Mahere, Prof Moyo square-off over CCC membership and congress

Exiled former cabinet Minister Jonathan Moyo has clashed with opposition Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC) spokesperson Fadzayi Mahere after he questioned the party’s capacity to own members when it had no structures, ideology and “never held a congress”.

Moyo posted on his official Twitter handle on Friday asking: “As a brand new party formed in Jan 2022; with no link to any current or past political party; without having held a founding congress; with no ideology; with no constitution and with no structures; how can, or on what basis does, does CCC claim anyone as its member?”

But Mahere slapped back accusing Moyo of failing to deal with the Zanu-PF regime after he fled Zimbabwe in November 2017 after a military coup that ousted late former President Robert Mugabe.

“As a person who fled Zimbabwe in November 2017 in fear, with no plan to challenge the regime but to hide, without a clue of when he’d ever come back, with no courage to stand up to dictatorship, how can or on what basis does Prof lecture us on anything?”

CCC was formed in January this year by Nelson Chamisa and the group that dumped MDC Alliance after Douglas Mwonzora claimed ownership of the name of the party, its properties and funds.

Just two months after its formation, the party went on to be the main opposition party after winning 19 parliamentary seats out 28 during the March 26 by-elections. Zanu-PF won 9 and Mwonzora’s MDC Alliance garnered zero.

But Moyo believes Chamisa’s organisation unleashed gatekeepers to stop him from helping the party.

“We supported them in 2018 up to March 2022; but we made it clear that, as pan African nationalists, joining their party was not an option for us; so we were happy to work with but not for them. They unleashed their gatekeepers on us, the rest is history,” Moyo recently said.

In December last, Moyo revoked the offer to train MDC Alliance polling agents ahead of general elections scheduled for 2023 after the MDC Alliance leadership, then led by Chamisa, failed to state its position following allegations that the offer had divided the opposition party.

Moyo says he offered to support MDC Alliance polling agents at all polling stations in the Tsholotsho constituency and to train 44 000 polling agents.