Opposition Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC) party leader, Nelson Chamisa, has finally met with the Southern Africa Development Community (SADC)’s Electoral Advisory Council following several unsuccessful attempts to get the attention of the regional bloc since losing the disputed 2018 election.
The delegation is currently in the country ahead of crucial elections later this year. Chamisa has been eager to meet representatives from the regional bloc, having previously written letters concerning the country’s political crisis.
Head of delegation for the council, Eswatini’s judge Ticheme Likhiwa Dhlamini, described the meeting as a success.
“The meeting has been a very good one particularly with the Citizens Coalition for Change, this is so because they even wrote to SADC. They had issues which they needed to talk about concerning the electoral processes of Zimbabwe,” said Dhlamini.
Chamisa stated that his party raised several issues with the council, including the continued incarceration of Zengeza West legislator Job Sikhala.
“Well of course we raised a number of persecutions that we have suffered, over 58 of our rallies that have been banned, we also raised the issue of Job Sikhala our honorable Member of Parliament who has been unjustly incarcerated and illegally detained without bail. It’s a big issue for us and we raise this together with others who are being persecuted,” Chamisa said.
He expressed hope that SADC would pay attention to the issues raised by his party.
“We hope that our issues will receive the attention of SADC, our regional body. Mind you, SADC is our body as citizens and we need to be helped to help ourselves to help the region for stability. Isn’t it bizarre that we have over 5 million in the diaspora and we are a nightmare and a headache to those in the region South Africa, Botswana, and Namibia? We just want to end these problems,” he said.
The four-member delegation also met with members of the ruling Zanu PF party, other opposition political parties, civic society organizations, and representatives of the media.
