By Correspondent
The peak of the newly formed Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC) wasn’t the seats it won in the 2022 by-elections.
By the time the seats were won it was obvious they would be won.
The actual peak were the huge masses it drew to its rallies just after being formed, before it had competed in any election.
The sight of yellow masses just after Mwonzora had done a supposedly thorough disemboweling of the opposition camp was shocking.
It was a raucous admonition and rebuff to all who thought the real opposition was done for.
Chamisa cresting the yellow fever with rhetorical swagger and defiance was an insult to the failed intelligence of those behind Mwonzora.
Thus the holding of rallies became a challenge.
Obstacles
Speaking to reporters this week after meeting a SADC delegation Chamisa says over 50 rallies have been blocked ever since.
Ever since it realised how formidable CCC remains, gorvenment has stepped up efforts to sabotage it.
By employing the weapons of incumbency such as the ZRP and courts, it has made the political field difficult.
Former Chairman of MDC Alliance and CCC member Hon Job Sikhala has been langushing in jail and constantly denied bail.
The Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) has literally refused to release the Voter’s Roll.
CCC legislator Rusty Markham has taken them to court but victory remains elusive.
The plethora of electoral reforms which the opposition has been harping about for ages remain undone.
This month Charlton Hwende the de facto Secretary General of CCC, said Parliament had the issues on the Order Paper.
It’s a small victory that amounts to obligatory points which don’t matter in Zimbabwe’s politics.
The government can simply ignore the debates and go ahead with its own plans.
Most damning for Chamisa has been the failure of the much touted Consensus Candidate Selection Model.
The exercise to select legislative and local authorities candidates has been riddled with problems.
Instead of functioning as the suave new method to select representatives without the acrimony of direct internal primaries, the model has been a jumbled mess of vague steps and methods.
The results from where the exercise was succesful are still not yet our weeks after.
Some journalists, like Hopewell Chin’ono, have actually stated that CCC has failed to get candidates in some rural areas.
After the euphoria of his emergence from the rubble of MDC, it appears that Chamisa’s bubble is bursting.
With only a few months left before the 2023 elections it is surely the wrong time.