The self-proclaimed Citizens’ Coalition for Change (CCC) interim secretary general, Sengezo Tshabangu, accused the party’s top brass of manipulating the candidate selection process ahead of the 2023 harmonised elections.
Describing the CCC leadership as a clique of self-righteous and filthy rich politicians, Tshabangu warned that the imposed and unpopular candidates will be rejected at an impending party elective congress.
NewZimbabwe.com reported Tshabangu as saying he intends to correct the mess in CCC created by what he calls a ” small self-appointed group of party members”, among them CCC deputy spokesperson Gift “Ostallos” Siziba. He said:
… (his) statement is self-serving and seeks to perpetuate undemocratic malpractices… Ostallos was, together with a small group of misguided elements, responsible for manipulating the candidate selection process, and undermining internal party democracy.
This small self-appointed group of party members are responsible for the mess the party seeks to correct now.
… through congress, the party leaders will be selected in due course and the party Constitution shall be adhered to.
As the party engages on this noble journey to cleanse itself of undesirable elements and practices, it is disappointing to note some unscrupulous individuals continue to create confusion for the general public, rendering themselves authority to mislead party members and dragging the party into disrepute.
Tshabangu claimed that CCC’s candidate selection process ahead of the 2023 Harmonised Elections led by the Candidates Independent Selection Panel (CISP) was flawed.
Tshabangu, who was a CCC cluster leader for Binga district in the run-up to the polls, said:
Ostallos and his self-appointed friends put aside the list of democratically elected party candidates as announced by CISP.
They replaced these popular and legitimate candidates with their girlfriends, family members, and virtually anybody who bid the highest price for inclusion in this closely-knit group of corrupt and now filthy-rich individuals.
Ostallos and his now filthy rich group of friends should be warned, that we are coming for them.
We are determined to restore democracy in the party, with the same vigour we seek to bring about democracy in Zimbabwe and indeed in Africa.
Tshabangu dropped a bombshell when on Tuesday, 03 October, he wrote to the Speaker of the National Assembly Jacob Mudenda, and the Minister of Local Government, Public Works and National Housing, Winston Chitando recalling 15 MPs and 17 councillors saying they had ceased to be members of the CCC.
Siziba on Wednesday, 04 October, dismissed Tshabangu as an imposter and said the party was taking action against him and “and all his contacts.”
More: Pindula News