Staff Reporter

The bromance between opposition Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC) leader, Nelson Chamisa and his vice president, Tendai Biti is said to be on shaky ground owing to infighting over the delayed announcement of candidates nomination results of Chitungwiza.

Staff Reporter

Ministry of Lands, Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Rural Development (MLAFWRD) has revealed that it has submitted to Cabinet for approval, the proposed pre-planting producer prices 2022/23 winter wheat and grain production.

Staff reporter 

Author and Government critic, Tsitsi Dangarembwa has sharply condemned the Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC) for describing party leader, Nelson Chamisa’s wife as the mother of Zimbabwean citizens.

The CCC communication department, which is headed by Fadzai Mahere, who is deputised by Gift Siziba, on Saturday responded to CCC leader, Nelson Chamisa’s birthday message to his wife, Sithokozile Chamisa by tweeting a message which included a reference to Mrs Chamisa as the mother of Zimbabweans.

“A special birthday wish to the mother of the citizens. May you be strengthened as you strive daily and work towards a new great Zimbabwe,” gushed the department.

Within an hour of the post, which was made at 1932hours, Dangarembwa, who was not amused by the department’s reference to Chamisa’s wife as her mother since she is a citizen of Zimbabwe, shot back. She argued that Mahere and her department had no right to regard Mrs Chamisa as the mother of all Zimbabwean citizens.

“We have to resist this, (we must) not get carried away and (we should) keep our feet on the ground. The respectable Mrs Chamisa, who I don’t even know, is the wife of Zimbabwe’s…opposition leader. She is not the mother of Zimbabwean citizens. You have no right to claim (that) she is my mother,” fumed Dangarembwa.   

Other Zimbabweans such as a netizen who uses the name Bingo Mukaya agreed with Dangarembwa.

“She is Nelson’s wife, one of the opposition leaders in Zimbabwe. She is the mother to Nelson’s children! Finished,” he tweeted.

One Mbonisi Ncomanzi agreed with Dangarembwa and argued that if opposition members refused to recognise people such as First Lady Dr Auxillia Mnangagwa as a mother they should not regard Chamisa’s wife as their mother. He called out Mahere and the opposition outfit for hypocrisy.

“I respect your view and agree with it completely. We rebuke it when ZANU PF (members) does it, so must we when our party copies such,” he tweeted.

Other CCC members, smarting from Government critic, Hopewell Chin’ono’s regular criticism of the opposition party and its leadership, which its members think are somewhat self-righteous, a pissed off James Chikonamombe accused Dangarembwa of thinking too highly of herself.

“Zimbabweans in high positions rarely humble themselves. Everyone takes the ‘main actor’ syndrome to stratospheric levels,” he posted.

This is not the first time that Mahere has clashed with a CCC sympathiser or supporter. Many CCC supporters do like her because of the way she routinely embarrasses the outfit through using her position to communicate her personal opinions as the party’s official position. She was convicted on 5 April of charges of publishing falsehoods arising from her January 2021 tweet in which she lied that a police officer had beaten to death a child strapped on its mother’s back with a baton stick in Harare.

The conviction worsened the already-strained relations between her and most CCC members who felt that she had tarnished the party’s name.  

 

Staff Reporter

Lessons that there is no such thing as a free meal are coming heavy and practical for the under pressure Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC) leader, Nelson Chamisa whose party financiers are demanding constituencies to represent ahead of the 2023 Harmonized General Elections.

CCC has been running a myriad of fundraising projects from the GoFundMe initiatives to approaching Civic Societies and individuals for financial support; a clear testimony of crippling effects of donor fatigue.

The Harare Post spoke to a highly placed source in that party who confided that Chamisa had a lot of people and enablers to thank and please and is running out of time and space before the 2023 Harmonized General Elections dawn on him. The source confided that Chamisa failed to control the nomination process resulting in skirmishes and bribery storms as tussling ensued amongst the young turks and the old guard.

“Chamisa is under pressure from the same people who claimed they were helping him personally, the party and its projects financially. Last week, businessman Lovemore Jimu from Tafara threatened to go public over US$6000 that he is owed by Chamisa. Jimu claimed that Chamisa had promised him an opportunity to represent CCC in Harare Central constituency in the upcoming plebiscite.

“However, Chamisa was irked by Jimu’s incessant demands for his money. In this regard, Chamisa elbowed him out of the Harare Central nomination race. The impasse is so tense and is not being helped by continued demands for constituencies by that party’s enablers. This has resulted in the delay of nomination results in several constituencies as the party deploys the balancing act,” said the source.

Meanwhile, Chamisa is also reportedly under fire from the Civic Society Organisations to accommodate Maureen Kademaunga who has been mobilizing and campaigning for CCC from the Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs). The quest for money has also left Chamisa with little or no choice, but to also make room for Gift Banda in Lobengula constituency in Bulawayo. Indications are that Chamisa is afraid that Banda could run as an independent and retain the seat, should CCC try to outmanoeuvre him.

Staff Reporter

Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC) members continue to lose confidence in their leadership which they accuse of being inept and childish.

According to an impeccable source within CCC, there is fallout amongst that party’s senior members, with Nelson Chamisa being accused of turning a blind eye on the wrangle.

Political Reporter

Former Cabinet Minister and political analyst, Professor Jonathan Moyo has dismissed the Al Jazeera documentary on alleged gold smuggling activities in Zimbabwe, as nothing but a disjointed thesis.

Professor Moyo said that it was evident that the Gold Mafia documentary had failed to tarnish the image of the Government, as has been anticipated by many people.

“Now that three of its four episodes have been - and notwithstanding the fact that the fourth episode might have bombshells in the form of controversial or shocking utterances by its main interlocutors - there is nothing that the last episode will do to save the documentary's disjointed and incoherent thesis, which would have long gone up in smoke but for the gripping and often self-incriminating verbatim claims of its greedy interlocutors,” said Prof Moyo.

Professor Moyo added that the documentary was poorly researched and had a political agenda to smear the good name of the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ).

“This is one of the most important clips in the Al Jazeera documentary, which exposes either its sloppy and shockingly poor research, or its deliberate distortion and misrepresentation of evidence to smear RBZ in the malicious hope that distortion and misrepresentation will have enough propaganda value to incite the sanctioning of the RBZ and the grey listing of Zimbabwe to push a nefarious political agenda to the detriment of lives and livelihoods in the country,” added Prof Moyo.

According to Professor Moyo, the Al Jazeera documentary has not presented a shred of evidence to show that the RBZ has abused the country's banking and financial system to aid and abet the gold smuggling and money laundering operations of the ‘Gold Mafia’.

“To be sure, and without any doubt or fear or favour whatsoever, RBZ must be held fully accountable for any wrongdoing by it or its officials; but the wrongdoing must be factually demonstrated or proven, and not merely alleged.  The Al Jazeera documentary has not demonstrated or proven any of gold smuggling or money laundering against RBZ,” said Professor Moyo.

Meanwhile, the last episode of the Gold Mafia documentary is expected to be aired today by Al Jazeera with many people already dismissing the entire documentary as a failed political project that wanted to damage the reputation of the ruling Government ahead of this year’s plebiscite..