Ostallos Siziba takes a swipe at Jonathan Moyo

Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC) deputy spokesperson Gift Ostallos Siziba says the party will use non-violent means to gain state power.

Speaking at an International Day of the African Child commemoration hosted by the party in Bulawayo on Friday, Siziba said the party will not be lured into engaging in violence as a means of assuming power.

The event held under the theme, A Youth-led Revolution, Reclaiming Zimbabwe's liberation through the ballot, was attended by youth representatives from Matabeleland North, Matabeleland South, Mashonaland Central, Masvingo, Bulawayo and other provinces.

"There are people, our other parties saying Chamisa has no plan, let me tell you, this struggle. When we were persecuting this struggle for 20 years, we know the enemy that we are dealing with, they wanted us to be in the streets, to cause violence so that they would arrest the leader of the revolution," said Siziba.

He urged the young people to use the ballot as their method of winning the struggle.

"We know their behaviour because I say to you fellow young people, our method of struggle is the ballot, there are those who want a violent revolution, they have a right to define their struggle, define their methods, prosecute it, our method as CCC is a non-violent national democratic revolution to the power of the ballot," said Siziba.

Siziba also took a swipe at former cabinet minister Professor Jonathan Moyo for his comments against the party.

"Now our friend we grew up with in Tsholotsho, Jonathan Moyo, he says to us CCC is weak and so forth, he is speaking in Kenya, this struggle is local, the revolution is local, the revolution is not being televised from Nairobi, the revolution is here, we are leading it here."

Siziba said the opposition party is confident of victory in the August 23 polls.  "We hear them saying CCC is not going to win, let me tell you, there was a survey by research Institutions, they predicted a Chamisa victory, police survey: Chamisa victory, military survey: Chamisa victory, they know that when it comes to the election, no one in the body politics of this country can defeat Advocate Nelson Chamisa," he said.

"They took our headquarters, Harvest House, members of parliament, colour red, we came with the new colour yet, went back to the ballot and did a whitewash if we were weak, we were not going to get the numbers we got in Parliament. The nature of the democratic revolution, it's a revolution of culture."

The party is yet to announce its election candidates with just a few days before the sitting of the Nomination Courts.