Zimbabwe: Opposition CCC cagey about electoral strategy

By The Africa Report

Posted on Wednesday, 1 March 2023 15:37
Nelson Chamisa's Citizens’ Coalition for Change (CCC) is keeping strategy under wraps ahead of the presidential election this year. (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.