Acting President Cde Kembo Mohadi has strongly criticized the Citizens’ Coalition for Change (CCC), describing the party’s leadership chaos as a drain on national resources. He highlighted that the ongoing by-elections, necessitated by the CCC’s internal turmoil, were placing an unnecessary strain on the country’s finances.
Elections are inherently costly for any nation, and concerns have been raised about the Treasury having to allocate funds for a series of by-elections. The country had just emerged from the August 2023 harmonized elections when, four months later, by-elections were held to replace National Assembly and local authority members who were recalled by the disputed CCC interim secretary-general, Mr Sengenzo Tshabangu.
Following the December by-election, Mr. Tshabangu has instigated another wave of by-elections scheduled for this Saturday, and he has made it clear that the recalls are far from over.
The Government has allocated a budget of US$11 million for the December 2023 and February 2024 by-elections. Of that amount, US$5 million was spent on the December by-election, while the remaining US$6 million will be utilized in the upcoming polls.
President Mnangagwa is now legally obligated to proclaim yet another by-election after CCC Mt Pleasant National Assembly member, Ms. Fadzai Mahere, tendered her resignation from Parliament yesterday, following in the footsteps of Mr. Nelson Chamisa, who stepped down as the opposition leader last week. The extent to which other elected officials will follow suit remains unclear.
Speaking to a large crowd at a Zanu-PF rally held at Nkulumane Public Library grounds in Bulawayo, Cde Mohadi criticized the CCC’s internal disarray, urging Zimbabweans to reflect on their decision to vote for the opposition in the August 2023 harmonized elections.
“Look at this party that some of you had voted for, it is in disarray, it no longer has a leader. We are now wasting resources through holding by-elections,” he said.
“Where has that party left you?, even its president has abandoned the party. CCC is no longer an issue, there is nothing to go to there.
“There is nothing left there, there is confusion in the party, there is no direction in the party.
“The opposition has run down the urban centres and now cities are synonymous with dirt. They are failing to pick garbage and now people are dying because of cholera,” said Cde Mohadi
