BY NQOBANI NDLOVU
THE obscure Citizens Convergence for Change (CCC) has written to the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) complaining that Nelson Chamisa’s Citizens Coalition for Change party is using their abbreviation.
In a letter to ZEC chief elections officer Utoile Silaigwana dated January 28, CCC secretary-general Farai Zhou said the electoral body made a mistake in recognising Chamisa’s CCC.
Chamisa unveiled the CCC on Monday in Harare following a bitter contest for the MDC Alliance name with Douglas Mwonzora. Mwonzora is claiming MDC symbols, and on Friday he also warned his former deputy Thokozani Khupe from using the MDC T.
“While we are still consulting our lawyers regarding the question whether “Citizens Coalition for Change” is too close to our name to cause confusion to the reasonable voter, it is beyond question that there cannot be, and you cannot accept, a new political party that uses the abbreviation ‘CCC’,” Zhou wrote to Silaigwana.
Silaigwana last night professed ignorance about the letter when contacted for comment.
“I haven’t seen the letter. I am not aware of it,” he said.
But Zhou said the CCC title belonged to them having had written to the ZEC in September 2021, announcing the formation of the party.
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At the time, Zhou’s CCC was being touted as an alternative party name to then Chamisa’s MDC Alliance.
Zhou has also named prominent Bulawayo lawyer Tavengwa Hara as the party’s legal representative. But Hara distanced himself from the party, fuelling claims that this was a state-funded proxy.
“…it is wrong for the ZEC to consider that it can easily parcel if off to another entity. Particularly when that entity clearly seeks to benefit from our name and colours: ours as you are aware being BLUE and YELLOW.
“The time for suing ZEC will come, when you start fiddling with things to deny voters their choice, please do not invite us to start suing you now. Kindly liaise with this political party and agree a different abbreviation for them to use, which is not ours.”
But Chamisa last night told The Standard that the CCC was an “unstoppable” new wave.
- @NqobaniNdlovu
