CLAIM: Binga North Member of Parliament (MP) Prince Dubeko Sibanda has become the latest to dump the opposition Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC) in solidarity with its former President Nelson Chamisa.
SOURCE: NewZimbabwe.com
VERDICT: Misleading
In an article published by an online publication, Newzimbabwe.com on February 3, 2024, under the headline: “Prince Dubeko Sibanda dumps Parliament for Chamisa, as more resignations are expected,” the writer claims that the Binga North legislator has quit Parliament in solidarity with former Citizens Coalition for Change leader, Nelson Chamisa, who left the party in late January.
Prince Dubeko Sibanda in a widely circulated statement dated 2 February 2023 and headlined: “DISASSOCIATION WITH AND RESIGNATION FROM THE CITIZENS COALITION FOR CHANGE PARTY,” announced his departure from the CCC. One of the reasons that he gave for quitting was that the party had been “infiltrated and contaminated beyond redemption.” He also emphasized that his resignation from the party did not mean he was retiring from politics, adding he “joined politics primarily to push the agenda of the marginalised, weak, the downtrodden, and the excluded”.
There is nowhere in his statement where he mentions resigning from Parliament since he was no longer a legislator at the time of his resignation from the party.
Sibanda who had been elected Binga North Member of the National Assembly in the August 2023 general elections, ceased to be a parliamentarian in October of the same year when CCC interim secretary-general Sengezo Tshabangu recalled him together with 21 other lawmakers from Parliament.
Sibanda was replaced by Chineke Muchimba of ZANU-PF as Binga North MP in the December 9, 2023 by-elections.
This means that when Sibanda quit CCC to follow Chamisa, he was no longer in Parliament. The legislators who resigned from the august house and CCC simultaneously, are Fadzayi Mahere for Mount Pleasant and Allan Markham (Harare East).
Conclusion
The claim that the Binga North MP has dumped Parliament for Chamisa has been rated as misleading because it assumes that the former MP was still in Parliament when he quit CCC in solidarity with the former party leader. Sibanda ceased to be a parliamentarian when he was recalled by Tshabangu in October 2023 and was subsequently replaced by Chineke Muchimba of ZANU-PF in the December 2023 by-elections.
