Sebenzo Tshabangu has declared that Nelson Chamisa, a political leader, is not allowed to use his image outside of the Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC) party, even if he decides to create a new party. Tshabangu claims that Chamisa agreed to give ownership of his image to the party, so he cannot use it for any other party. If he does, Tshabangu says the CCC will take legal action against him. He said:
I have got no doubt at the back of my mind that President Chamisa presented his face as a symbol for us to use and we registered that face. So he can’t claim today that it’s his face. That’s the face of the party and we are going to continue using it. Nobody is going to use that face. We will stop anybody who is going to use that face save for the party. He cannot use that face outside, unfortunately, the CCC party.
Tshabangu said that if Chamisa decides to leave the party and uses his image outside of the CCC party, they will take him to court. Tshabangu doesn’t believe Chamisa would be “naive” enough to do that, especially considering that he is a lawyer. Tshabangu doesn’t think Chamisa will form a new party either. He said while there are disagreements, they are not about their ideology. Tshabangu is confident that they will find a way to resolve these problems.
Tshabangu says he is the secretary general of the CCC party temporarily, but some senior party members, like Nelson Chamisa, say that this position doesn’t exist in the party. They also say that Tshabangu is not even a member of the party. However, Tshabangu insists that he has an affidavit that proves he was appointed as the temporary secretary general. He refused to name the appointing authority but explained that he was given this position when some senior party members were not doing their jobs because they were unhappy with Chamisa’s strategic ambiguity for the 2023 elections.