MDC T supporter Adam Maenzanise has blamed CCC leader Nelson Chamisa for disrupting May day celebrations in Dzivarasekwa stadium.
In a statement, Maenzanise said Chamisa tried to humiliate his opponent Douglas Mwonzora by paying his youths to cause havoc if he was to appear at the stadium.
Below is the full statement by Adam
Zimbabweans are now getting tired by CCC President Nelson Chamisa political antics and a penchant to try to humiliate his opponents. On 1 May, I attended the celebrations at Dzivaresekwa Stadium organized by the ZCTU. What was clear to me was that the CCC had organized its youths to man the gates to the stadium and to harass their opponents. They were also organized to make noise as soon as Chamisa arrived.
From the talk I had with them I gathered that they had plans to harass MDCT President Douglas Mwonzora as soon as he walked in. In fact one of them who I know only by the name Dunga told me that they had plans to chase away Mwonzora from the stadium as soon as he walked in. Under no circumstances were they going to allow Mwonzora to give a speech. They told me that they had organized their party youths in Dzivaresekwa and other townships for that task.
Unfortunately, for these people Mwonzora did not turn up. There was word that he had gone to attend a funeral in Gweru where one of his MPs Catherine Gozho had lost her husband. But the CCC vented their disrespect on the Cabinet Minister who was there. They were not interested in hearing what the Minister was saying. They ignored the pleas of the ZCTU officials to keep quiet and allow proceedings to continue. To my utter surprise they also were rowdy when the leader of ZCTU was giving the main speech.
Things got worse when Gift Chimanikire, who is a veteran Trade Unionist tried to speak. They disrupted him because he is also the Organising Secretary of the MDCT. This manifests the high level of intolerance resident in the CCC cult. It is not surprising that the CCC spin doctors Ruhanya and Chingono want to lie that it was workers who refused to be addressed by the MDC. It was the CCC members who disrupted the proceedings for their selfish ends and this well captured in the numerous video clips doing the rounds on social media.
It was not difficult to see what was at play. The CCC and the faction of the ZCTU led by former President Mutasa were out to humiliate MDCT and the new ZCTU leadership that emerged at the ZCTU December 2021 congress. Chamisa made an anarchist move of refusing to sit in the section reserved for invited guests and sitting in the terraces tacitly fueling his supporters’ lawlessness. They were clad in their party regalia despite this not being political event. Even Chamisa himself came wearing his party regalia. This is a clear sign that these people have no respect for the workers.
As Mutasa, who seems still in denial of his overwhelming defeat for the post of ZCTU President, was sitting next to Chamisa in the terraces ignoring the chair reserved for the former president, it was obvious that they were working in cohorts. These actions are not only disruptive and disrespectful but they also are divisive to the labour movement as a whole.
It won’t be surprising that ZCTU will add its name to the host of organisations in the country complaining about Mr Chamisa’s divisive tendencies. Recently the Apostolic Mission (AFM) leaders have accused him of fanning divisions within the church. Such shenanigans must stop, especially, coming from people who profess ambitions to lead our great country, regardless of the remoteness of such ambitions being realized.
Great appreciation should go to the current ZCTU leadership who did not believe there were still rascals around Nelson who had the guts to disturb and blackmail the May Day.
