Is CCC a government-in-waiting or a president-in-waiting?

British academic Stephen Chan has asked a very pertinent question: Is the Citizens Coalition for Change led by Zimbabwe opposition leader Nelson Chamisa a government-in-waiting or a president-in-waiting?

Chan was in Zimbabwe this week. He met Chamisa but failed to meet Zimbabwe President Emmerson Mnangagwa.

He said he had a very cordial but also very open and frank conversation with Chamisa in which he outlined his critical views while also expressing his deep hopes for a better Zimbabwean future.

Chan wrote a book, Why Mugabe won (the 2013 elections), in which he said the opposition lost fairly and squarely to Mugabe in the 2013 elections because it had lost touch with the people.

In a tweet on 11 July in which he blasted exiled former Higher Education Minister Jonathan Moyo for lambasting the CCC for having no structures, Chan said, Moyo was bitter because he had been  barred from joining the opposition party.

“I understand Jonathan Moyo did indeed seek to join the CCC. Thankfully that fell through as his record is hardly one of loyalty,” Chan said.

Moyo refuted this saying: “Stephen, this is very unprofessional and unacceptable. I categorically state that I never sought to join CCC and would not be so foolish to join a structureless party without a joining mechanism. @nelsonchamisa has to correct this otherwise I’ll do so myself. We parted in Nov 21!”

Chan, however, agreed with Moyo that the CCC should have structures if it wanted to be seen as a party which should be seriously considered by the West as a government-in-waiting.

“But he (Moyo) has made astute comments on the need for party structure,” Chan tweeted. “Certainly the West NEEDS to know WHO is in the front bench of what should be projected as a government-in-waiting, With whom in each specialist portfolio, e.g. health, education, justice, agriculture, industry, finance, foreign affairs & defence will the West be dealing? So is it a GOVERNMENT-in-waiting, or simply a President-in-waiting.”

Indeed, CCC a government-in-waiting or simply a president-in-waiting?

Chamisa’s 2018 election campaign focused on the presidency resulting in the Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front winning a two-thirds majority in Parliament, which is a very unhealthy situation.

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