Africa-Press – Zimbabwe. Journalist Hopewell Chin’ono said that CCC Members of Parliament risk losing allowances and the party may lose State funding under the Political Parties (Finance) Act after they boycotted the official opening of the first session of the Tenth Parliament by President Emmerson Mnangagwa on Tuesday.
CCC CCC spokesperson, Promise Mkhwananzi, had earlier told a local publication that the opposition party will boycott the event because it does not recognise the 23 August presidential election results.
But posting on X, Chin’ono said CCC and its leader Nelson Chamisa’s “petulance” in boycotting the ceremony risks angering Mnangagwa who may decide to go after the party just as he did with the MDC Alliance after the 2018 elections. Wrote Chin’ono:
Many have asked my view on the CCC parliamentary boycott today (yesterday). Now that it has happened and it is now part of our history, I can comment without prejudice.
My view on the boycott is that it is CCC’s right if it collectively chose to stay away from parliament.
But every decision and even right has to be strategic and it must have an end game instead of just being petulant or emotional…
CCC must calculate its strength and be aware of the things within its control and grasp, and more importantly, it must calculate the risk associated with taking certain actions.
Emmerson Mnangagwa went after Chamisa’s MDCA and destroyed it using State apparatus because he felt humiliated, he went after them because he could.
Today he suffered similar humiliation addressing only his ZANUPF parliamentarians in front of diplomats.
If I were CCC, I would calculate the risk associated with a backlash, and whether I had the tools to fight back if confronted in this particular battle of a long-term war.
Mnangagwa’s actions are predictable, he will more likely dock the salaries and allowances of CCC MPs.
He will also move to stop the disbursement of their Political Parties Act funds.
The risk of CCC MPs losing their allowances is associated with creating cracks in the party, some who used their money for campaigns will feel that they need a return and not to continue losing money.
There are CCC MPs who don’t have jobs and some who have never worked their whole life, parliament is their job and or career.
If they disobey Chamisa, they risk a Recall, but such a move will tempt Mnangagwa into instructing the speaker of parliament to block such a Recall, once that happens such an MP is lost.
Mnangagwa will immediately pamper them with an eye on his much-needed 2/3 majority as he did with Mwonzora and his MPs.
The second issue is of the Political Parties Act funding, the risk associated with that is it will be stopped, and this will financially cripple CCC as a political party.
These two risks associated with boycotting parliament can be appealed in courts of law, but we all know from history that the courts of law are on whose side politically.
One would be correct to argue that Mnangagwa has no such power as with many other things that his regime has done including jailing Job Sikhala without bail, but Mnangagwa and his team don’t care about what the world thinks of them when it comes to their self-preservation.
The key question is if this happened, was the boycott worth it? Did the boycott contribute towards any new awareness around what we already know that the election was shambolic?
The third and most fundamental question is whether Chamisa and CCC have any options available to fight back since we know that courts are not an option? So this is how I saw today’s boycott!
If the boycott has an end game, it was worth it. If it was a leadership collective decision and if the MPs were prepared to stand with their leader if their livelihood was threatened, then it was worth it.
If Chamisa has the means to fight back if Mnangagwa moves in as he did in 2018, then it was worth it again.
But if he doesn’t have those pertinent things, then it was an empty gesture that might be used to come after him and his party.
For More News And Analysis About Zimbabwe Follow Africa-Press
