By Staff Reporter
Harare – Former Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC) leader Nelson Chamisa has thrown down the gauntlet, challenging the Commission of Inquiry investigating the Harare City Council (HCC) to extend its summons to President Emmerson Mnangagwa himself.
Chamisa on Monday appeared before the Commission, chaired by Retired Justice Maphios Cheda, to address allegations stemming from an audio recording involving CCC Harare Ward 21 Councillor Blessing Duma.
The recording suggested that Chamisa had instructed opposition councillors to implement an illegal regularisation exercise in defiance of Mnangagwa’s governance policies.
However, Chamisa used the platform to question the perceived bias in the inquiry’s focus.
“There are two names that have been dropped in terms of their leadership roles President Mnangagwa and President Chamisa.
“And I hope that the Commission is also going to invite President Mnangagwa.
“To come and…,” said Chamisa, before Cheda interjected, attempting to steer proceedings back on track.
Yet Chamisa persisted, framing his repeated appearances before commissions of inquiry as emblematic of political targeting.
Reflecting on past 2018 and 2024 elections, Chamisa highlighted what he called a troubling trend repeatedly finding himself in the spotlight of inquiries following disputed elections.
“You know, in 2018, I went into an election, as you recall, with this on public record,” he said recalling the aftermath of the contested poll that led to the establishment of the Motlanthe Commission of Inquiry into post-election violence.
“After that election, there was a commission of inquiry that was set up, the Motlanthe Commission of Inquiry.
“To my shock and surprise, I was made as one of the people who were supposed to be star witnesses to give evidence before that.
“I had no guns, I had not unleashed the people onto the streets.
Drawing parallels to the current inquiry, Chamisa didn’t hold back.
“Equally, in 2023, I got into an election. After that election, there is this honourable Justice Cheda Commission,” he said, noting with a tinge of irony.
“I hear that I’m required to come before the commission of inquiry.”
Chamisa’s remarks appeared to challenge the neutrality of such investigations, suggesting they serve as tools to implicate opposition leaders rather than genuinely address governance issues.
By daring the commission to hold Mnangagwa to the same level of scrutiny, Chamisa turned his testimony into a broader critique of Zimbabwe’s political and legal landscape.
Whether the Cheda Commission will take up Chamisa’s challenge remains uncertain, but his testimony has certainly raised the stakes, setting up a fresh confrontation in Zimbabwe’s fraught political arena.
