Chamisa says call for structures a non-issue

THE opposition Citizens' Coalition for Change (CCC) is set to contest the 2023 elections without permanent structures despite shrill clamours by some critics, with party leader Nelson Chamisa saying such calls are detached from the citizens' agenda.

Elections are due in a year's time, with calls growing for CCC to come up with solid structures if the party is to seriously compete with Zanu-PF. Strong structures, critics say, will also show that the party is ready to govern if it wins the 2023 polls.

Exiled former Zanu-PF politburo member Jonathan Moyo has been one of the most vocal proponents for structures, but his calls have been met with anger from Chamisa's loyalists who have taken turns to dismiss him on social media platforms.

In an interview with The NewsHawks, Chamisa said elements that were pushing him to come up with structures were lost and their demands "a non-issue".

"It is a dead issue, a non-issue really," Chamisa said. "We are introducing fresh politics and new culture and, of course, it will have a new structure carrying within it new strategies.

"Those who believe in old ways will get lost in locating the new us. The new is centred around the citizens. This is not from the ordinary citizens, but from other quarters and those quarters are detached from reality and those quarters are detached from citizen struggles."

Chamisa said Zimbabwe was in dire need of a national leader and not a party leader, insisting his movement was for everyone hence the refusal to focus on so-called structures.

"Zimbabwe is in need of a national leader, not a party leader, and that has to be corrected. The national leader must not be a partisan leader, a segregation leader who is also divisive," Chamisa insisted.

With at least three-quarters of his leadership in the dock on one charge or the other, Chamisa said: "It's citizens, not leadership but the citizens of Zimbabwe that are in the dock. Zimbabwe is a big prison and what differs are just bail conditions."

"We have freedom, but we are in the cage. Would you say you are free when you cannot get a job, when you cannot get cash or even support a political party of your choice?"

Chamisa said there was no need to panic over the deteriorating political crisis in the country, saying the people shall overcome.

"I don't have a political party, l lead a movement of the citizens. In my leadership of the citizen movement, we are not panicking but concerned. We will be able to deal with these issues," the party leader said.

The former MDC-Alliance leader said the Zimbabwean crisis can only be resolved by a free and fair election, adding that Zanu-PF must desist from violence and the abuse of state machinery ahead of the polls.

"The beauty about our situation is that there is a general agreement within the region and African continent that Zimbabwe is a problem to be fixed," he said.

"Zimbabwe is a question to be answered. The answer is a free and fair elections."

"This is not wrestling that we have to fight. It is not boxing. Young people must not inherit the old politics of fighting and stone throwing. That is archaic and Stone Age. We need new politics, smart politics and politics of big ideas."