A South African publication has disclosed that a British company that predicted in February that Citizens Coalition for Change leader Nelson Chamisa would win the presidential elections in Zimbabwe did some work for the CCC in the just ended elections.
The Daily Maverick did not say what type of work the Sabi Strategy Group did for Chamisa but the company says it is a campaign strategist and one of its staff members helped Zambian President Hichilema Hakainde win the polls in 2021 after five previous attempts.
The publication disclosed Sabi’s involvement with the CCC at the end of an article written by three senior officials of the company.
The opinion piece was written by Jonathan Moakes, George Chichester and Emily Osborne ad was entitled: SADC’s election report leaves Mnangagwa desperately out in the cold with only one option — reform.
The publication says at the end of the article: “Jonathan Moakes, George Chichester and Emily Osborne work for the SABI Strategy Group, a communications and campaigning firm based in London and Johannesburg.
“Disclosure: The SABI Strategy Group (who the authors all work for) conducted work for the Citizens Coalition for Change during the Zimbabwe elections.”
The Sabi Strategy Group said in February, way before the election date had been announced, that Chamisa would win the poll by 53% while his party would poll 52% of the vote. President Emmerson Mnangagwa would get only 40% of the vote and so would his party, the Zimbabwe African National UNion-Patriotic Front. It also said 75% of the people would vote.
Chamisa won 44% of the vote and his party, 37% of the seats in the national assembly, while 68% of the registered voters went to the polls. Mnangagwa instead won 53% of the vote and his party 63% of the seats in the national assembly.
Chamisa has rejected the results of the poll but CCC councillors and Members of Parliament were sworn in on Wednesday and Thursday. He has appealed to the Southern African Development Community and the African Union to call for fresh elections which will be run by outsiders.
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