Emptied CCC ends its boycott of parliament while the court schedules a hearing on the recall challenge

Harare | After a two-week boycott that was prompted by Sengezo Tshabangu, the self-appointed interim secretary general of the Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC), who had recalled over a dozen party MPs, legislators from the CCC returned to parliament on Thursday without their colleagues.

CCC leader Nelson Chamisa said a fortnight ago that he was going to “disengage” from all parliament and council activities in protest of the expulsion of his MPs and council members.

Speaker Jacob Mudenda issued a six-session ban on the parliamentarians concurrently with the boycott following the chaotic events that took place in the august house on October 11 when 14 party MPs and nine senators were expelled.

The High Court will convene on November 2 to consider a party challenge to the unpopular recalls.

In response to the fraudulent recalls of our senators, representatives, and council members by an imposter, the party declared in a statement that “disengagement is one of the measures we have instituted to demand respect for the people’s votes.”

The nation’s largest opposition has come under constant fire from the populace for failing to come up with strong plans to fend off the government led by Zanu PF’s ongoing victimisation.

Ostallos Siziba, the party’s deputy spokesperson, informed reporters on Thursday that while CCC still has tactics up its sleeve, it won’t use them all just yet in anticipation of a court hearing regarding its appeal.

Concerning the party boycott, he stated, “At this time, we are going through a review process.”

As long as the case is still ongoing in court, we cannot make any political choices.

“We also haven’t yet consulted with important stakeholders to investigate every option for resolving the recall issue.”

The court challenge will serve as yet another examination of the neutrality of the Zimbabwean bench in presiding over legal battles between the government and an opposition that has often lost cases before judges who are perceived by opponents of the government as being compromised.

With Mnangagwa declaring November 7 as the date the electoral court will accept applications from potential candidates ahead of the December 9 by-elections scheduled to replace recalled MPs, the CCC finds itself at a loss for how to respond to its biggest post-election conundrum.