‘Structureless party’: How Chamisa led Zimbabwe’s main opposition astray
Al Jazeera
Many accuse the ruling party of infiltrating opposition but say Chamisa’s cult of personality politics made it possible.
Harare, Zimbabwe – On January 25, exactly two years and three days after Zimbabwe’s main opposition party the Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC) was launched, its leader Nelson Chamisa quit, leaving the party in turmoil.
In a 13-page statement, the 46-year-old lawyer and clergyman listed a litany of reasons why he was taking the extraordinary step of abandoning the party he and others formed in 2022. His main gripe was what he called “infiltration” by the ruling Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front (ZANU-PF).
The opposition leader, who is expected to form a new party sometime soon, said he would not “swim in a river with hungry crocodiles”, in reference to CCC members he accuses of being sellouts workng for the ruling party.
But Harare-based analyst Alexander Rusero says Chamisa bailed because he had lost control of the party.
“You don’t run away from a movement that you are leading because of infiltration; if you are in control, you purge the infiltrators,” Rusero told Al Jazeera. He added that infiltration is par for the course for political parties, and Chamisa needs to learn to live with it if he wants to continue in politics.
