CCC party offices in Bulawayo are being repainted with the colour blue

The Citizen for Coalition Change party offices in Bulawayo are being repainted with the colour blue.
It is now clear that former Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC) leader, Nelson Chamisa, "plans" to adopt a new party name after quitting the official opposition.

Chamisa's CCC was thrown into chaos after Sengezo Tshabangu claimed to be the interim secretary-general of the party and recalled its Members of Parliament (MPs) and councillors.

Tshabangu was stopped from recalling more CCC councillors and MPs by the High Court pending finalisation of cases involving the ownership of the opposition movement.


Chamisa unveiled the CCC in January 2022 after his former ally-turned opponent, Douglas Mwonzora, snatched the MDC Alliance from him.

The MDC Alliance is a coalition of  several political parties in Zimbabwe which saw Chamisa standing as its presidential candidate in the disputed 2018 elections.

Mwonzora went on to claim the MDC name and symbols, leaving Chamisa with no party.

As the battle for the control of the CCC continues, interim deputy spokesperson Gift "Ostallos" Siziba yesterday hinted that Chamisa may emerge as leader of the Democratic Alternative in Zimbabwe (DAZ).

Siziba said a picture he circulated mentioning Chamisa as DAZ leader was meant "to emphasise our message that Chamisa is the face of the alternative movement in Zimbabwe with Chamisa as leader."



CCC interim spokesperson, Promise Mkwananzi, was also evasive when contacted for comment.

"CCC led by Chamisa is Zimbabwe's Democratic Alternative. We shall rejoice," he told NewsDay.

Sources said Chamisa was under pressure to adopt a new name or negotiate with Tshabangu after it emerged that his allies in the CCC were pressuring him to embrace the 2019 MDC structures.

Chamisa told AFP on Friday he will stay in politics and look to form a new political group, a day after he quit his own party denouncing government infiltration.

Chamisa, who in August lost an election he described as fraudulent to President Emmerson Mnangagwa, said he was ready for "a new thrust" after leaving the Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC) on Thursday.




"I am definitely not quitting, because winners don't quit. And quitters never win," he told AFP in an interview in the garden of an office in Harare.

He decided to exit the coalition party he formed only two years ago to "draw a line in the sand" after it was hijacked by the ruling ZANU-PF party.

"A break with the past is also a signal to the commencement of the future. We are saying enough is enough," he said.

"What we are is a new approach, a new way, a fresh start," he said without revealing a new party name.

"We are building a big church."



Mnangagwa, 81, won a second term in office, beating Chamisa, 45, in an election for which international observers said the vote fell short of democratic standards and political tensions.

The vote also gave ZANU-PF a majority in parliament but the ruling party in power since independence in 1980 fell a few seats short of the two-thirds majority required to change the constitution.