By A Correspondent
Sengezo Tshabangu is being accused of “playing a stolen guitar” as he celebrates a court victory that political analysts say symbolizes a hijack of the people’s struggle.
The High Court has ruled that Tshabangu’s expulsion from the Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC) was unlawful, finding that the party’s disciplinary procedures were legally flawed and procedurally unsound.
Tshabangu had been expelled on February 12, 2025, after being accused of violating the party’s constitution and undermining its leadership. The decision came from a faction of the CCC led by Welshman Ncube.
However, on April 11, 2025, Judge President Mary Zimba Dube determined that those who expelled Tshabangu had no legal authority to do so. “Their terms of office having expired,” she ruled, referring to CCC officials who were elected in 2019 but whose mandates ended in May 2024 and were never renewed.
“In addition, he asserted that the appointment of the first to fourth respondents to the National Disciplinary Committee was done ultra vires the disciplinary code of conduct and regulations of the party,” the ruling reads. “The code is unlawful and irregular, their terms of office having expired.”
Tshabangu also told the court that he had no knowledge of the disciplinary proceedings being initiated against him, stating: “As the interim Secretary of the party, he has no knowledge of the appointment of the first to fourth respondents to the disciplinary committee and never generated the notice or sanctioned it.”
He further questioned Welshman Ncube’s role, saying: “He is rotating by himself as Acting President contrary to the provisions of the constitution.”
Justice Zimba Dube ruled that the disciplinary process was “null and void and liable to be set aside,” and that the expulsion was unlawful. She wrote:
“In this court application, the applicant approached the court seeking relief on an urgent basis for a declaration that the CCC Party’s office bearers and main organs elected on 26 May 2019 expired on 27 May 2024 and that the decision made by the disciplinary committee constituted of office bearers whose tenure of office had expired to expel him from the party is null and void liable to be set aside.”
The judge added: “After hearing the parties, I allowed the application on the basis of a preliminary point raised by the applicant.”
She also described the CCC’s effort to challenge the case as “clumsy and done without due care,” pointing out that their response was submitted late and backed by an affidavit signed by someone without proper authority.
Tshabangu brought the case against CCC National Disciplinary Committee Chairperson Sesel Zvidzayi, and committee members Concilia Chinanzvavana, Gilbert Kagodora, and Shepherd Mushonga, with the CCC itself listed as the fifth respondent.
He argued that the disciplinary committee members were elected at the Gweru Congress in 2019 and that their terms had ended in 2024. The court upheld this position, declaring any decisions made by them after May 27, 2024, as legally void.
The judge also dismissed claims that Tshabangu lacked standing in the matter due to unpaid party subscriptions or failure to exhaust internal appeal processes, labeling those arguments “baseless.”
The ruling not only reinstates Tshabangu but also raises serious questions about the legitimacy of Welshman Ncube’s leadership, as his term too expired in 2024.