The Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) has refused to withdraw nomination papers from candidates endorsed by Sengezo Tshabangu’s CCC party, despite opposition leader Nelson Chamisa’s request. Chamisa had written to the election commission, asserting that Tshabangu’s candidates should not use his face as party symbols. However, ZEC Chief Elections Officer Utloile Silaigwana firmly stated that the electoral body would not take instructions from the CCC leader. Silaigwana further emphasised that the opposition outfit should address its internal squabbles rather than involving the commission. He said:
If CCC has internal issues, they know where to go, they don’t come to us and give us directives. Otherwise, every other party will tell ZEC what to do and it will do so.
Can you imagine a situation where ZEC acts after it is told what to do by every political party, it means ZEC will be taking sides.
ZEC is independent and does not take sides. The perception that ZEC should solve internal issues of a political party should stop.
Nelson Chamisa, the president of the Citizens’ Coalition for Change (CCC) political party, had written to ZEC through his lawyers, Shava Law Chambers, stating that some candidates were misusing his image and, therefore, were supposed to stop. He stated that he had authorised the CCC party only to use his image in the August 2023 elections.
Sengezo Tshabangu, who claims to be the interim Secretary General of the CCC party, has stated that Nelson Chamisa’s image belongs to the party and is a symbol of the party. According to Tshabangu, Chamisa is no longer allowed to use it outside of the party. This has led to a situation where there may be two candidates from the CCC party in certain constituencies during the upcoming by-elections in February 2024. Both Tshabangu and Chamisa had their own candidates, but they all used the name CCC. The matter may need to be resolved by the courts if some candidates are not disqualified.