Albert Chavhunduka
The baby has finally been weaned from the mother’s breast.
Former MDC-Alliance leader Nelson Chamisa has officially cut all ties with the MDC brand and announced a new name for his party, the Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC) as the upcoming by-elections and general elections in 2023 loom.
Addressing the media in Harare yesterday, Nelson Chamisa said they are a new organization with a new leadership and structures.
“We are coming as a new entity, new leadership, values and structures. We are not rebranding, if you know MDC as a brand please dine with those you have given MDC-Alliance.
“We are a new party, nothing to do with the past, nothing to do with the yesterday we are starting afresh,” said Chamisa.
CCC leader added that his party is building from the ground up and have met the requirements of the Zimbabwe Election Commission (ZEC).
“We have given them our new logo, we have given them our new name, we have given them our new leadership, we have given them our new thrust except our new strategy. Everything else, we have given them according to the dictates of the law,” he said.
Nelson Chamisa said his party has a new focus and a new philosophy that is centered on the citizens.
“The citizen is back to the center, the citizen is responsible for decision making, policy making and every decision is must be centered on the citizen, that is where we are going. We have listened to the people of Zimbabwe; this is not an easy decision. The people have told us to leave the dirty past alone and focus on building a new fresh future, and I am the face of that future,” he said.
He added they came to the decision of forming a new party as a means of avoiding confusion in the upcoming by-elections and general elections next year.
“We have said that there will be no confusion, we do not want any confusion. Those other people came after our name, they thought they have taken the MDC and we said have it. They said that we have taken Tsvangirai, and we said have him, they thought that they have taken our headquarters, and we said have the headquarters, they thought they have taken our MPs and we said have those MPs, they thought they have taken our finances, fine share with Mr Mnangagwa.”
Speaking to Review and Mail, Free Market Activist and Political Commentator Rejoice Ngwenya applauded Nelson Chamisa for his decision to rebrand the party and move on.
“It is critically important, a matter of life and death, for Chamisa and his team to rebrand, especially now so that the MDCA market can internalize the new reality,” said Ngwenya.
Ngwenya urged Nelson Chamisa to move on and form his own party adding that MDC-alliance rebranding had an impact on Mwonzora who recently declared himself the leader of the MDC Alliance.
“Douglas Mwonzora, the justice system, parliament and ZEC have contaminated and defiled the MDC brand. Chamisa must not allow political bravado to confuse his voters, so it is important to move on and discard damaged goods,” he said.
“Mwonzora is a political hologram, disruptive at that. It’s an illusion, judiciary constructed to divide opposition votes. It will render Mwonzora dysfunctional.”
Another analyst Gibson Nyikadzino rebranding is a way for Chamisa to chart a new course for his party.
“He’s willing to give in and lose the institutional memory associated with the MDC to chart a real course. It is part of his trajectory in ensuring he creates a path which he says is driven by the citizens after his many consultations with the citizens under the theme Citizen’s Convergence for Change,” he said.
Earlier this month, MDC-T leader Douglas Mwonzora wrote to the Zimbabwe Elections Commission declaring himself as the president of the MDC-Alliance led by Nelson Chamisa. He began by recalling MDC-Alliance MPs and Councilors who were formerly MDC-T accusing them of joining another party, the MDC-Alliance.