Chamisa says dumping MDC name regrettable but...

The leader of the newly-formed Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC), Nelson Chamisa, says the political outfit, which will be contesting the March 26th council and parliamentary by-elections, is a project largely driven by the electorate.

In an exclusive interview with VOA Zimbabwe Service, Chamisa said, "It's regrettable that we had to move to the new. We have always said we were requested by the citizens. We are building the new. You know, when I went around the country people told me that they were tired of a tired brand. They felt that MDC was associated with too much toxicity and negativity and a lot of infighting sponsored by Zanu PF, sponsored by Mr. (Emmerson) Mnangagwa. So, we needed to move forward, open new doors, something transformational for the people of Zimbabwe because we were never constituted as a project to fight over names. We chose to move away from confusion, we chose to break with the past.

"We have a cause, we have a fight before us, we have a duty, we have an obligation and a mission to accomplish and that is to transform our great country and build a great Zimbabwe.

"The people are very clear. They know their champion as I have always said. They know who fights for them, who represents them, they know who respects their dignity, their human rights, even their property rights. They know because our track record is very clear and that is why we have said, look, we are not going to be wasting time over names, let's have a new dawn … at party level we are a gold standard and that is what we want. Let's send a reminder to the world that Zimbabwe is about to begin to shine."

Reacting to a question on the differences between the newly-formed CCC and the opposition Movement for Democratic Change Alliance, Chamisa said they are not governed by the old party.

"What governs us is a competition that is on the market, that is Zanu PF because Zanu PF are the ones who are in government and what we want is to be in government because we are an alternative government and more to that we were elected to govern by the people in 2018 but because of our broken system and institutions that are compromised, we still have Mr. Mnangagwa in office when in fact the people gave us a clear mandate. So, what we want is to make sure that we regalvanize, revitalize all the Zimbabweans making sure that under our citizen philosophy and citizen project, we bring the citizens back to the center so that the citizen and not the politician is the most powerful. I will rest and rest happily having accomplished my dream and mission as a revolutionary, as a transformer when the politician is the least powerful animal in our politics and when the citizen is the most powerful agent in the transaction of our politics in this country. That is our objective. We want to usher in a new great Zimbabwe."