When former Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC) president Nelson Chamisa announced that he was quitting the party, some people were left in shock and disbelief, others were even disappointed.
Others accused him of being weak, yet others said it was one of the best tactical moves, taking into account that he was under siege.
Apparently, political commentators and political actors have also added their voice.
Former Minister of Foreign Affairs Walter Mzembi had this to say:
“Politics is about taking Decisions, timeous & effective decision making. A decision that should have been made six months ago made now will have different results, different impact and different consequences.
“That said there is no substitute for experience, there are certain stages of pain that can never be skipped no matter how you try to avoid it, because pain precedes delivery!
“It’s easier to find men who will volunteer to die , than to find men who will endure pain with patience for results.
Good day!”
Dr Pedzisai Ruhanya added his voice:
“The fact that ZANU PF is extremely angry with @nelsonchamisa move to ditch their infiltrated regime group in CCC means the decision is correct.
“But @nelsonchamisa and his colleagues must seek to construct a strong institution because ZANU PF is determined to follow them.
“Why this anger by ZANU PF over @nelsonchamisa move? Thought they would be happy because their puppet in Tshabangu is now in control and can now mutate into full SG. Tshabangu is no longer bogus so they must be happy.”
Former Constitutional Affairs Minister in the Government of National Unity 2009-2013 Advocate Eric Matinenga wrote:
“I am advised, which advice I accept, that Nelson Chamisa was placed in such a suffocating environment that he had to conduct himself in the manner/way he did.
I give him the benefit of the doubt.
I am unable to provide detailed facts which informed that advice.
Am sure there are people who are better able to do so, if they so wish.
In my view however, the decision (for Nelson Chamisa to quit CCC) was a rushed one.
There was need to consult and get the buy in of relevant critical stakeholders. Ideally, the citizenry should have been consulted, a consultation which could not be carried out in the limited suffocating circumstances.
There are certain stakeholders and issues which must be addressed now if they were not addressed at the time the decision to remove oneself from CCC.
Parliament sits on Monday, there is time before Monday for Nelson Chamisa to meet the true CCC members, interrogate issues in a no holds barred manner and come to a common way forward.
I am aware that certain MPs have indicated their respective courses of action.
My suggestion is that all MPs and Senators address a joint letter to the Speaker of Parliament and President of the Senate dissociating themselves from the fictitious Sengezo Tshabangu CCC and identifying their leader of the house.
Chamisa must do a supporting letter and dare Tshabangu to recall the MPs.
If recalled, they should not contest the recalls.
There are cases before the courts challenging recalls in one way or the other.
Instructions must be withdrawn so that they are not argued when called.
The by-elections on 3 February must be forgotten.”
Presidential spokesperson George Charamba said:
“TIMBOTI TURU PANYAYA YEABUDA HAKE MUKOMANA: So much has been said and written about Chamisa’s desertion of Triple C, the very party he claimed was insulated against infiltration through “constructive ambiguity”.
Ironically, he leaves the Party – the second time he is doing so – on grounds of irreparable infiltration, itself an admission his cordon sanitaire did not work.
I am not wasting my or your time by focusing on his statement which I find baldly self-exonerating and thus of no broader political meaning or value, let alone to national politics.
What is noteworthy is the below-the-line heated exchanges which have been taking place between him on the one side, and Welshman and Tendai Biti on the other.
After bragging he now has all his opponents where he wanted them to be, in lieu of destruction, the Welshman/Biti tag-team came back with a smasher: they want an a complete clean surrender of all Party assets, dating back from MDC-T days, and fully audited books.
At issue are two monies given to Triple C: some more than USD3m which came from the EU, and which got vaporised with no trace at all; a further tranche from Zambia’s Hichilema which again vanished with no trace.
Both monies give the altercation an explosive regional and international dimension large enough to influence inter-state relations, and certainly solid enough to give Chikurubi new interns.
Chamisa, in clear self-flagellation, has dared both Ncube and Biti to down that mutually ruinous path after some prior agreement in their party that donations from outside, clearly done in breach of national laws, would have to be received and expended without any paper trail.
Biti who was about to leave the country for, inter-alia, some three-year placement at the World Bank, has now vowed to stay his departure in order to ensure Chamisa is finished. Zambia and Zimbabwe are about to hold a Joint Permanent Commission, all against this shabby background.”
United Kingdom based Zimbabwean lawyer Brighton Mutebuka said:
The greatest currency in politics is having the people on your side. The rest follows after that @nelsonchamisa should not worry about those left behind. If they are not willing to leave a captured institution swiftly & voluntarily, they were never genuinely wedded to the cause.
Former cabinet minister Jonathan Moyo said:
“An engine that repeatedly misfires only to stall in the middle of the road cannot take anybody anywhere, it belongs to the scrapyard.”
Former ZANU PF Member of Parliament for Chivi South Killer Zivhu said:
“Wisdom from Chivi. The jungle is now empty, and the animals are running away. Only those poisonous to eat, like the hyenas, are still deciding the way forward. Soon, the lions will hunt themselves. Ndangoti ndipfuure ndichiti makadini pano, handisati ndadzoka zvangu.”
