OPPOSITION Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC) employees are pleading with Justice minister Ziyambi Ziyambi to help them recover about US$1.2 million in outstanding salaries by not releasing the money due to the party from government to an account controlled by self-imposed secretary general Sengezo Tshabangu.
The employees have not been paid for up to 24 months as Tshabangu’s manoeuvres to grab the party threw its operations into disarray.
Three CCC factions led by Jameson Timba, Tshabangu and the other by Welshman Ncube are fighting over the Zimbabwe Gold (ZiG)22 million allocated to the opposition party under the Political Parties (Finance) Act.
CCC employees, who were contracted before the party split, were assigned to various roles in the party’s technical department between 2022 and 2023 and were promised salary payments upon disbursement of the funds.
The Ncube-led CCC said it could not pay workers the alleged salary arrears.
Ncube-led CCC secretary general Charlton Hwende said the party was prioritising paying election agents.
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Tshabangu pledged to pay the workers if he received the funds.
Timba-led faction spokesperson Promise Mkwananzi said those who received the funds should pay the workers.
CCC chief of staff Trust Mamombe wrote to Ziyambi requesting the government to pay the salaries to the employees’ respective bank accounts.
“We write, Hon Minister, seeking the indulgence of your esteemed office to facilitate the payment of CCC employees’ salaries from the government funding payable to the CCC under the Political Parties Finance Act,” part of the letter seen by The Standard reads.
“Hon Minister, our unpretentious submission is that the workers’ salaries will be wired to individual employee bank accounts for the benefit of long-suffering and deserving employees and their families according to the approved salary schedules and addendums herewith.
“Further, we hope that the long-suffering employees of the party will not be subjected to the political caprices of the political antagonists if their dues are not handled separately as labour.”
Mamombe said the employees were not concerned about which faction received the funds but for the politicians to respect the workers' rights enshrined in the constitution.
“Thank you for your consideration, Hon Minister,” he added in the letter.
“We look forward to the delivery of justice for the employees of the party from your good office.
“We have no interest in your final determination of where the rest of the CCC funds after deducting the employees' bill will go.
“We are confident your esteemed office will find it prudential to proactively act on behalf of labour.”
Ziyambi told The Standard that he had not received the letter.
“I did not receive such a letter,” he said.
“I don’t recall. I am not in the office.
“I am attending the Zanu PF conference so I can’t respond to CCC issues when I am not in office.
“I can’t respond to issues based on a letter that I have not received.”
Tshabangu snatched the CCC from opposition leader Nelson Chamisa.
Chamisa, who formed the CCC in January 2022, later quit the party in frustration saying it had been hijacked by the state and Zanu PF proxies.