Political commentator Davis Laque says former Constitutional Affairs Minister Eric Matinenga was wrong to suggest that Chamisa’s decision to leave the Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC) party was rushed.
This comes after journalist Hopewell Chin’ono posted on his social media pages a statement he attributed to Matinenga.
In the statement, Matinenga said Chamisa should have consulted “relevant critical stakeholders” and get their buy-in before quitting. He said:
There are certain stakeholders and issues which must be addressed now if they were not addressed at the time of the decision to remove oneself from CCC.
Parliament sits on Monday, there is time before Monday for Nelson Chamisa to meet the true CCC members, interrogate issues in a no-holds-barred manner and come to a common way forward.
Posting on X, Laque said Matinenga’s suggestion that CCC MPs write to Parliament disassociating from Tshabangu’s authority, that Chamisa writes a supporting letter to Parliament, and that CCC legislators collectively dare Tshabangu to recall them and not contest the recalls, is problematic. Below is part of Laque’s argument:
The problem with that proposed intervention is that… [firstly] it suggests a repetition of an exercise in futility.
After the first batch of recalls, CCC engaged; wrote a letter to Parly and the Senate, clarifying this mess. Chamisa also wrote a series of other letters. All was ignored.
Secondly, all calls to alternatively bait and threaten Tshabangu to recall legislators who do not recognize his state-engineered authority puts CCC exactly where the regime wants it to be.
That is a state of perpetual infighting, at the expense of organizing against ZANU PF.
It’s not by chance that Tshabangu hasn’t recalled everyone associating with Adv Chamisa.
The plan is not to recall all of them anywhere, regardless of any bait.
The regime is just hell-bent on isolating Chamisa and keeping him in a state of unresolvable internal firefighting
All pretense of engaging state institutions and fighting Tshabangu only legitimises his shenanigans.
We already witnessed what will come out of this wait-and-see game during the MDC-A party fights. That approach limits what the legitimate leadership of the alternative can do.
Thirdly, suggesting that Chamisa requests CCC legislators to take certain actions in the name of “consultation” only serves to project him as demanding others to sacrifice for what appears to be his problem.
We’ve already witnessed some unfortunate excuses for staying put.
In any case, a view that CCC as a party rejects the 2023 election in totality was already shot down.
So was a call to abandon participating in the ensuing by-elections, which Adv Matinenga put forward as another strategy.
All this was debated within formal CCC forums.
Also, Adv Matinenga’s submission makes the grave assumption that Tshabangu is the only cancer ravaging CCC.
Regrettably, some within CCC have sensed opportunities to take advantage of this mayhem to wage a serious fight against what they perceive to be a wounded Chamisa.
Fourthly, Chamisa was correct to guard against what would’ve appeared as a renaming and rebranding of CCC.
Though his close and trusted allies are individually aware of what’s transpiring, it was strategic that he allows individuals to freely consult their conscience and voters.
In ending this, people are better off fighting from a position where they can dictate their own pace.
CCC ceased being such a platform. Any delay would just be a reluctance to accept the inevitable.
It’s time to focus energies on opportunities that have arisen now.
More: Pindula News