Sengezo Tshabangu is a Zimbabwean politician. Since March 2024, Tshabangu has served in the Zimbabwe parliament as a Senator from Matabeleland North Province. [1] He claims to be the interim Secretary General of the Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC). [2] In October 2023, he recalled fifteen parliamentarians and seventeen councilors, including Masvingo's mayor, citing they were no longer party members in October. [3] He went on to recall a further nine councilors, including Harare mayor Ian Makoni and his deputy on 9 November 2023. [4] [5] On May 30, 2024, National Assembly Speaker Advocate Jacob Mudenda announced that Tshabangu was appointed Leader of the Opposition in the Zimbabwe parliament. [6] However, it has not yet reported if he was sworn in to this position. It was also revealed that no meeting was held for this decision among CCC MPs. [7]
Tshabangu was a member of the Movement for Democratic Change. [2]
He was part of the group that split from Tsvangirai in 2014, to form the People's Democratic Party, led by Tendai Biti. He rejoined the mainstream Movement for Democratic Change - Alliance when the alliance was formed ahead of the 2018 harmonised elections. He attended the meetings of the MDC Alliance key bodies that rebranded the MDC Alliance as it stood on 21 and 22 January 2022 as the Citizens Coalition for Change and adopted the alliance constitution as the constitution of the CCC. [2]
Sengezo has recalled fifteen parliamentarians and twenty-six councilors as of 9 November 2023. [4] [3] Recently, a lady called Mavis Tshabangu Chilenji, a former secretary in the office of Emmerson Mnangagwa claimed that Sengezo is her son with the current president. [8] He further recalled 52 more councilors from 15 local authorities. [9]
On March 3, 2024, Tshabangu was sworn into the Zimbabwe parliament as a proportional representation (PR) senator. [10] On May 30, 2024, National Assembly Speaker Advocate Jacob Mudenda announced that Tshabangu was made leader of the opposition. [1] [6] In addition, Chipinge South MP Clifford Hlatwayo was named as the CCC’s leader of the house and Nomathemba Ndlovu, the proportional representation MP for Matabeleland South, was named as chief whip. [6] Tshabangu would also receive an appointment on the Parliament Standing Rules and Orders Committee. [6] Despite being appointed, it has not yet been reported if they were sworn in to this opposition leadership positions. CCC MP Charlton Hwende, who was appointed to the parliament's Public Accounts Committee also protested Mudena's announcement by revealing that no meeting among CCC MPs ever took place concerning the parliament opposition leadership and committee appointments, stating that ”You can’t say there was a meeting of CCC because the party never sat down.” [7]
Matabeleland South is a province in southwestern Zimbabwe. With a population of 683,893 as of the 2012 Zimbabwean census, it is the country's least populous province. After Matabeleland North, it is Zimbabwe's second-least densely populated province. Matabeleland South and Matabeleland North were established in 1974, when the original Matabeleland Province was bifurcated. The province is divided into six districts. Gwanda is the capital, and Beitbridge is the province's largest town. The name "Matabeleland" is derived from Ndebele, the province's largest ethnic group.
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The Movement for Democratic Change – Tsvangirai (MDC–T) is a centre-left political party and was the main opposition party in the House of Assembly of Zimbabwe ahead of the 2018 elections. After the split of the original Movement for Democratic Change in 2005, the MDC–T remained the major opposition faction, while a smaller faction, the Movement for Democratic Change – Ncube, or MDC–N, was led by Welshman Ncube.
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Nicola Jane Watson is a Zimbabwean accountant and politician who served as a Member of the National Assembly of Zimbabwe from 2013 until 2023. She was first elected to one of the seats reserved for women, then as the MP for Bulawayo Central in 2018, before defeating the Zanu-PF incumbent Raj Modi in Bulawayo South in 2023.
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Rajeshkumar Indukant Modi is a Zimbabwean businessman and politician who is a member-elect of the National Assembly of Zimbabwe for Bulawayo South. He previously served as the MP for the constituency and as deputy minister of industry and commerce and from 2018 until 2023. He is a member of ZANU–PF.
The Harare City Council is the local governing body of Harare, the capital of Zimbabwe. It is composed of 46 councillors, each representing a different ward. It is headed by the mayor of Harare, who is assisted by a deputy mayor. The current mayor is Ian Makone of the Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC), and the deputy mayor is Kudzai Mazhombe.
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By-elections were held in Zimbabwe on 11 November 2023, on 9 December 2023, on 3 February 2024 and on 27 April 2024 to fill vacancies in the National Assembly and in local government. The by-elections were triggered by Sengezo Tshabangu, who claimed to be the interim Secretary-General of the Citizens Coalition for Change, when he recalled nine constituency legislators, six proportional representative women’s quota and senators and seventeen councilors mainly from Bulawayo, one of the party's strongholds.
Pashor Raphael Sibanda is a Zimbabwean politician who was elected to the National Assembly of Zimbabwe in the 2023 general election. He represented the constituency of Cowdray Park as a member of the Citizens Coalition for Change. In October 2023, Sibanda and a group of CCC MPs were expelled from Parliament following a letter by Sengezo Tshabangu, who claimed to be interim secretary-general of the CCC.
Morgan Ncube is a Zimbabwean politician who served as the Member of Parliament for Beitbridge West as a member of the Citizens Coalition for Change between September and October 2023. He formerly served as the mayor of Beitbridge in Matabeleland South from 2018 to 2020 as a member of the MDC Alliance.
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