By Correspondent
Today is two days before the biggest opposition party in the country holds its equivalent of primary elections.
As revealed by its leader Nelson Chamisa, Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC) will be selecting representatives for all offices.
Even Chamisa himself is open to being contested.
“Zanu PF looks for a leader who wants to lead the people, but we want a leader whom the people want,” Chamisa said.
“Zanu PF wants its candidates to submit curriculum vitaes, but we focus on community track record — what are the people saying about the leader they want?
“We are putting emphasis on citizens’ participation,” he says.
However, there is a caveat.
The general public has been generally starved of information about the exercise to restrict interest to a minimum.
One cannot simply walk into wherever the exercise will be held but you have to call first for the full details.
Information around the whole exercise is scarce and secretive.
The unstated but explicitly apparent fact is that, ‘Stay away, this is our business!
A State of Memento
In the search for a panacea against ZANU PF and state infiltration the Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC) has become mired in paranoia.
A poster flighted on social media this week served to reveal the absurd level of the paranoia.
It’s a simple black and yellow note announcing Candidate Nomination, the date and time.
The venue is stated as country wide. Great we know where that is!
A follow-up poster adds more information which includes phone numbers and the advice to contact the stated persons for more information.
The whole exercise has publicly become a private affair from which the rest of the public and potential community participants cannot partake.
The irony is that the CCC consensus model has been sold as driven by the community.
This is the same community from whom information about the exercise has been hidden.
Hidden Structures
The simple revelation from this scenario is that CCC actually has party structures.
It has simply chosen not to publicise them but uses them to coordinate its activities such as these secretive primaries.
Chamisa has been going around the country meeting his members many times.
The attendance figures at most of these reveal the planned and coordinated nature of the events.
However, the downside to this secretive approach is that it betrays a dangerous entitlement to voters by the opposition.
CCC is dangerously confident that the rest of the public, kept out of the exercise, will accept whoever is chosen.
Whereas ZANU PF tried to drag everyone to its primaries, CCC has done the opposite.
It doesn’t want you anywhere near the internal issues; until the general elections!
