Former Harare East MP Tendai Biti has finally responded to accusations that he and fellow senior leader Welshman Ncube are behind Sengezo Tshabangu, the self-declared Interim Secretary General of the opposition Citizens
Coalition for Change (CCC) who is unilaterally recalling legislators and councillors who won on a party ticket in the August 2023 elections.In his statement titled “Zimbabwe at a
Crossroads,” issued on Saturday, Biti slammed what he labeled as “malicious and defamatory” allegations that he was conniving with Tshabangu to instigate the recalls which are disrupting the CCC which is led by Nelson Chamisa.
“It is disconcerting to hear and read a continuous stream of abusive, malicious, and defamatory claims that Professor Welshman Ncube and I are conspiring with the regime and its proxies to disrupt a struggle that has occupied and consumed all our adult lives,” lamented Biti.
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As someone deeply entrenched in this struggle, one who has endured imprisonment and physical attacks by Zanu-PF, it is disheartening that comrades who have been with us on this journey are now being falsely labeled with badges Zanu-PF wishes they had coined first,” he added.
“Given what I and my family have sacrificed for this struggle, it saddens me to publicly state that I will never be part of a project to weaken the democratic struggle in Zimbabwe.
RELATED ARTICLESI have been imprisoned and tortured for the change we all seek, and I have stood firm. I have never worked for Zanu-PF, and I will die before I lend my hand to the illegitimate Zanu-PF regime.”
“Being a democrat who believes in constitutionalism, the rule of law, transparency, openness, and collective leadership, I could never compromise on our core values.”
“I know the pain of a recall. My family knows the pain of a recall. The people of Harare East know the pain of a recall. With other MPs, such as Temba Mliswa, we unsuccessfully fought for the removal and repeal of section 129(1)(k),” stated the former MP.
“It has been a long and arduous road, and victory is closer than the distance back to where we started. The regime is now engaged in a malicious push to weaken our struggle, the progressive movement, through the illegal recall of elected public representatives,” Biti concluded.
Many people took the view Biti was involved after an interview with TechMagTv’s Toneo Rutsito gave the impression he was taking delight in the chaos.
In the interview Biti explained that he had been focused on his own affairs since he was not selected as the party’s Parliamentary candidate in the August elections.
His reluctance to condemn Tshabangu did not go down well with party supporters.