Promise Mkwananzi: Disregard The Lies And Falsehoods Being Spread By Hopewell
Promise Mkanwanzi, the spokesperson of the Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC), has denied allegations made by journalist Hopewell Chin’ono that he is working with the Central Intelligence Organisation (CIO) to destabilise the opposition in Zimbabwe. Chin’ono had claimed:
There is nothing dangerous in stating facts, Promise is working with CIO. He made promises to them about what he can deliver by December and they told him what they can deliver. The opposition is meant to be docile and allow the regime to get on with its work, then they will let it do opposition work after 2027. Let him come here and deny it if I am lying! It is either you know what is happening and you support it, or you know nothing in which case you must shut up! You want to waste people’s time thinking that they are supporting a viable opposition when it is captured! Let him come and deny it here, let him come and say that Hopewell is lying!
In response, Mkanwanzi stated that he has never associated with any state organ and dismissed the accusations as lies and falsehoods. Mkanwanzi said that he had no standing arrest warrant at the time he was allegedly targeted by the police. He explained that he had cleared all his legal cases in 2020 after being wrongfully arrested in 2019. He said:
Please disregard the lies and falsehoods being spread by Hopewell and his cabal formerly with us. I am not and have never had any associations with CIO or any organ of the state. At the time of my purported bounty by the police, I had no single standing warrant of arrest. I had cleared all my cases in 2020 after my last wrongful arrest in 2019. Late last year, I was pursued by the hit squad in the company of our information officer Sir Tongie. The hit squad had live ammunition and gave us a movie-style chase until we ran into our party offices where they confiscated my car. Thanks to our party security details who saved our lives. Since August 2023, I have never returned to my original home, moving from one sanctuary to the next for safety. After our candidate selection process, just before the announcement of our candidates, I had a very candid discussion with President @nelsonchamisa who expressed disappointment at my performance in the candidate selection process. He stated that he had expected more from me and that I was one of the people he had earmarked for ministerial role. I conceded to the President that the process had not gone as I had hoped. In the aftermath of the announcement of the final list of candidates, I called President @nelsonchamisa and informed him that I had seen the final list of candidates and that I was not on the list. I told the President that I accepted the outcome and that I was 100% available to join the Presidential campaign team as I now had all the time (other than my businesses) to help in the Presidential campaign. A few weeks later President Chamisa called to inform me that he wanted me to speak on behalf of the party. The task was with immediate effect. I obliged and have not and will never look back. President Chamisa has been my leader, my mentor and my brother. I first knew of Chamisa when he became founding youth leader in the MDC in 1999, seeing him on TV and newspapers. Due to the fact that I had gone to Nyaradzo Secondary school, the same school where Learnmore Jongwe did his O levels and was praised as an example of a success story from a remote school, I had developed a keen interest in politics. I would eventually meet President Chamisa in person years later as a student leader interacting with the then youth Chairperson of the MDC. We developed a strong relationship culminating into the time when he was organising secretary and I was the youth secretary general of the MDC. It is at this time that we worked and developed close ties as youth was an organ of the organising department. Several times I accompanied President Chamiss to various meetings locally regionally and internationally, including to his rural home. Even when I was summarily kicked out of the party, it is President Chamisa that reappointed me into the NEC in 2021 and to be the Spokesperson in 2023 and various other tasks behind the scenes. It is in this context that I write to dispel the fake rumours that seek to create a rift between me and my leader. I will never betray or forsake President Chamisa and I have repeatedly made this pledge before him and now before all of you. Ours is to fight those who fight Chamisa and to defend the democratic struggle until final victory. In the coming days, months or even years, we will continue to fight to ensure that President Chamisa is restored and protected as the legitimate and rightful leader of the democratic movement in Zimbabwe. Let’s remain focused on the goal. We are closer now than ever before. I smell tectonic shifts in Zimbabwe’s political landscape in the not-so-distant future. Change has come!
The rumours began when Mkwananzi wrote a letter to Parliament stating that he was the acting president of the Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC) after Nelson Chamisa’s departure. Mkwananzi claimed that he was working to bring Chamisa back to the party. Chamisa resigned on January 24, 2024, citing the infiltration and hijacking of the CCC by the ruling party ZANU PF and its allies within the CCC.
Chamisa, instead of attempting to “save” the CCC as Mkwananzi desires, has expressed his intention to establish a new political movement. It is anticipated that those who genuinely support Chamisa are considering leaving the CCC and joining him in his new endeavour.
