CCC acting president Welshman Ncube has denied allegations that he was Sengezo Tshabangu’s handler and responsible for the recalls of the party’s Members of Parliament and Councillors in 2022.
There were claims that Ncube and Tendai Biti were behind Tshabangu and were using him to decimate the opposition party to spite party leader Nelson Chamisa.
However, speaking to CITE, Ncube said he only got to know about the recalls when a friend based in the diaspora called to inform him. He said:
The truth of the matter is that I, as an individual, first learned about the first wave of recalls from a friend in the diaspora.
They called me and said, ‘Nelson Chamisa has recalled people.’ I said, ‘No, that’s not possible.’ They insisted there was a letter in parliament recalling people.
I said, ‘It’s not possible. Give me the names of the people who have been recalled.’
They gave me the names, and I said, ‘Chamisa can’t recall the names of the people you are saying, because some of them are his closest friends and allies. It’s not possible.’
They said there was a letter, and they sent the letter signed by Sengezo Tshabangu.
I said, ‘But Tshabangu is not the interim SG of CCC.’ I called him asking if he signed it, and he said, ‘Yes, I wrote it.’
I said, ‘Like how? You do this without even telling some of us?’ He said, ‘We knew,’ using a plural pronoun, ‘we knew that you would not approve, but we did it.’
Ncube said the second wave of recalls occurred while he was mourning his late mother. He said:
The people who came to the funeral said to me, ’73 people have been recalled,’ and I said, ‘Really?’ They said, ‘Yes, the letters have gone.’
I again called Tshabangu and said to him, ‘Have you recalled these people?’ He said, ‘No, I haven’t recalled people.’
So, I assured people that I had spoken to Tshabangu, and he said he has not recalled anybody.Then when 23 people were recalled, I called him again. I said, ‘But you said you haven’t recalled anybody.’
He said, ‘No, I said I hadn’t recalled 73 people. I didn’t say I hadn’t recalled anybody.’
I said, ‘But surely you should have then said it’s not true that 73 people have been recalled, only 23 people have been recalled.’
So, this couldn’t have been happening if Tshabangu was not his own man. If Tshabangu was controlled by me, and I know for a fact that VP Biti didn’t control Tshabangu, he was as much in the dark as I was.
Chamisa eventually quit CCC alleging the party had been captured by ZANU PF through proxies.
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