HARARE – Sengezo Tshabangu, the self-imposed interim secretary general of the Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC), has been expelled from the opposition party led by Welshman Ncube and now faces the ignominy of being recalled from the Senate, the same fate he inflicted upon numerous other CCC parliamentarians and councillors as he is no longer a member of the opposition party.
Tshabangu was hauled before the party’s national disciplinary committee on February 12 this year, facing four counts of misconduct related to his actions between November and December last year.
According to a statement released by party spokesperson Willias Madzimure Wednesday, the charges against Tshabangu stemmed from his unilateral decision to make changes to “CCC Parliamentary Portfolio holders without the authority of the President or any organ of the party.”
Tshabangu was also charged with making derogatory remarks against Ncube through public media after he had earlier been suspended from the party. The party spokesperson further said Tshabangu, through his conduct, brought “the name and reputation of the CCC into disrepute” and was a “brazen” defiance of Ncube’s authority, the National Standing Committee, the National Executive Committee, and National Council.
On the second count, Tshabangu was found guilty of making public pronouncements on changes to party representatives in parliament without first seeking the approval of the President of the CCC or its organs, namely the National Standing Committee, the National Executive Committee, and the National Council.
On the third count, the CCC stated that Tshabangu had brought the name and reputation of the party into disrepute by making changes in Parliament without the approval of the party organs.
On the fourth count, Tshabangu was found guilty of disrespecting the office of the President of the CCC and its organs by making derogatory remarks in the public media, where he made statements after his suspension from the party.
Tshabangu, represented during the hearing by party legislator and lawyer, Kucaca Phulu, was found guilty of all four offences as charged, something that elicited his immediate expulsion from the opposition. “Having found Sengezo Tshabangu guilty of all the charges, and having regard to the gravity of the acts of misconduct of which the Committee convicted him, the Committee decided to sentence him to expulsion from the party with immediate effect,” Madzimure said.
It was not immediately clear how Tshabangu intended to respond to his sacking. New Zimbabwe made efforts to reach Tshabangu, but he did not answer his mobile phone.
However, one of his lawyers, Kucaca Phulu, confirmed that Tshabangu had appeared before the CCC party Disciplinary Committee but said he was not the one who spoke on behalf of Tshabangu and directed questions to fellow lawyer Nqobani Sithole.
When reached for comment, Sithole rubbished the disciplinary Committee, its verdict, and its sentence, describing it as a “charade.” “They do not have that power. They do not have structures. Structures that can exercise that power are not in existence at the moment. It is a charade,” he stated.
When asked why Tshabangu had appeared before a committee that he described as a charade, Sithole said his client had appeared to “simply tell them that they are a charade”.
But what remains apparent is his pending ignominious fall from grace after he single-handedly ordered multiple recalls on elected CCC MPs and Councillors from different provinces of the country claiming they had “ceased to be CCC members”.
The politician, hardly known to the masses before his bombshell expulsion of opposition colleagues in 2023, now faces the same fate which he subjected his rivals to, a recall.
Tshabangu remains a hated figure within Zimbabwean opposition and broader civil society for initiating the opposition leadership carnage soon after elections in 2023.
Following the 2023 elections, Tshabangu began purging CCC members of parliament and councillors understood at the time to be close allies of the then-party leader Nelson Chamisa, claiming that they had ceased to be party members. Critics and analysts maintain that it appeared Tshabangu was playing a long game, in cahoots with President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s Zanu PF, to hijack the CCC party then led by Chamisa after the latter refused to acknowledge Mnangagwa’s 2023 election victory, citing irregularities which were also recorded in several election observer mission reports.
Last December, Ncube’s group dragged Tshabangu to the High Court for pronouncing parliamentary changes without consulting his party organs. The High Court ruled in favour of Ncube’s group before Tshabangu appealed the same ruling at the Supreme Court. The matter is yet to be heard.
