Chamisa’s house on fire

Fungi Kwaramba Political Editor

A MISSING bulletproof car, unpaid workers, and impending eviction from a rented property in Harare have left the Nelson Chamisa-led opposition CCC teetering on the brink of implosion as knives are being drawn against the “unaccountable” leader.

Workers and former party heavyweights now face an uncertain future because Mr Chamisa’s conduct has led to a fallout with donors and even some of the party’s staunchest supporters who are increasingly disenchanted by his alleged “dictatorial tendencies.

What has left many in the opposition seething is that donations from the CCC diaspora provinces have been allegedly diverted for personal use by Mr Chamisa who has reportedly taken a public address system donated from Australia and a party membership card printing machine to his home.

On top of that, there is also embarrassment in the CCC corridors after Mr Chamisa’s deployees in the March by-elections have to date not paid for posters they used during their campaigns.

Insiders in the CCC also revealed that plans by Mr Chamisa to secure a bullet-proof vehicle went up in smoke after GoFundMe, the platform that was used by his supporters to raise money, shot down the initiative on the basis it was political and that Zimbabwe is not on the list of countries permissible under its terms and conditions for such donations.

According to GoFundMe, they should be in strict compliance with the laws of receiving countries and electoral regulations, of which they were not in the case of Mr Chamisa’s fantasised bullet-proof car.

One of the terms and conditions reads: “You agree not to use GoFundMe Services to raise funds with the implicit or explicit purpose of or involving any election fundraisers that are not run by a registered organisation within the supported country”.

An insider said after plans to buy the bullet-proof car collapsed on the basis of GoFundMe terms and conditions, they were directed to donate the funds to a charity organisation of their choice in the United States.

“We were informed that we could not buy a car directly using GoFundMe funds, we had to donate the money to a sympathetic charity organisation in the United States which then gave us the money back. The money was reportedly sent back to Zimbabwe, however, no one knows where the money is,” said an insider.

Six people, who were key in raising the funds, flew into Zimbabwe at the beginning of September to be shown the car that Mr Chamisa had bought using the funds, only for him to backtrack at a meeting that was held at his Advocate Chambers offices, the sources said.

So empty are the opposition party coffers that they top-up their prepaid electricity with US$5 or less.

“There is no backup electricity, were it not because we have a borehole we could be going without water, imagine an organisation that buys electricity for $2, and which has a financial department that cannot account for a single donation”.

Apart from lack of transparency and accountability, the opposition is also dogged by factionalism amid speculation that Mr Chamisa, who has abolished all posts but his, is planning to sink his former deputies Messrs Welshman Ncube and Tendai Biti, and former secretary general Charlton Hwende.

In a now deleted tweet, Mr Chamisa publicly stated that there is no post of secretary general in his party or any other post, stripping his underlings naked on a public platform.

As cracks continue to widen, this week Mr Chamisa was further peeved by a letter that was written by Job Sikhala and Godfrey Sithole from remand prison, which waxed lyrical on the role that oppositional figures outside CCC have been playing to comfort them, glaringly omitting their structureless party.

“Chamisa wants the old guard gone and replaced by his lackeys, people beholden to him. These people have no history in the opposition yet they have become the face of the party. This has alienated him with the old guard which is preparing to dump him for another leader,” said an insider.

Efforts to get a comment from Mr Chamisa were fruitless. However, his party is on record as saying it does not engage with the public media.