Zimbabwe’s main opposition party, the Citizens’ Coalition for Change (CCC), reportedly owes its workers over US$1.2 million in salary arrears accumulated over two years.
According to NewsDay, these employees, contracted before the party split, were assigned various roles in the technical department between 2022 and 2023 and were promised salary payments upon disbursement of political party funds.
The CCC has since split into three factions following the departure of party leader Nelson Chamisa in January this year.
The factions, led by Jameson Timba, Welshman Ncube, and Sengezo Tshabangu, are currently battling for control of the financial allocation under the political parties fund.
Employees who spoke to NewsDay expressed frustration, stating that party leaders have not addressed their concerns.
Each worker is owed between US$10,000 and US$50,000 over the 24 months. The workers, who claim they are not aligned with any CCC faction, have threatened legal action against party leaders.
The Timba-led CCC spokesperson Promise Mkwananzi confirmed the issue of salary arrears to NewsDay. He said:
The employees were due to be paid through the political grant which has been diverted to impostors. We implore those with the money to consider and prioritise the workers in this situation.
Tshabangu’s personal assistant Nqobizitha Mlilo also acknowledged the debt. He said:
Senator Tshabangu is aware of this issue. When he became aware of the issue, he requested to be furnished with the various contracts of the employees. He is now in possession of those contracts.
The Welshman-Ncube-led CCC spokesperson Willias Madzimure said he was not aware of the issue, but acknowledged that there were individuals employed by the party. Said Madzimure:
The office of the secretary-general deals with that issue, including those who call themselves secretary-general of the party. They should respond.
There is a need to authenticate who were the employees, so the office of the secretary-general is better placed to respond to that.
Posting on X (formerly Twitter) on Monday, October 21, Hwende denied that the party owed its workers US$1.2 million.
He added that they will receive CCC’s ZiG22,116,500 from the ZiG70 million allocated to political parties that participated in the August 2023 harmonised elections. He wrote:
The CCC party led by Prof Welshman Ncube does not owe anyone this kind of money. This money which will be paid soon will be used for party programmes and Activities.
We are busy finalising payment registers for our Elections Agents that worked for the party during 2023 Elections.
For comments, Feedback and Opinions do get in touch with our editor on WhatsApp: +44 7949 297606.
