The leader of the Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC) party, Nelson Chamisa, officially launched his presidential campaign for the August 23 elections by holding a rally in Johannesburg, South Africa over the weekend.
Chamisa urged Zimbabweans living in South Africa to come back home and vote in the upcoming elections. He said a large turnout of voters will make it difficult for the election results to be rigged.
“This is the year, the time is now,” Chamisa told the rally. “On August 23 our goal is to win big because a small margin is going to be a problem. We are dealing with guys who like playing with figures.”
Chamisa asked Zimbabweans in South Africa to support the CCC financially and by returning home to vote. “One rand or US$1 can make a huge difference,” he said.
Separately, ANC Secretary General Fikile Mbalula claimed that Western countries prefer Chamisa as Zimbabwe’s leader over incumbent President Emmerson Mnangagwa.
“Mnangagwa brought some reforms in Zimbabwe but they did not want those reforms because they want a man called Chamisa.
“They want him there to be the leader, the new leader of Zimbabwe, of a new Zimbabwe,” Mbalula said.
Chamisa narrowly lost to Mnangagwa in the disputed 2018 elections. His challenge of the results citing rigging was rejected by the Constitutional Court.
Mbalula also complained about the large number of Zimbabwean economic migrants and refugees living in South Africa, estimated to be around 3 million people. He said Zimbabwe’s socio-economic crisis was pushing people across the border.
Chamisa’s campaign launch and call for Zimbabweans in the diaspora to return home and vote signals that voter turnout will be key to his electoral strategy in the upcoming presidential election.
