“Sengezo Tshabangu”, Nelson Chamisa’s worst nightmare-time for reflection on opposition politics in Zimbabwe

By Youngerson Matete and Liam Kanhenga

On the 4^th of November, 2023 the High Court of Zimbabwe issued a judgment in favor of Sengezo Tshabangu in the case of Prince Dubeko Sibanda & others versus Sengezo Tshabangu. 

This was after the former members of parliament and senators went to court to contest their recall from the August House. The self-proclaimed Citizen’s Coalition for Change interim secretary general wrote a letter to the speaker of parliament and president of the senate claiming that 15 members of parliament and 9 senators had ceased to be members of the Citizen Coalition for Change. They must be ejected from parliament as per section 129(1)(k) of the constitution of Zimbabwe which states that “if the Member has ceased to belong to the political party of which he or she was a member when elected to Parliament and the political party concerned, by written notice to the Speaker or the President of the Senate, as the case may be, has declared that the Member has ceased to belong to it.”

Tshabangu wielding an Axe

There is no doubt that the recent high court ruling has given Sengezo Tshabangu enormous powers within the opposition party, Citizen Coalition for Change. He is now controlling the party with enough powers to wreak havoc. With the court judgment and the regime pursuing absolute power through the logic of a (defacto or dejure) one-party state, they will do all that is necessary to crush and demobilize opposition. The Citizens Coalition for Change is caught in a catch-22 situation (Dumani,2023). 

The self-proclaimed interim secretary-general is now the Alpha and Omega of the opposition political party. Fall in line or risk being axed, a risk too high to take for many parliamentarians and councilors. Losing all the benefits that you get for being in parliament or council isn’t an option for many who are in it for personal interests. They know that without proper democratic systems within the opposition political party, you are not guaranteed a chance to return. You cannot waste an opportunity to benefit from what appears like a once-off lifetime opportunity.

 

Forget the false bravado on social media by Citizens Coalition for Change parliamentarians and councilors. Many of them are Nicodemusly calling Tshabangu begging to be spared. He is wielding an axe, which he has shown that he is willing to use, can use it and no one can stop him. 

Nelson Chamisa’s dilemma 

Tshabangu is the ultimate test of Nelson Chamisa’s leadership. He has so far dared him that many within the rank and file of the party have never dared to. Concerns have been raised about how Nelson Chamisa centralized power to decide and run the movement's affairs on himself and a select few. The current friction in the opposition is a result of over-centralization of power and it pauses a moment of introspection for the CCC. 

Many in the party have played along during the election period because it was politically correct to do so but still to the detriment of the movement as a whole. We have seen many people saying that the opposition party deployees must resign en masse. This is too simplistic, failing to grasp and understand real politics in the country. If on any day Chamisa calls for mass withdrawal from parliament and council, he will be digging his political grave. He will be playing into the hands of his enemies. The current political setup in our flawed democracy is binarized and hung on bipartisanship and if one party among the two dominant ones retreats the other will move to take all the spoils. If the remaining CCC MPs resign en masse Zimbabwe will be left a de facto one-party state until by-elections are held. A lot of decisions will be made in the absence of opposition and the avenues to oppose will be limited and it disadvantages the voter more.

 

Tshabangu is not acting alone, he has handlers in the top echelons of the opposition political party. Take for example his continuous insistence that the party must go back to Gweru elected structures and resolutions which were made during the MDC-A days. He didn’t get any senior position during the Gweru congress one wonders who gets to benefit from that. It's not like he cares much about constitutionalism and internal democratic systems, but he represents a faction that had been successfully marginalized. If Chamisa calls for withdrawal he will wake up to a rude awakening as many of the people in parliament and council will defy his orders including many, he had thought were on his side. This is what exactly Tshabangu and his handlers are luring Chamisa to. They want to make sure that he is humiliated and finished by his people whom he imposed without them making a move. They don’t want to be seen elbowing him out directly let they risk angering the public. (Varikuti ngaazvikange nemafuta ake) he must roast himself with his fat.

Nelson Chamisa is caught in a dilemma with his opponents fully aware that he is not brave enough to lead street protests. He has limited options now; he has to come out of his shell and provide a solid way forward otherwise he risks losing more officials to the Tshabangu faction. He cannot continue to hide behind bible verses anymore as people no longer buy into faith without action. It is either he leads from the front, or he risks being viewed as a motivational speaker or worse still as just a social media celeb who is just into tweeting for attention. Equally, Nelson has to come to a point where he starts to accept collective leadership and admit to the fact that his ideas have been tested and they have failed inclusive of strategic ambiguity. It is not a lie that Nelson remains the most viable face of opposition so far, but there should not be any illusion that he has a monopoly over ideas and that he can take state power as an individual. This catch-22 moment presents him with the opportunity to go back to the drawing board, recollect with comrades, and reorganize with the people. Equally, he should start to keenly discern who is really for and against him. 

The absurdities of clause 129(1)(k) of the constitution of Zimbabwe

 

Section 129(1)(k) allows political parties to withdraw members of parliament and senators whom they accuse of no longer belonging to their political parties through a written letter to the speaker and president of the senate respectively. The clause was overwhelmingly supported by all political parties during the constitutional-making process as political parties wanted more control of their employees. The clause simply states that a member of parliament may be recalled from the August House if they cease to be members of a political party that sponsors them to parliament and a political party communicates to the speaker through written notice. The Constitution does not even provide who can write to the parliament. Anyone within a political party can write a letter. This has left the burden to know who has such authority to party constitutions and parties who operate without constitutions are hugely affected by dubious recalls. The clause doesn’t further seek to request evidence that the claims being made that a certain member has indeed ceased to be a member of parliament are true, it doesn’t even ask for disciplinary minutes from the said party. This means a member of parliament is accused, pronounced guilty, and sentenced without being heard something absurd. Even a common worker can't be dismissed like that, but a member of parliament elected by tens of thousands of people. The clause gives too much power to parties to affect and determine the welfare of voters without their involvement, making it undemocratic and the recalled MP or councilor is not allowed their administrative right to be heard unless they challenge the recall in the courts of law (who are purported to be captured in our status quo). 

ZANU-PF masters of diversion and the quest for a two-thirds majority

Although the recalls were born out of the opposition, Citizens Coalition for Change internal conflicts ZANU-PF has without a doubt taken advantage of the situation. To its credit and advantage, the opposition is now occupied with internal fighting this has taken away the legitimacy crisis that was born out of flawed elections. It is important to note that all this, is happening when the Southern African Development Community (SADC) is convening extraordinary summits to resolve the Zimbabwean crisis and ZANU-PF is desperate to have the matter declared a closed chapter. The infighting within the opposition has presented it with an opportunity to put the matter to bed. 

The internal fights portray the opposition party as not fit and unorganized to govern. It can now be argued that for the stability of the region, it makes more sense to sweep the legitimacy crisis under the carpet. SADC can't afford another crisis as it is already failing to contain another one in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

ZANU-PF has also taken advantage of the recalls to renew its agenda to get a two-thirds majority in parliament. They want to amend the constitution to do away with the two-term presidential limit imposed by the constitution. Mr Mnangagwa is desperately looking for a third term and he will go to any length to have it. One of the major positives of the elections was that the opposition had managed to deny the ruling party a two-thirds majority. The recalls have thus far reversed all this.

What Could have been done? 

Yes, the courts are captured, but we still question the competency of the lawyers who represented the opposition MPs. S129(1)(K) stipulates that grounds for recall are that one ceases to be a member of the party or joins a different party. In his letter, Tshabangu claimed that the MPs had ceased to be CCC members; hence, they were recalled. Therefore, the burden here was to prove that the MPs were still members of the party. The evidence for this is that none of them had renounced their membership publicly or privately, none of them had joined a different party, and none of them had been expelled from the party. Evidence of their membership is also on record in parliament, claiming they belonged to the CCC led by Nelson Chamisa. This is aside from the low-hanging fruit of arguing that there is no holder of the position of SG in the party. Or to ask Tshabamgu to prove his membership. That was an obvious issue, but it was not enough to persuade the court to rule differently. Also, it is public knowledge that CCC has held several ward assembly meetings, cluster meetings, and other such gatherings in the recent days before the recalls and court hearing which could have been useful as evidence to debunk Tshabangu’s claim in court. Still, We don’t know why this argument was not presented by the lawyers of the recalled legislatures in court. 

Furthermore, the absence of the party in the court proceedings made the application even weaker as it was the party that could have declared whether Tshabangu was indeed the interim secretary general or not and also if the said members had truly ceased to be their members. The party and lawyers made a blunder by excluding the Citizens Coalition for Change as a party.

 

What else can be done?

 

The opposition at the moment should start seeing the urgent need for institutionalizing and developing accountability systems that clarify who duty bearers are. I understand the fear of infiltration, but this can be countered by setting up a counterintelligence system. They can not keep agonizing about this for twenty-five years. The opposition needs to build a base membership that is oriented to the visions and ideology of the party as a means to foster convergence and uniformity in approaches to democratic breakthroughs. Most importantly to dismantle personality cults because their entrenchment is that which has led us to this point. In short, the opposition should build an institution and execute bold collective actions that shift power to the masses they claim to represent. 

 

 

In conclusion, Nelson Chamisa has been presented with a chance to realize that he needs to start trusting other leaders and sharing power collectively. Equally, let’s accept that the strategic ambiguity approach has failed and we have to try new ones. It is also important that at this time, the Citizen Coalition for Change must work to close all gaps which can be exploited by enemies. It is sad and strange that a party with so many lawyers would run a party- the biggest and most popular party in the country without a single document, they couldn't produce a party constitution, a register of meetings, and even minutes recorded during meetings when requested by the court. One can not understand how the leadership ended in this situation, running a party like a "masse" white sector garment church. If you are dealing with a competitive authorization regime leave nothing to chance. 

Moreover, the way forward has to be robust, Chamisa must now lead from the front otherwise the popular support base will start losing faith in him. Actions must now accompany Bible verses. He can't afford to be viewed as a motivational speaker.

Youngerson Matete is a pro-democracy and Human Rights activist, a student of Political Science. He is the founder of Project Vote 263, a youth-led initiative to foster inclusive participatory democracy in Zimbabwe. He writes in his own capacity. His views do represent any organization.

Cell: +263 773 622 044

Email: youngmatete0@gmail.com/ director@projectvote263.org.zw