Source: Chamisa Warns Chin’ono: “I Have Tolerated Your Tomfoolery For Far Too Long” ⋆ Pindula News
Former Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC) leader Nelson Chamisa has accused journalist Hopewell Chin’ono of peddling lies and misinformation about him.
Posting on X, Chamisa said:
“Dear [Hopewell Chin’ono], a proper and balanced journalist is a truth-teller who reports facts, not fiction. Be a journalist, not a propagandist who peddles lies and misinformation to serve the interests of the oppressors. I have tolerated your tomfoolery for far too long. Enough is enough.”
The post was an apparent response to a lengthy critique by Chin’ono over Chamisa’s leadership model and his recent comments on infiltration within the opposition.
In the post that Chamisa was responding to, Chin’ono argued that the collapse of the CCC was a direct result of Chamisa’s decision to centralise power around himself and refuse to build democratic institutions.
“Nelson Chamisa founded CCC and made himself its president, but refused to establish a constitution, elected leadership or accountable party structures. The only other publicly recognised national officials were spokesperson Fadzayi Mahere, whom he fired on the eve of the election, national organiser Amos Chibaya and deputy spokesperson Gift Ostallos Siziba,” Chin’ono wrote.
“Everything else revolved around him. He selected candidates, controlled decision-making and resisted every call to build strong democratic institutions around the movement, his supporters defended those decisions.”
Earlier, Chamisa had said that when Sengezo Tshabangu hijacked the party, and he left “the CCC snake pit”, few people realised that President Emmerson Mnangagwa was allegedly planning to manipulate the Constitution and using every available means to illegally extend illegitimate term in office.
Chamisa also said he, and his colleagues, were starting all over again and will “ultimately win and defeat all evil.”
Chin’ono dismissed the infiltration narrative as intellectually dishonest.
“That is why this statement is so upsetting and intellectually dishonest. You cannot deliberately centralise an entire political movement around yourself, personally control who enters its inner circles, refuse institutional safeguards, and then speak as though ‘infiltrators’ mysteriously arrived through a door controlled by someone else,” he wrote.
“If CCC became a snake pit, who built the pit? If infiltrators occupied the movement, through whose leadership did they enter and rise?”
He argued that infiltration thrives where there are no rules, no transparent records, no elected structures and no accountability, adding: “That was CCC.”
“These were not accidental weaknesses. They were the direct consequences of Chamisa’s chosen leadership model. Many people warned that a movement built around one man instead of institutions was dangerously vulnerable, but they were insulted and dismissed as enemies, sellouts or people who were ‘too slow to see how strategic ambiguity worked.’”
Chin’ono said leadership requires accepting responsibility rather than distributing blame.
“Leadership is not merely about claiming foresight after disaster. It is about accepting responsibility for the decisions that made the disaster possible. Chamisa cannot claim sole authority when things appear to be going well, then distribute blame among ‘pretenders’ and ‘infiltrators’ when everything collapses.”
He added that Zimbabweans were being offered yet another “fresh start” without an honest explanation, apology or acceptance of responsibility.
“Starting again without confronting the leadership failures that destroyed the previous movement is not renewal. It is simply repeating the same mistake under a new name.”
“ZANU PF’s infiltration and abuse of state power must be condemned, but that cannot become an excuse for failed leadership. A serious leader protects a movement by building democratic institutions stronger than any individual,” he wrote.
Chin’ono also referenced the late academic Alex Magaisa, who he said had pleaded with Chamisa to establish a constitution and proper structures to prevent infiltration.
“The first step towards any genuine renewal must be to accept responsibility and apologise. Only then can there be an honest conversation about starting afresh,” he said.
After Chamisa’s warning, Chin’ono posted a second lengthy response, defending his right to critique public figures publicly and rejecting suggestions that he should approach Chamisa privately.
“When a journalist publishes a critique of a public figure, that is journalism at work. Journalism is not private counselling, and political accountability cannot be reduced to discreet conversations between politicians and journalists,” Chin’ono wrote.
He said Zimbabweans had grown up under dictatorship and often reproduced its authoritarian tendencies, having been exposed for decades to only one television station, ZBC, where political coverage was dominated by propaganda and praise-singing.
“Many people consequently came to regard praise-singing as normal journalism and criticism as hostility. It is not.”
“Some of us are not wired to reproduce the very culture we claim to be fighting. Replacing one political personality with another while retaining the same intolerance of criticism is not democratic change. It is merely changing the face of authoritarianism.”
Chin’ono challenged those who disagreed with him to confront the substance of his argument.
“Anyone who believes that my critique is unfair should confront its substance. They should identify the factual errors, dismantle the argument with evidence and explain why the conclusions are wrong. Insults, threats and accusations of betrayal cannot substitute for a reasoned response.”
“A politician who claims to believe in democracy must be prepared to face public scrutiny, especially from journalists. If Nelson Chamisa wants to be treated like every other national leader, then he must also be critiqued like every other national leader. Equality before scrutiny is part of democracy,” he added.
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