Biti, Ncube snub Chamisa?

CCC deputy presidents Mr Tendai Biti and Professor Welshman Ncube snubbed the party's election campaign launch amid reports that the party could be headed for yet another split.

This comes as CCC leader Mr Nelson Chamisa has been side-lining the party's old brass, replacing it with former student unionists loyal to him.

It also comes as Chamisa threw Mr Biti under the proverbial bus and rigged the Harare East candidate selection process against him because he believed that the later had a hand in his failure to secure funding for the elections during his recent visit to the United States.

On the other hand, Prof Ncube allegedly feels like he is continuously being pushed to the periphery in the so-called building of the new movement.

The two were conspicuously absent from the Sunday rally, revealing the widening fissures in the opposition party that have been on fire since its chaotic candidate selection process that resulted in the fielding of double and triple candidates.

Prof Ncube yesterday admitted being absent, saying he was attending to other commitments.

"I had other things which I was doing on the day which were very important," he said.

Mr Biti said he attended, but was seated among the crowds.

"I was there in Gweru, sitting in the terraces; that you didn't see (me) is your problem," he said.

Sources within the CCC yesterday said the relationship between Chamisa and his two lieutenants has broken down beyond repair.

"The relationship is now nasty as Biti and Ncube are contemplating dumping Chamisa whom they perceive as a dictator. Several other senior party members are disgruntled with the way the party is being run.

"Mr Biti is still bitter after losing his Harare East seat while Prof Ncube feels he has never been recognised in the building of the new movement," said the source.

After his bid to secure millions to fund his election campaign went up in smoke as the United States shut the door in his face citing a litany of undemocratic practices, and also abuse of previous funds—Chamisa blamed all that on Mr Biti, Washington's preferred opposition leader.

For his ill-fated trip to the United States, which was undertaken under a veil of secrecy and subterfuge, Mr Chamisa, whose political moniker is "cobra", decided to manipulate the candidate selection process to ensure Mr Biti would not return to the House of Assembly.

On the other hand, Mr Biti is angry that Mr Chamisa is ungrateful because he rescued the party at the MDC Alliance Gweru congress in 2019 where he availed US$150 000, the sources said.

In the US, Chamisa, who had earlier received encouragement from the USAID, sought to coax the American government—through its illicit financing of regime change vehicles—to provide US$37 281 277 million for his election campaign with the immediate need for about US$340 000 for nomination fees for himself and his candidates.

He was also seeking US$10 million for polling agents who would be paid US$200 per day. On top of that he also wanted money to purchase 1 million T-shirts and an equal number of campaigning paraphernalia such as bandanas.

In all those efforts, he drew blanks.

Well-placed sources said in his meeting with the US Department of State's Bureau of African Affairs officials, Mr Chamisa was shown unflattering reports from the US Embassy in Harare which were prepared by the Charge d' affairs Ellaine French and acting mission director Ramses Gauthier.

"The report that he received stated that CCC was a one-man party, he was told that the US does not support undemocratic institutions, he was told that he did not hold a congress even though he had ample time to do so, in short he was told he did not have a party but was an independent candidate," the source said.

Apart from being confronted with details of his undemocratic credentials—he was also told that his party lacks that intellectual aspect for any serious organisation seeking to win elections, and had no bank account where the money could, if availed, be deposited.