Chamisa takes new movement to UK diaspora as 180-day countdown lapses
HARARE – Former Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC) leader Nelson Chamisa is set to begin a diaspora consultation tour of the United Kingdom this week, taking his push to build a new political movement to Zimbabweans in London, Manchester and Corby.
Chamisa quit as CCC leader in January 2024, alleging the party had been infiltrated, and has since been consulting on a replacement movement under what he calls Agenda 2026.
On January 23 last year, Chamisa set out what he termed “the immediate agenda,” a 180-day programme of what he described as legal and institutional groundwork and grassroots organising ahead of forming a new movement.
That 180-day window lapses this week, with the UK leg of his diaspora consultations opening as the deadline he set himself in January runs out.
In a statement addressed to “Fellow Zimbabwean Citizens in the United Kingdom,” Chamisa said the trip forms part of a “Diaspora Citizens Consultation, Engagement and Listening Tour” aimed at hearing directly from Zimbabweans living in the UK.
“This tour is an opportunity to hear your perspectives, engage on the challenges and opportunities facing our nation, and strengthen the vital partnership between Zimbabwe and its diaspora,” Chamisa said.
The tour will take Chamisa to London on Thursday, Manchester on Friday and Corby on Sunday.
A statement released by his office described “the new” as a movement “born out of listening” and “born out of engagement,” built, it said, on the “conviction that citizens define the future of their nation.”
“With close to five million citizens living beyond our borders, the diaspora is not a peripheral constituency. It is an integral part of our nation,” the statement reads.
The statement accused the government of benefiting from diaspora remittances while denying Zimbabweans abroad the right to vote.
“For too long, the old order has welcomed billions in diaspora remittances while denying those same citizens the fundamental democratic right to vote. The New rejects that contradiction,” the statement said.
Chamisa’s office said the tour affirms “the diaspora’s rightful place in shaping Zimbabwe’s future,” declaring that “no border should bar any citizen from the New.”
