OPPOSITION Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC) party owes its employees over US$1,2 million in salary arrears that accumulated over a two-year period, NewsDay can exclusively report.
The employees, who were contracted before the opposition party split, were assigned to various roles in the party’s technical department between 2022 and 2023 and were promised salary payments upon disbursements of the political parties funds.
Over the two years, the employees, including security officers, communications officers and those involved in organising election campaigns, were paid allowances for their duties.
However, the CCC later split into three factions following the exit of party leader Nelson Chamisa in January this year.
The three factions — led by Jameson Timba, Welshman Ncube and self-imposed interim secretary-general Sengezo Tshabangu — are currently embroiled in a battle to control the financial allocation under the political parties fund.
According to a notice published in the Government Gazette last month, the other CCC faction aligned to Tshabangu will receive ZiG22 116 500 as part of the ZiG70 million disbursed for political parties that participated in the August 2023 harmonised elections.
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Disgruntled employees told NewsDay that party leaders were not taking action to address their concerns.
According to documents seen by this paper, individual employees are owed between US$10 000 and US$50 000 over the 24-month period.
“We have approached the leaders of all the three factions and we have not yet received a favourable response from any,” the source said.
“While there is a battle over the control of the funds disbursed under the Political Parties (Finance) Act, the leaders do not seem to be concerned about paying our salaries. What we want is a clear position and plan of how we are going to be paid.”
The employees threatened legal action against party leaders.
“We are not aligned to any faction,” another employee said.
“We worked for the CCC and it was the result of our sweat that we had Members of Parliament and councillors or various other offices that we got in the 2023 elections.
“There are legislators and councillors aligned to various CCC factions, but we still demand our payments from the party. If there is no amicable resolution on this matter, we are approaching the courts.”
The Timba-led CCC spokesperson Promise Mkwananzi confirmed the issue of salary arrears.
He said: “The employees were due to be paid through the political grant which has been diverted to impostors. We implore those with the money to consider and prioritise the workers in this situation.”
Tshabangu also acknowledged the debt.
“Senator Tshabangu is aware of this issue,” Tshabangu’s personal assistant Nqobizitha Mlilo said.
“When he became aware of the issue, he requested to be furnished with the various contracts of the employees. He is now in possession of those contracts.”
He added: “Also, Senator Tshabangu himself has a solid background in labour. Senator Tshabangu appreciates and acknowledges the work which was done by all employees.
“They held the party together under differently difficult circumstances. These issues have a long history which precedes Senator Tshabangu.
“They have been outstanding, as well as unresolved for a long time. He has every intention of meeting with the employees and have this issue finally resolved in an amicable way. This has been communicated to the employees.”
The Welshman-Ncube led CCC spokesperson Willias Madzimure said he was not aware of the issue, but acknowledged that there were individuals employed by the party.
“The office of the secretary-general deals with that issue, including those who call themselves secretary-general of the party. They should respond,” he said.
“There is a need to authenticate who were the employees, so the office of the secretary-general is better placed to respond to that. You can call Honourable Hwende for more details.”
No comment could be obtained from Hwende as his mobile number was not reachable.