guarded secret

Zimbabwe: Opposition CCC cagey about electoral strategy

By The Africa Report

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Posted on March 1, 2023 14:37

Nelson Chamisa of the Citizens’ Coalition for Change (CCC) is playing the anti-corruption card. Nelson Chamisa of the Citizens’ Coalition for Change (CCC) is playing the anti-corruption card. (Reuters/Philimon Bulawayo)
Nelson Chamisa of the Citizens’ Coalition for Change (CCC) is playing the anti-corruption card. (Reuters/Philimon Bulawayo)

Five months remain until Zimbabwe’s harmonised elections and President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s biggest contender is Nelson Chamisa, the leader of the opposition Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC). Chamisa has remained tight-lipped regarding his campaign strategies and party structures as a way to protect the party, but this formula could backfire, say analysts.

Chamisa has been the target of several attempts to completely eliminate him from opposition politics in Zimbabwe. He lost political financing that his CCC party was supposed to receive after the Mnangagwa government diverted it to Douglas Mwonzora, his rival MDC-T leader.

Thwarted by the government, CCC rallies are banned by the police, Chamisa’s party lieutenants are regularly arrested, and political violence in the country primarily targets his supporters.

The same plot has not changed ahead of this year’s polls slated for July/August, which has forced Chamisa to use caution about declaring his electoral moves. A year after its formation, Zimbabwe’s opposition CCC has been operating without a party structure.

Political opacity

Political analysts indicate that not revealing how CCC operates is an experiment that might go wrong if this continues ahead of Zimbabwe’s polls.

Some

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