Welshman Ncube was outsmarted by Sengezo Tshabangu

Politics is an interesting game with a lot of surprises. Professor Welshman Ncube who leads a faction of the CCC has dragged Sengenzo Tshabangu to the High Court of Zimbabwe after he wrote to the Speaker of Parliament removing a few Parliamentarians from positions he had appointed them to earlier.

Addressing a press conference earlier in the year to announce himself as Acting President of the CCC, Professor Ncube acknowledged Tshabangu as the recognised signatory by the Courts, Parliament and Government institutes.

He went on to say that Tshabangu was one of them and they would work with him.

Because it was his signature that was recognised by all institutions, the faction did not challenge several appointments to represent the party in Parliament.

Now, the CCC faction led by Professor Ncube accepted Tshabangu's self-appointment to Senate, self-appointment as the Opposition Leader in Parliament, self-appointment as the leader of the CCC in the Senate, self-appointment as a member of the Parliament Standing Rules and Orders Committee, self-appointment as a member of the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) Delegation, appointment of Honourable Lynnette Karenyi-Kore as leader of the opposition in Parliament, appointment of Honourable Edwin Mushoriwa as Chief Whip in the National Assembly and the many other appointments that he made, why are they worried when Sebenzo Tshabangu re-shuffles what he appointed, and promises to recall those members of Parliament and Senators who do not bend to his whims?

Do these colleagues only see bad things when they are done to those of their inner circles?

According to the media, Charlton Hwende was the only Member of Parliament who raised a point of order protesting the announcement of Tshabangu's appointments. Hwende reportedly walked out of the house in protest.

Many people have accused Professor Ncube of being a Zanu-PF plant within the opposition, but I beg to differ. My assessment of Professor Ncube is that he is not political leadership material.

He is politically blind and does not scan the political environment to determine what to do or say when it matters most. In this instance, he accepted the powers bestowed on Tshabangu by Zanu-PF. He thought he could tame Tshabangu, but now it's blowing on his face.

I hope Professor Ncube and his colleagues in the CCC faction he leads learn from this experience and must retrace their political steps and correct their past if they genuinely want to be considered as genuine fighters for democracy who want to help liberate the country from Zanu-PF oppression and repression as they claim to be.

For Professor Ncube as a legal mind, he should know that the MDC Alliance Gweru Congress which elected him as an MDC Deputy President was nullified by the Courts, so he should educate himself first that the claim of acting presidency based on a nullified Gweru MDC Alliance Congress is a nullity.

After that, he can educate his colleagues who took positions in the CCC faction that he leads that they legally have no right to claim those positions.

There is the leadership arrangement that the CCC faction led by Jameson Timba is using, which acknowledges that following the High Court decision which failed to uphold the claim to MDC Alliance leadership elected at the Gweru Congress, the positions elected at the Gweru Congress were no longer officially acceptable.

This sounds like a more appealing argument, given that some of the people who participated at the Gweru Congress had gone with Douglas Mwonzora. It would make sense that those who signed for the CCC's participation in the 2023 elections were in charge.

For those who had played down the notion that Tshabangu is a Zanu-PF implant and embraced him and his signing powers as announced at the Press Conference fronted by Professor Ncube, the truth is now there for all to see.

Despite the High Court challenge to Tshabangu's latest reshuffle of representatives to hold various positions in Parliament, the Speaker of Parliament is said to have announced the changes made by Tshabangu.

I understand that a similar challenge by the faction led by Jameson Timba to prove that Tshabangu has no authority to claim a position in the CCC does not hold water and is still pending in the courts.

I would want to encourage all the people who have been involved in the CCC leadership to seriously reflect on this opinion piece, do some soul-searching, and if they find something useful, reach out to each other to strategize to rescue Zimbabwe from the jaws of dictator Zanu-PF.

Given the latest developments, those who had blamed Advocate Nelson Chamisa for everything that went wrong may be starting to believe he was right.

I believe he saw these things coming. I am told that after the 2023 elections, he rallied his MPs to withdraw from Parliament, but for various reasons, most did not agree with him.

In my view, Advocate Chamisa remains the best foot forward for Zimbabwe. Unfortunately, those who have clashed with him may be too proud to admit it, so he must work with those who trust his vision to launch a new offensive to free the oppressed people of Zimbabwe.

I hope those who questioned the strategic ambiguity which was meant to ostracise the likes of Tshabangu will now see the young politician's political acumenship.

It was that political acuity that made the CCC secure more seats in 2023 than those amassed by the MDC Alliance in 2018, even though Zanu-PF had tripled the level of rigging in 2023, to the extent that for the first time in the history of Zimbabwe, African election observers confirmed that the election was not free and fair.

Food for thought

Kennedy Kaitano, Mutare