Chamisa Urges SADC, AU To Help Zimbabwe Deal With "Leadership Deficit"

Zimbabwean opposition leader Nelson Chamisa, the former president of the Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC) party, has called on the Southern African Development Community (SADC) and the African Union (AU) to help address Zimbabwe’s recurrent issues with disputed elections.

Chamisa, who recently left the CCC party citing infiltration by the ZANU PF-led government, has called for fresh elections in Zimbabwe to address the underlying problems with the nation’s electoral process. He said (via SABC News):

My role is to bring that other piece of Zimbabwe, that Mr Mnangagwa doesn’t have. The country is divided by half, in fact, we have the majority, but when we go according to the election that was rigged we have almost half and half, and that tells you that we have a legitimate voice – to make sure that we correct that disputed election, we correct the governance deficit that we have, we correct the issues that have bedevilled this country.

Zimbabwe has not been in its best of place since the 2000s and we still have those problems. Those problems have been before SADC, before the African Union (AU), before the world, and we want these issues to be resolved.

Chamisa has contested the outcomes of the 2018 and 2023 presidential elections in Zimbabwe, finishing as the runner-up behind incumbent President Emmerson Mnangagwa on both occasions. Chamisa has alleged that these elections were marred by irregularities and vote-rigging.

Election observer missions from SADC and other international bodies have similarly concluded that Zimbabwe’s 2023 harmonized elections, held on August 23-24, did not fully meet the country’s democratic standards.

More: Pindula News