Something stinks in Nelson's yellow shack

The fissures in the country's opposition party recently ruptured as Mr Nelson Chamisa formed a new political party going by the ideologically-barren name; Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC), but there was never change.

Such a name is misleading for this is a party that is exclusively in the hands of a single person, its founding president.

The nomenclature of the party might be new, but the faces remain the same and the leader has imperial powers, powers that have left many in his party clutching at straws for they do not know what fate awaits them since he has stripped his executive naked.

Some background perhaps

When he launched his party, Mr Chamisa said he was breaking all bonds with the MDC Alliance, but now in muted tones many, particularly those in leadership positions who are disillusioned, wonder whether they will be reappointed, reassigned, or completely discarded by their all too powerful leader.

Of course, the shrinking power base of the opposition that believes in personalised politics revolving around the name of a single leader was momentarily excited, a tickling sensation, but not anymore because this isn't a coalition for citizens, but a repacked MDC, complete with all its skeletons and, of course, full of the same old characters.

It is content-free and character-free because it lacks founding values, but seeks to attract citizens to its course without specifying its goals.

In a nutshell, it is just changing for the sake of change, in this instance changing from red to yellow.

Therefore, the name that seeks to qualify citizens as equals as envisaged in the country's Constitution woefully fails to do that as there was no citizen consensus when it was formed, with some frustrated members set to approach the courts very soon to challenge Mr Chamisa's unilateral decision to impose his cultic Chamisa Chete Chete (CCC) on a party that they heavily invested in.

The name abysmally fails to capture national aspirations and even fails to define its goals, an early own goal for a party that seeks to chart a new path.

Double candidates, failure to field candidates, and the personalisation of the so-called democratic struggle have afflicted the opposition since its formation and even in new yellow diapers that problem was manifest when parties nominated their candidates for the upcoming by-elections pencilled for March 26, it was as ever shambolic.

Perhaps the biggest lesson that the Chamisa Chete Chete brigade demonstrated to the world is they care not for the citizens as they chose to show them the middle finger by seconding councillors with criminal charges hanging over their heads back to council.

In Harare, the capital city, Mr Chamisa seconded Herbert Gomba, Denford Ngadziore, Lovemore Makuwerere, Hammy Madzingira, Costa Mande, Kudzai Kadzombe, Happymore Gotora and Gilbert Hadebe, even though they have a stinking record at council as service delivery plummeted under their watch.

Any concerned citizen in Harare should be worried that as a citizen a party that purports to be representative of citizens imposes persons who are responsible for the rot in the capital on them.

As Mr Precious Shumba, the leader of Harare Residents' Trust succinctly put it, "Service delivery was not even a priority among most of the recalled councillors.

One must recognise that the 2018-2023 council has been one of the worst in terms of their representation, oversight, and law-making roles. "Their presence in council is most unfortunate and undesirable because they do not really represent the electorate, but are simply taking over council land and space for their activists in lower council ranks. Councillors facing criminal charges face the real possibility of jail time," said Mr Shumba.

But the so-called Citizens Coalition doesn't care a hoot, because what is on show is what some scholars have described as the "increased importance of individual politicians at the expense of political groups such as parties".

Scholars define political personalisation as a "process in which the political weight of the individual actor, in this case, Chamisa, in the political process increases over time, while the centrality of the political group (i.e. political party CCC) declines".

Indeed, the interplay role, in a proper democratic setup where there are linkages between the citizen and their political parties is glaringly absent in the so-called CCC as the name and the candidates have been foisted on the people.

Chamisa and his retinue of hangers-on cry themselves hoarse about the so-called new which is a mirage, as it is yet again a coalition of people who have been at the forefront of fomenting idleness in urban centres epitomised by rampant corruption, excessive bureaucratic bungling, and general lethargy.

Mr Chamisa should have appeased citizens of Harare who have endured woeful service delivery at the hands of his hand-picked councillors, but his undemocratic tendencies saw him settling for the contentious consensus model of electing representatives.

As Mr Alex Manyonga aptly puts it, the rebranding, or formation of CCC is just proof that the country's opposition is nothing but a coalescence of power-hungry individuals jostling for an opportunity to harvest from political posts.

It is unfortunate for the MDC that whereupon they splinter Zanu-PF is proving to be a beacon of oneness and unity of purpose through peaceful primary elections and the provincial polls that were held end of last year.