The internecine infighting within the Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC) was on full display at the funeral wake of CCC Senator, Murisi ‘Huchi’ Zwizwai.
The party’s top leadership, including Zwizwai’s political rival, Nelson Chamisa, used the funeral to attack rival factions. Chamisa asserted that he had not abandoned serving the people but sought to distance himself from his rivals machinations within the party.
In a direct response to Chamisa, CCC Kuwadzana East representative, Charlton Hwende, who was Zwizwai’s best friend, criticized the CCC for lacking love and compassion, accusing it of hounding its own members for political gain. Hwende emphasized that Zwizwai, despite being maimed and vilified, had been instrumental in Chamisa’s elevation after the late Morgan Tsvangirai hesitated over Chamisa’s ill-fated move.
Meanwhile, despite vocal opposition from CCC Interim Leader, Professor Welshman Ncube, regarding Sengezo Tshabangu’s latest appointments in Parliament, and his declaration that he was not Tshabangu’s ally, the two were seen sitting together and sharing laughs in comradely camaraderie during Zwizwai’s funeral.
Zwizwai was a key figure in the Maruva Cabal led by Tendai Biti, which engaged in a war of attrition against Chamisa’s undemocratic strategic ambiguity. The faction is named after Zwizwai’s business premises, paMaruva in Kensington, Harare, where they would convene to strategize against the Chamisa faction.
The Machiavellian political gamesmanship within the CCC knows no bounds, as factions hijack funerals to score political points. It was inhuman and unbecoming of CCC members to desecrate the funeral of one of their own. It was refreshing to see ZANU PF legislators and ministers showing ubuntu by attending the funeral wake of a political rival and using the occasion to showcase love and tolerance despite political differences, a trait obviously in short supply within the CCC.
The hijacking of funerals is not new. It was started by Chamisa, who took over the then MDC Alliance (now CCC) at the funeral wake of Tsvangirai, ironically, at the instigation of Zwizwai, who was then Chamisa’s close ally.
The hijacking of funerals is a non event. Votes are not amassed through such acts.
