CCC leader Nelson Chamisa yesterday threatened to boycott the August 23 elections if his 12 Bulawayo National Assembly candidates are not reinstated.
He was speaking while addressing a campaign rally held outside Rudhaka Stadium in Marondera yesterday.
The chaos that characterised the CCC candidates selection process resulted in double or triple candidates in about 20 constituencies, especially in Harare.
In Bulawayo, the candidates were kept at bay as Mr Chamisa wanted to ambush other candidates that had been selected, resulting in those that had been endorsed, filing their nomination papers after the 4pm deadline.
This prompted 12 concerned registered voters in Bulawayo to approach the High Court seeking to have all the 18 candidates — 12 from CCC, three from Zapu and two independent candidates — who filed their nomination papers after the deadline, to be disqualified.
The Bulawayo High Court duly disqualified all the 18 candidates, resulting in three ZANU PF candidates winning unopposed in Cowdray Park, Bulawayo South and Bulawayo Central.
But being a leader who only boasts about the law when his party has gotten a favourable judgment, Mr Chamisa yesterday insinuated that if President Mnangagwa does not reinstate his Bulawayo candidates, then he will pull out of the election.
“Akaramba ma MP edu 12 (anenge) ataura kuti munyika muno hamuna ma election (If he refuses to reinstate our 12 candidates, he would have declared that there is not going to be an election in this country),” said Mr Chamisa.
The August 23 election will go down as one that many opposition candidates, including some wanting to contest for president, who are not familiar with electoral laws.
When the country’s competent courts throw away their ridiculous challenges, they blame ZANU PF, claiming the revolutionary party was resorting to using “lawfare” to bar them from participating.
But soon after arriving on Saturday from Russia where he was attending the Russia-Africa Forum, President Mnangagwa said he has not filed any case with the courts and cannot take blame for political parties’ ignorance of the law.
He challenged them to go and be reimbursed their tuition fees which they paid while studying law.
Turning to other issues, Mr Chamisa said once elected, he will bring back the US dollar and dump the local currency.
It was a ridiculous contradiction as he said presently, there is a Minister of Finance yet there is no local currency, when it is there and pegged at about US$1 to $4 500.
“If we get into power, we will have a lean Government and a competitive one which is answerable to the public, not a Government with a Minister of Finance yet we do not have a currency in Zimbabwe and we are using another country’s currency.
“When you vote us into office, no RTGS will be used in this country, we will use the US dollar so that there is certainty and consistency, there is predictability, there is policy consistency,” he said.
However, industrialists have complained over the exclusive use of the US dollar saying it makes their operations more expensive. Herald
