We are being thrown into a river with hungry crocodiles, but clearly in our view I will refuse to swim in a river with hungry crocodiles. We need to extricate ourselves from the shenanigans. I will have nothing to do with sewer pond politics.

We call upon all citizens to rally behind fresh politics, new politics and genuine fresh and credible leaders who want to serve and not to be served. ZANU PF can take everything that we sweated for, take the party and its name, take the money and whoever is a beneficiary of this fraud, is a certified fraudster.

This is to officially, and under my hand, inform you fellow citizens of Zimbabwe and the world, that, with immediate effect, I no longer have anything to do with CCC.

By A Correspondent | In a stunning development, CCC President Nelson Chamisa has disassociated himself from the Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC) legislators who have remained in the illegal ZANU PF stained parliament as “certified fraudsters.” Chamisa’s dramatic announcement comes in the wake of controversies involving alleged imposter Sengezo Tshabangu and his illegal recalls from Parliament.In a fiery statement, Chamisa condemned the ongoing political maneuvers as “sewer pond politics” and rejected the notion of aligning himself with what he perceives as corrupt practices. “We are being thrown into a river with hungry crocodiles, but clearly in our view, I will refuse to swim in a river with hungry crocodiles,” Chamisa stated, signaling his refusal to participate in what he views as a deeply flawed political system.Chamisa’s criticism extended to the ruling party, ZANU PF, accusing them of political fraud and calling upon citizens to support “fresh politics, new politics, and genuine fresh and credible leaders who want to serve and not to be served.” He made it clear that his separation from CCC is effective immediately, marking a significant shift in Zimbabwean politics.His full statement, titled “Excellence. Brilliance. Difference,” outlines his perspective on the challenges facing Zimbabwe, including the legitimacy crisis, the entrenchment of authoritarianism, and the economic and social collapse in the country. Chamisa detailed the electoral irregularities and the intimidation tactics he claims were employed by ZANU PF and its allies. He also accused the ruling party of attempting to control the opposition, describing various tactics allegedly used to undermine the CCC and its leadership.Chamisa’s decision to step away from the CCC, a party he helped form two years ago, raises questions about the future of the opposition movement in Zimbabwe. His call for a return to legitimacy and majority rule, as well as his commitment to continue serving in public life, suggests he may pursue a different path in his political career.This development is a significant turn in Zimbabwean politics, signaling a potential reshaping of the opposition landscape and raising uncertainties about the CCC’s future direction.

FULL STATEMENT

E x c e l l e n c e . B r i l l i a n c e . D i f f e r e n c e

STATEMENT BY ADVOCATE NELSON CHAMISA ON THE FUTURE OF ZIMBABWE.

1. Fellow Zimbabweans, fellow citizens, I come to you with a heart full of gratitude and a deep sense of responsibility. I am aware that our beloved country is going through very difficult and challenging circumstances, politically, economically and socially. The majority of the citizens are flocking into the diaspora. Those who are at home are hustling for a living with great toil yet without a fair return. Things are hard. Life is difficult. But this must and will soon come to an end.
2. It is exactly two years since I announced to you the formation of the CCC. You are aware of what has been unfolding over the past years and months in our beloved country, particularly during the period of run up to the election and to the present day.
3. You will no doubt, recall and distinctly note, the pre-election problems we encountered characterized by ZANU PF and ZEC’s refusal to effect necessary political, constitutional and electoral reforms.
4. You are aware of the delimitation report fatal errors and manipulation, exorbitant nomination fees challenges, the sponsoring of fake double candidates, the disqualification of candidates, both presidential and parliamentary from participating in the general elections.
5. You may also have noticed our resolve notwithstanding a lot of challenges to enter the election race which we did under protest and against all odds. This was necessitated by your call and need to give you the citizens, a fighting chance.
6. You noticed the intimidation and violence (psychological and coercive) unleashed on the citizens of Zimbabwe during and after the elections, particularly in rural Zimbabwe.
7. You noticed the incredible and unashamed harassment that we were subjected to during our campaigns (the banning of our rallies including the rally to launch our manifesto in Bindura and other rallies exceeding 100 in total). And this is all on record.
8. You would have noticed the devilish and unashamed attempt by the incumbent to disqualify our candidates (12 MPs in Bulawayo and various others).
9. You would have noticed unprecedented number of electoral legal petitions before the elections which resulted from the incumbent’s attempt to stop fair contestation.
10. You would have noticed the bizarre events that occurred on the day of voting where despite ZEC preparing for the election for 5 years, failed to deliver voting ballots and materials timeously, or at all.
11. You would have observed the involvement of FAZ throughout the country (the intimidation of voters, the sponsoring of double candidates, their attempt to discourage voting process by unleashing propaganda fliers on the voting day, and by setting up illegal tables purporting to be exit poll survey desks to intimidate voters, particularly in the rural areas)
12. You would have noticed and witnessed the balanced and authentic election observers reports including SADC, AU, Commonwealth, EU, and notably the SADC and AU reports which condemned the electoral process and the outcome and declared it an almost non-event.
13. You would have noticed despite the overwhelming election observer reports pointing to the election as a nullity including our post protestations that the incumbent proceeded to declare themself-winner. This formed what is evidently an illegitimate and disputed Government.
14. You would have noticed that soon thereafter the incumbent embarked on a process to consolidate authoritarianism by decimating the genuine alternative.
15. This was realized through various illegal methods and criminal stratagems including the infiltration of the alternative and capture of various other stakeholders resulting in engineered illegal recalls, financial mismanagement of the country’s resources and ultimately resulting in the collapse of our economy and our social collapse. This is where we are now, and I will deal briefly with the details.

THE LEGITIMACY CRISIS

16. The whole world saw, witnessed and observed our shambolic and sham elections. Without being subjective, all credible and independent electoral observers have spoken widely and openly about the elections.
17. I particularly wish to salute you the citizens of Zimbabwe for your resolve and peaceful disposition. Your efforts were and are not in vain. We extol you the citizens for your valor, indomitable commitment and your unbridled determination to realizing a just, prosperous and equitable Zimbabwe for everyone. What you did on the 23rd of August, albeit in a sham, you made history. Your sacrifices made a huge difference. You stopped a one-party state. You voted for change. You won. You braved the night cold. Some of you travelled from out of the country. You used your own resources. All that effort was not in vain.

The steps we are taking now are in defense of your commitment. What is being fought is your refusal to yield to systematic disenfranchisement and the sham process.

18. On the day of voting, you as citizens saw the voter intimidation, voter suppression and manipulation. You told me about the command voting, voting under the instruction and watchful eye of traditional leaders who also in turn told me about their predicament of being forced to be partisan when their traditional office call upon them to be no partisan and inclusive.
19. You also witnessed an unprecedented voter suppression and nonparticipation when you were denied the right to vote particularly in Harare and Bulawayo where ballot papers were not delivered. In itself, a clear contrived scheme to disenfranchise and systematically marginalize voters in certain targeted areas perceived to be strongholds of the alternative.
20. You also witnessed the midnight voting, midnight printing of ballot papers and midnight announcement of “midnight” results.
21. You also witnessed a bizarre presidential ballot paper layout meant to give an advantage to the incumbent.
22. You also witnessed the systematic voter displacement, having been registered in a different location.
23. You also witnessed the absence of voters roll on the polling station in terms of the law.
24. You also realize that ZEC did not respond to all the concerns that we raised hence failing to pass the bill of health of confidence and credibility. The deficits of the duty of integrity, professionalism, accountability, transparency and constitutionality is astounding.
25. You also witnessed the bizarre situation of the incumbent who was also a candidate, unilaterally, subjectively and eclectically chose or selected areas for the extension of voting.
26. You also noticed that the ink that was used was never tested and availed to the contesting parties and stakeholders.
27. You also witnessed the omission of stakeholders not being informed ahead of time of the presiding officers and being asked to raise their queries if there are any. Further, the election result was not audited, authenticated, validated and signed for by the Chief Election Agent of our Presidential Candidate, as is required by the law.
28. As you may recall, after the elections I went around the country. I came to you when I went on a citizens interface and listening tour. You were very clear that the 23 August 2023 elections did not meet the standard or pass the test of credibility. The announced result was not an authentic representation of the collective of the citizens voices.
29. In addition, I wrote to and petitioned SADC requesting their assistance to help us find each other as Zimbabweans. I further dispatched to the SADC region and African continent delegations to explain the context of the Zimbabwean challenges and our proposed solutions. SADC is to this day still seized with this matter. I want to thank African leaders for listening and extending their courtesy and magnanimity to us. It is my hope that together as Africans we will find African solutions to our African challenges.
30. In conclusion, there can be no doubt that the 23 August 2023 process was not a credible election. It goes without saying, that, it is only through an authentic and valid election, that a legitimate Government is formed, emerges and is recognized by the citizens and the whole world. This simply has not happened. This is the legitimacy issue. Proper and credible elections must be conducted in Zimbabwe.

ENTRENCHMENT OF AUTHORITARIANISM

31. I salute you fellow citizens. You won against all odds under difficult circumstances although the 23 August process was not a proper election.
32. We salute the citizens for stopping oppression and repression. What you did matters.
33. After they failed to defeat you in the arena you control as citizens that is the ballot, they went to give power to institutions that you do not control.
34. They don’t want to give citizens rights and the opportunity to choose their leadership. They don’t believe in one man one vote and they also don’t believe in elections, for them the idea is to have a ritual. And for purposes for portraying an exercise of an election which is not an election, they want to make sure your voice does not matter. They went forward to use the institutions they control ie Parliament and courts to make sure the voice of the citizen is not heard.
35. All the tomfoolery and the so-called recalls are an attempt to perpetuate the taking away of your voice, citizens’ rights. This is as a systematic and deliberate disenfranchisement campaign.
36. Realizing the rejection by the citizens, the incumbent, as you can see the incumbent has decided and conceived that for their survival they have to resort to authoritarianism and repression. Chief amongst their strategy is the destruction of the alternative voice.
37. Just twelve days after the swearing in of MPs and Councilors, you saw the engineered emergence and sprouting of an impostor masquerading as an acting secretary general of CCC, a position and title that did not and does not exist in the CCC. This said person purported to wield powers to unilaterally recall citizens elected representatives, powers to instruct the Parliament, powers to instruct ZEC, powers to instruct the Courts, powers to disregard the electorate and power to impose citizens representatives to parliament and local authorities.
38. This person who is unknown to us, now single-handedly wields so much power. He has basically been turned into an organization, courtesy of the Zanu PF.
39. The emergence of this imposter should not be looked at in isolation from the 23 August sham. They failed to achieve your disenfranchisement through the 23 August sham. They are pursuing this agenda, till this day, an attempt to suppress the voice of you, the citizens.
40. What is mind boggling is the fact that the whole nation has had to be plunged into unjustifiable waste of national resources in a wasteful yet avoidable expenditure on illegal byelections. This money would have made a huge difference in fighting cholera and other social priorities to save and preserve lives.
41. Fellow citizens, as you may be aware, we held over 88 rallies. We did our best against all odds and under difficult circumstances. Contrary to peddled propaganda, we used our own resources-the citizens resources. Our biggest donor was you the citizens. We travelled over 29 660 km across Zimbabwe to meet the citizens. I vividly recall the hopes and expectations you expressed to me wherever I went. The citizens of Zimbabwe in the diaspora and at home sustained our campaigns. And we are forever grateful. We were able to raise nomination fees for some candidates who did not have. We had posters for all candidates. We fielded candidates in almost all constituencies and wards. We deployed and supported polling agents in almost all polling stations. This is no mean fit. It’s not a small achievement. Surprisingly, at that point the unknown person purporting to be interim something had already started to pitch camp with the other side.
42. To complete the whole circus, all of a sudden even our competitor ZANU PF pretends as if they were born yesterday and do not know who they were contesting with on the 23rd of August 2023. Yet, even a grade one pupil knows who the leaders and representatives of the CCC are, yet our courts, the Speaker of parliament and ZEC claim that they don’t know this common fact.
    Something is definitely wrong.
43. Despite this person not being known to us, this is a clear scheme of the authoritarian incumbent to decimate the alternative and perpetuate tyranny.
44. They have now resorted to the abuse of our courts. Through this, as a strategy of entrenching authoritarianism. They have sponsored agents that have infiltrated the alternative in order to ensure that they install an opposition that dances to their tune like what they have always done in the past.
45. For the record, it’s a cardinal political sin to seek to negate clear citizens political choices constitutionally expressed through the ballot, albeit disputed and contested.
46. Political persecution has also increased. The incarceration without bail and ‘conviction’ of lawyer and former MP Hon Job Sikhala, Hon Godfrey Sithole and together with other political prisoners is a case in point. Many are charged under different political charges, including many human rights defenders.

WHY IS THE INCUMBENT DOING ALL THIS?

47. The incumbent is doing all this because they want a Government-controlled opposition and alternative. They also want an opposition that thrives on coupons and stipends, joining the feeding trough and the gravy train, almost being in a hear no evil, see no evil, and speak no evil mode.
48. They want to create a weak opposition and a puppet leadership without a base, who compromise on fundamentals of democracy, accountability and good governance.
49. They are unhappy with an alternative that refuses to be bought or contaminated by trinkets and trappings of power.
50. They don’t want us as citizens’ leaders to have access to the political parties’ funds as enshrined in terms of the Political Parties Finance Act.
51. They also seek to illegally divert taxpayers money and national resources to themselves and their created poodles. In essence criminally looting and abusing national resources as we have all witnessed in the last 5 years and before.
52. The incumbent seeks to destroy our regional and global advocacy for a return to legitimacy and majority rule in Zimbabwe.
53. The incumbent seeks to shoot and destroy the messenger in order to kill the message of a fraudulent election.
54. The incumbent seeks to divert change champions to focus internally and inward and not focus on the bigger picture of legitimacy and a credible election.
55. The incumbent has been seeking to fraudulently secure a false and fallacious two thirds majority in parliament.
56. The incumbent was embarrassed and wanted to authentic itself hoping that they will get away with fraud.
57. The incumbent wanted to discredit the alternative as weak divided and without capacity to govern which they fully know that is false.
58. The incumbent was embarrassed they didn’t get a single seat in Bulawayo. So, this is a strategy to claw back on the citizens victory, by taking criminally all they could not secure through their governance record.

THE CONSEQUENCES OF ILLEGITIMACY – ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL COLLAPSE

59. Fellow citizens, the consequences of a disputed and contested election have been too evident for all to see. We are wallowing in abject poverty, opportunities are dwindling and our dignity eroded.
60. After the incumbent took office the following has been the status of our economic and social circumstances:

• Collapse of social service, in particular the issue of cholera.
• The issue of forced migration: The influx of citizens at the passport office and the escalating number of citizens leaving the country for other countries.
• The Government has increased the passport price almost cashing in on the desperation of citizens.

61. I need not remind you and mention how our economy has deteriorated. Since the 2018 sham election when the US dollar was 1:1 now officially it has depreciated at the official rate of $9,414 by 944,000% and at the parallel market $15, 000 by 1,500,000% despite the misbegotten bragging that the RTGS is the strongest currency in the region. The nation has a debt of over $18 billion.
62. The state coffers are empty resulting in high taxation. Pensioners have no pension. War veterans are wallowing in poverty. Education is now beyond the reach of many. Our teachers are not being paid well. Prices are skyrocketing in the shops. Corruption and looting of state resources causing entrenched poverty amongst the working class. We are unprecedented high levels of corruption.
63. Professionals are disrespected through meagre salaries with no value or to their professional skills.
64. The health sector is in a sorry state. Our hospitals have become death traps.
    Most of our medical professionals are leaving the country.
65. We are ranked least happy in the world, highest inflation, highest road accidents and highest poverty. We lead in the negative.
66. All this is after the sham election. Can this administration be expected to change things? Certainly No. Can the incumbent be expected to transform people’s lives and reverse the mess they have created? Clearly No. What is very clear is that this administration has absolutely no plan.
67. This is clearly demonstrated by the fact that for the first time in electoral history, ZANU PF went to elections without a manifesto. This is a clear indication that they have no plan and citizens cannot expect any plan.

THE WAY FORWARD

RETURNING ZIMBABWE TO LEGITIMACY AND MAJORITY RULE.

68. To fix the legitimacy problem and to return Zimbabwe to majority rule we need all-inclusive politics for everyone and embark on comprehensive political, electoral and constitutional reforms to pave way and create a platform for peace, tolerance, reconciliation, unity and prosperity. We must get rid of toxicity, hate and selfishness. Leaders in public office must serve and not be served. Government must operate on the basis of truth, respect, accountability, responsibility and granting dignity to all citizens.

THE CCC

69. As you may be aware, the CCC idea was an idea we prayerfully conceived. The original idea meant to place Our God and the Citizens at the center of all decision making. This test was not passed and the purpose was not served.
70. The original CCC idea has however been contaminated, bastardized, hijacked by ZANU PF through the abuse of State institutions. CCC has not been aligned to its founding Purpose and Mandate. Further, CCC has now been rendered an extension of and been taken over by ZANU PF. CCC has, to all intents and purposes, been criminally handed over to ZANU PF.
71. Our politics has been defiled by schemes of personal aggrandizement upon a runaway pursuit of politics of positions, title, benefits, trinkets and trappings of office. A contaminated, bastardized, hijacked CCC cannot deliver a New Great Zimbabwe! But then God’s grace is sufficient! Indeed God is in it.
72. However, it is not like Zanu Pf is unconquerable, this Zanu Pf you see today, you will see it no more. Our God has opened a new way. Unfortunately, the road is narrow and I have to meet the demands of my assignment. The citizens of Zimbabwe will be set free from the hands of oppression.
73. On account of the absence of any plan by the incumbent to resolve the Zimbabwe crisis, the solution to the problems affecting our beautiful and beloved country. Zimbabwe must return to legitimacy and majority happiness.
74. We as the citizens are duty bound to find lasting answers to our perennial national questions. With what has happened to CCC, we need honest and accountable citizens in leadership. Stand ready to serve!
75. I have been approached by war veterans, women’s groups, youth groups, church leaders, traditional leaders, trade unions, civil society and even various leaders on the continent on the ways to find a lasting solution to our problems as a nation.
76. Various schemes and carrots have been dangled to entice the undermining of the cause for freedom. Some of us have refused silver coins in pursuit of the higher ideal- Happiness and Dignity for everyone. It is now clear to everyone that big money is finding into the pockets of some, who, on account of poverty and material desperation have succumbed to the temptation of enticement. The infiltration of CCC and our efforts to wrestle it out of capture, is to our utmost surprise but not unexpected, been denied through the judicial system- defying all logic and legal reasoning.
77. We are being thrown into a river with hungry crocodiles, but clearly in our view I will refuse to swim in a river with hungry crocodiles. We need to extricate ourselves from the shenanigans. I will have nothing to do with sewer pond politics.
78. We call upon all citizens to rally behind fresh politics, new politics and genuine fresh and credible leaders who want to serve and not to be served. ZANU PF can take everything that we sweated for, take the party and its name, take the money and whoever is a beneficiary of this fraud, is a certified fraudster.
79. This is to officially, and under my hand, inform you fellow citizens of Zimbabwe and the world, that, with immediate effect, I no longer have anything to do with CCC.
80. As a patriot, I remain active in public service. I also remain a loyal citizen listener, freedom advocate, a citizens’ champion and leader.
81. My focus remains fully on Zimbabwe, asserting your victory, honoring the citizens mandate and God’s calling to provide leadership.
82. There are fresh things we need to do. Let’s all work together for total freedom, true change and wholistic transformation for our beloved country. Giving up or giving in is not an option. Nothing comes without tenacity and resilience.
83. Fellow citizens, you will be kept posted on the next step.
84. Thank you all, fellow citizens for the support and continued prayers as we get ready to lead and play a nation-building role in a New Great Zimbabwe. Let us embrace the opportunities that lie ahead. Change is coming soon! God bless you. #Godisinit

24/01/2024 HARARE, ZIMBABWE