisa unveiled in January 2022.
The vacancies in the Parliament arose when he, in a letter to the Speaker of the National Assembly Jacob Mudenda, recalled CCC legislators and Senators, including proportional representatives mainly from Matabeleland South, Matabeleland North and Bulawayo provinces.
President Emmerson Mnangagwa, whose Zanu PF party lost all seats in Bulawayo in the August 2023 elections, swiftly announced by-elections for December 9, 2023 and February 2024, in what was largely viewed as Tshabangu’s gift on a platter to the ruling Zanu PF to obtain a two-thirds majority in Parliament.
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Tshabangu defended his decision to recall CCC's elected candidates, saying that many were imposed by unnamed party officials from Harare.
He specifically criticised the imposition of candidates from outside their respective constituencies, citing examples such as candidates from Masvingo and Manicaland. Chamisa quit the CCC last month after losing control of the party to Tshabangu. He has accused Tshabangu of being a Zanu PF proxy, but the latter denies the allegations.
