CCC working with foreign-funded anti-Government groups?

The Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC) party yesterday confirmed that it is working with shadowy foreign-funded anti-Government groups in its quest to attain political power.

The revelations were made by the party's deputy secretary for elections Ms Ellen Shiriyedenga while fielding questions at a press conference held in Harare where they talked about electoral reforms.

Issues pertaining to electoral reforms are being deliberated by the Political Actors Dialogue (POLAD), a platform that President Mnangagwa set aside to engage concerns of all contestants who lost the 2018 presidential elections.   

Ms Shiriyedenga conceded that they failed to mobilise their supporters to register to vote after the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) revealed that at least 2 000 people registered to vote in 2021.

During the press conference, Ms Shiriyedenga said they have been working with Pachedu, a social media based phantom group that has of late been flagged by ZEC for breaching provisions of Zimbabwe's Electoral Act.

Asked whether it was true that the CCC had engaged Pachedu regarding the issue of the voter's roll, Ms Shiriyedenga said "yes, it is".

"As you might be aware, we engaged citizens to assist with the editing of the voter's roll. We engaged citizens in the form of Pachedu," said Ms Shiriyedenga.

CCC interim spokesperson Advocate Fadzayi Mahere weighed in saying Pachedu was a group of "experts" they had commissioned.

At the same event, Mr Ian Makone, the secretary for elections in the CCC thanked members of the independent press for being part of the CCC "struggle".

"Let me show appreciation to the part that the independent press is playing in the struggle. It is as much ours as it is yours," he said.

Mr Makone's remarks come after CCC leader Mr Nelson Chamisa recently said his party will bar members of public media from covering their events.

ZEC recently raised the red flag on Pachedu after the ghostly group published voters' information on social media putting voters at risk.

Chief Elections Officer for ZEC Mr Utoile Silaigwana in a statement said that "as much as the national voters' roll is a public document, it is also a security document containing voters' personal details. Any abuse of it attracts legal consequences and the commission has a duty to protect voters' information which they supplied in confidence. The advent of social media has exacerbated challenges related to security of information of citizens."