‘The contention we are still MDC Alliance doesn’t hold’ – Mahere

Opposition Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC) national spokesperson Fadzayi Mahere said her party, since its formation in January this year, has been “very deliberate in ensuring we don’t replicate the old MDC Alliance”.

CCC, formed by Nelson Chamisa and his colleagues after their former party MDC Alliance was grabbed by Douglas Mwonzora through the help of the Zanu-PF government, is the country’s main opposition party.

The party went on to win the majority of seats contested for in both Parliament and local government by-elections on the 26th of March this year. Zanu PF retains the overall majority in Parliament

With general elections scheduled for 2023, critics are demanding that the party should set up structures, come up with a Constitution, party manifesto and go to a congress. 

In a live interview with Heart Soul TV last night, Mahere said CCC leaders were not going to institute policies that they used during the MDC Alliance days. She also insisted that their approach was citizen based.

“It’s a fallacy that we are using the MDC Alliance structures. They remain with the MDC Alliance. Mwonzora is still there. Their constitutive documents are still there. Mwonzora says they’re going to have a Congress even though they’re squabbling about it,” Mahere said.

“We’ve been very deliberate in ensuring we don’t replicate the old MDC Alliance. A completely new way of doing business. Look at how we’ve run elections, the language, values, mission, it’s different. Different symbols, logo. The contention we are still MDC Alliance doesn’t hold.

“There’s a contradiction that we are a continuation of the old MDC Alliance structure, and that we don’t have structures. The truth of the matter is that we are yet to launch. If you put CCC here, and MDC Alliance there, the difference is night and day.

“Even our ethos of putting citizens at the center of all decision making never used to happen in the MDC. It would just get announced that this is your constitution, this is your symbol. That’s not what we are doing this time.”

Mahere further stated that the CCC was going to prioritise citizen centred policies including putting new faces in the leadership structure.

“Look at the way MDC Alliance operated, there’s a lot of gate-keeping. There’s no room for fresh voices, fresh faces, new people to get into politics, new candidates to run, and yet CCC is offering exactly that. You’ll see when we formally launch, all will be clear,” she said.

Former cabinet Minister Jonathan Moyo has been advocating tirelessly for CCC to have structures and a Constitution.