1 week Ago By New Zimbabwe
FORMER government critic turned Zanu PF sympathiser, Eddie Cross, has blamed Zimbabwe’s charismatic politician, Nelson Chamisa, for missing a golden opportunity to catapult his career after declining an offer to be the leader of the opposition in Parliament. In 2018, following announcement of a dispute presidential election outcome and in a bid to pacify the then Citizens’ Coalition for Change (CCC) president, the ruling Zanu PF leader, Emmerson Mnangagwa, offered Chamisa to assume the influential position but the youthful opposition politician spurned it. In an online podcast, Cross said the CCC founder was in better stead to annihilate Zanu PF if he had taken up the job offer but displayed arrogance by turning it down.
“I said to him he (Mnangagwa) has offered you the leader of the opposition post, he has offered you the status, he has offered you a place on the front bench in the House of Assembly. “..
.he has offered you an office, drivers, security, a salary, take it and sit there for 10 years, (perhaps) five years..
. because you are very, very effective, television-wise and so on and establish yourself. Learn,” Cross said, insinuating Chamisa displays deep-seated arrogance.
Cross also slammed the current state of affairs in the local authorities accusing the opposition of failing to transform cities and demonstrating how they would govern the country. CCC controls the majority of urban councils and has faced criticism for poor service delivery, mismanagement and corruption. As defence, CCC has blamed central government of sabotaging local authorities with the Ministry of Local Government accused of meddling in the affairs of cities and towns.
Cross said CCC activists, unlike their South African opposition counterparts in the Democratic Alliance (DA), have created a mess in the cities and towns they control. “Look at the mess our cities are in. Has Chamisa made any difference to the administration of our cities, to the quality of life of our people? “At least the DA in South Africa has made the Western Cape a success, but here every city run by CCC is just as rotten as it would have been under Zanu PF,” said Cross.
“If Chamisa had any sense, whatsoever, he could have turned his power base into a real weapon of change.”.
