HARARE, Zimbabwe
Zimbabwe's main opposition leader Nelson Chamisa on Thursday announced his resignation from his party a few months after losing his bid for presidency, decrying "intimidation and violence" by the regime.
"This is to officially,
and under my hand, inform you fellow citizens of Zimbabwe and the world, that,
with immediate effect, I no longer have anything to do with CCC" Chamisa
said, in a statement.
"The original CCC idea
has however been contaminated, bastardised, hijacked by ZANU PF through the
abuse of State institutions," he said, accusing the ruling party of
President Emmerson Mnangagwa of dirty tricks.
The surprise decision comes
after Mnangagwa, 81, won a second term in office, beating the Citizens
Coalition for Change (CCC) leader, in an election that also gave the ruling
ZANU-PF party a majority in parliament.
International observers said
the vote fell short of democratic standards and political tensions have since
run high.
Nicknamed "The
Crocodile,he "first came to power after a coup that deposed veteran ruler
Robert Mugabe in 2017.
Chamisa, 45, seemed to
reference the nickname in his statement, declaring: "I will refuse to swim
in a river with hungry crocodiles. We need to extricate ourselves from the
shenanigans. I will have nothing to do with sewer pond politics."
Critics have long accused
ZANU-PF of using the courts to target opposition politicians and silence
dissent.
ZANU-PF secured 177 of the 280
national assembly seats with the CCC taking 104 after the August 23 poll.
Months later, more than 30
opposition lawmakers lost their seats under what analysts said appears to be an
artificial political crisis.
In one event an obscure
political figure declared himself the CCC's "interim secretary
general" and said 14 MPs were no longer party members and could not keep
their seats.
"The emergence of this
imposter should not be looked at in isolation" from the election
"sham," Chamisa said in Thursday's statement, "they are pursuing
this agenda."
It is unclear what the leader,
who claims CCC is now "hijacked" by ZANU-PF, plans to do next.
But he vowed to keep
Zimbabweans "posted on the next step."
"CCC has now been
rendered an extension of and been taken over by ZANU PF" he said.
"As a patriot, I remain
active in public service" Chamisa said, "giving up or giving in is
not an option."
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