Zimbabwe's main opposition leader Nelson Chamisa quits • FRANCE 24 English

Summary

The transcript covers several top African news stories, including Zimbabwe opposition leader Nelson Chamisa quitting his Citizens Coalition for Change party, accusing the ruling party of sabotage. Six people in Ghana including soldiers were sentenced to death for a failed 2019 coup plot. Intercommunal violence continues in Nigeria's Plateau State. Britain agreed to return some looted gold artifacts to Ghana on loan, drawing criticism. In sports, the African Cup of Nations heads to the knockout stage after an exciting group phase full of upsets from underdog teams like Namibia.

Takeaways

• 😯 Zimbabwe opposition leader Nelson Chamisa has quit the Citizens Coalition for Change party he founded just 2 years ago, accusing the ruling ZANU-PF party of hijacking it
• 😠 6 people including 3 soldiers sentenced to death by hanging in Ghana over a failed 2019 coup plot, in the country's first treason trial in 60 years
• 😢 Over 50 killed in clashes between nomadic and settled communities in Nigeria's Plateau State despite a curfew
• 😀 Britain to return gold artifacts looted from Ghana in the 19th century, but only on loan - Critics say they should be fully returned
• 😡 Intercommunal violence has worsened in Plateau, Nigeria since 200 were killed in Christmas raids
• 👍 Cabo Verde and Namibia were tournament surprises in Africa Cup of Nations group stages
• 😐 Nelson Chamisa's rise always controversial - Critics say CCC party structure was weak from the start
• 😕 Zimbabwe opposition faces setback after Chamisa quits CCC party he founded
• 😠 1500 displaced after deadly clashes between communities in Plateau State, Nigeria
• ⏳ Africa Cup of Nations last 16 kicks off Saturday, with potential upsets from smaller teams

Q & A

Why did Nelson Chamisa walk away from the Citizens Coalition for Change party?

Chamisa accused the ruling ZANU-PF party of hijacking the CCC, leading to the loss of elected officials. He felt the party had been contaminated by the state to weaken the opposition.

What criticisms have been made of Nelson Chamisa's leadership?

Critics say Chamisa sidelined experienced politicians in the CCC party in favor of younger ones. They also say he did not properly establish the party's constitution and structures, and made himself leader without going through proper procedures.

What was the treason case in Ghana related to?

Six people, including three soldiers, were sentenced to death over a 2019 coup plot. They were arrested while testing weapons at a shooting range, allegedly to use in the coup attempt.

Why is the return of gold artifacts to Ghana controversial?

The artifacts were taken from Ghana during colonialism. Critics say they should be permanently returned rather than just loaned, as this deal does not adequately address the colonial legacy.

What teams have provided surprises so far in the Africa Cup of Nations?

Smaller teams like Cape Verde, Namibia, and Tanzania performed better than expected in the group stages, showing there are no longer 'small teams' in African football.

What are some key matches to watch in the Africa Cup of Nations last 16?

Exciting matches include Namibia vs Equatorial Guinea, Nigeria vs Cameroon, Morocco vs South Africa, and Cape Verde vs Morania.

How many seats did Nelson Chamisa's CCC party win in Zimbabwe's 2022 elections?

The CCC won about 103 seats in Parliament, posing a significant threat to the ruling ZANU-PF party.

What tensions led to recent violence in Nigeria's Plateau State?

Clashes between nomadic and settled communities killed 55 people in Plateau. Intercommunal tensions have worsened in the region since 2018.

When was Ghana's last treason trial before the recent case?

Ghana has not had a treason trial since the 1960s, when its first president Kwame Nkrumah was overthrown in a coup.

How did Nelson Chamisa become leader of Zimbabwe's opposition MDC party?

After Morgan Tsvangirai's death in 2018, Chamisa became party leader despite being only the vice president. This lack of proper procedure led to controversy and splits.

Outlines

00:00

😟 Zimbabwe opposition leader quits party, alleging sabotage

Nelson Chamisa, Zimbabwe's main opposition leader, has left the Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC) party he founded in 2022. He accuses the ruling ZANU-PF party of hijacking CCC, causing the loss of elected officials. Critics say Chamisa himself is to blame for CCC's failures due to his controversial rise and weak party structures.

05:02

😔 Setback for Zimbabwe's opposition, but hope remains

Chamisa's resignation deals a blow to Zimbabwe's opposition politics. However, he did well in 2022 elections, winning 44% of votes and over 100 parliamentary seats. This offers hope he can regroup and return with a more organized opposition party.

10:03

😨 Six people sentenced to death in Ghana over 2019 coup plot

Three soldiers are among six people convicted and sentenced to death by hanging in Ghana's first treason trial since the 1960s. They were arrested in 2021 while testing weapons allegedly meant for use in a 2019 coup plot.

⚽ Excitement builds for AFCON last 16 after eventful group stage

The Africa Cup of Nations heads into the knockout stage after a thrilling and unpredictable group phase. Underdog teams like Namibia impressed, while powerhouses like Nigeria and Cameroon advanced. Morocco vs. Malawi and Senegal vs. Cape Verde are games to watch in the next round.

Keywords

💡opposition

The term 'opposition' refers to political parties that oppose the ruling or governing party. It is a key theme in the video as it discusses Zimbabwe's main opposition leader, Nelson Chamisa, quitting the opposition CCC party he formed just 2 years ago. He blames the ruling Zanu PF party for hijacking CCC and causing them to lose elected officials. The future of opposition politics in Zimbabwe is uncertain after this move.

💡hijacked

Chamisa accused the ruling Zanu PF party of 'hijacking' the CCC opposition party he founded. This refers to interference, takeover and manipulation by the governing party to weaken and undermine the opposition. The alleged hijacking involved state institutions blocking legal challenges by CCC and fraudulently recalling elected CCC officials from parliament.

💡recall

As part of the alleged hijacking of CCC by Zanu PF, a fake CCC official fraudulently 'recalled' over a dozen CCC MPs from parliament. Recall refers to removing elected representatives from office before end of their term. This weakened CCC right after 2022 elections where they had gained over 100 parliamentary seats.

💡treason

The video discusses 6 people including soldiers sentenced to death in Ghana over a 2019 coup plot, referred to as 'treason'. Treason means crimes attempting to overthrow the government and carries death penalty. Ghana's first treason trial in 60 years shows authorities taking security threats seriously.

💡curfew

A curfew was brought in after 55 people were killed in clashes between communities in Nigeria's Plateau state. A curfew is an emergency rule imposing restrictions on movement of people during certain times of night. It aims to curb violence but tensions still remain high after attacks right after.

💡restitution

The British Museum is loaning looted gold artifacts back to Ghana temporarily, but campaigners want full restitution or return of African heritage taken by colonialists. Restitution refers to giving back stolen cultural property to original owners or places.

💡Afcon

Afcon or Africa Cup of Nations is the key football tournament discussed towards the end. The group stages saw underdog teams like Namibia surprise bigger teams, making the next knockout round highly anticipated.

💡Morocco

Morocco is mentioned as one of the heavyweight teams taking on South Africa in the Afcon last 16 fixture. Having won the tournament once before, they have high expectations.

💡equatorial guinea

Equatorial Guinea is named as Namibia's opponent in the Afcon last 16 clash. As one of the underdogs of the tournament, they caused an upset by getting this far.

💡Cameroon

Cameroon is named as a traditional African football powerhouse with 5 Afcon titles. They face rivals Nigeria in a blockbuster last 16 match, with both teams expecting to challenge for the title.

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Transcripts

[Music]

thanks very much for staying with us

time now for I on Africa with me Georgia

Calvin Smith tonight Tales of dirty

tricks alleged imposters systems stacked

against him Zimbabwe's main opposition

leader walks away from his party just

two years after forming it accusing the

ruling party of using underhand tactics

to torpedo the CCC Nelson Nelson chim's

critics though say that he's to blame

for the failure also Ghana's first

treason case in half a century ends in a

death by hanging sentence for six people

convicted over a coup plot in

2019 campaigners call for the end of

such sentencing and we look back at the

satisfyingly turbulent group stages of

the Africa Cup of Nations in Ivory Coast

the last 16 kicks off this weekend and

we consider what's

ahead the first first first of all

Nelson Chima Zimbabwe's main opposition

leader has walked away from the citizens

Coalition for change party which he set

up in 2022 after he broke away from the

MDC the longtime Challenger to the

ruling zanu PF party now Chima who gared

a respectable 44% in last year's

elections that returned president manang

Gago with 52.6% of the vote says that

the CCC has been hijacked by the MDC

leading to the loss of elected officials

uh sorry hijacked by the zanu PF leading

to the loss of elected officials Nash

chingono brings us more from Harari so

Nash talk us through some of this

complicated subus that that um Chimes is

blaming for his quitting the

CCC good evening Georgia uh um the the

the whole of the Zimbabwean uh political

sphere has been rocked by this

announcement by Mr chissa that he's

moving away from the CCC after forming

it about two years ago um he's accusing

ZF of hijacking uh his party and

contaminating his party that is through

um uh State

institutions uh making sure that they

are not heard by the courts uh a few

months ago just after the elections um

and a a member of the party

uh who was posing himself as the

Secretary General uh just came up saying

that he was recalling a dozen MPS from

Parliament and he was heard by the court

and the the speaker of parliament also

managed to effect these recalls so

Chamisa is saying that the incumbent who

is presidenta is Behind These

machinations to destroy or weaken the

opposition party he's also saying that

uh there is

uh there is a ploy to actually create a

one party state in Zimbabwe through uh

especially now that the CCC is out of

the way so it's it's a developing story

but it's quite interesting to see uh

where zimb politics is going to go

afterwards but I mean politics is always

uh very complicated in Zimbabwe chisa

could never been expecting a a smooth

ride his critics the flaws that led to

the end of his participation in the CCC

were were baked in and that he has no

one else to blame but himself what's

that

about okay so the rise of Nelson Chamisa

is always it was surrounded with

controversy after the death of Morgan

changai back in 2018 he was to become

the the the party president uh but not

through um proper procedures because he

was the second vice president of the

party so that led to the split F the

split of the party and then in 2 uh two

years ago he came up with the CCC uh

where he himself he made himself the

leader but he did not go through the

process of coming up in the Constitution

and also taking the the party through a

congress so they say that um critics are

saying that Chamisa was doomed to fail

because he did not have proper

structures in place to make sure that he

has a smooth running party he also Cham

also has sidelined experienced

politicians in the party uh in favor of

newer you know fresher Minds younger

politicians in the party so the these

critics are saying that he was doomed to

fail because he uh sidelined most of his

more experienced Cuts in in the party so

this has

created I mean so it's it's such a

complicated landscape what does um all

of this mean for the political

opposition in Zimbabwe because you know

chissa did pretty well baked in problems

or not with the CCC in in last year's

elections so what happens

now he he did pretty well he managed to

also gner about 103 seats in Parliament

which was really really good he he posed

a great threat to zanu PF I think uh

this is a setback for zimb opposition

polit politics which rose around the

year 2000 when Morgan changra r with MDC

so this is setback hopefully he will be

able to vigorate himself again and come

back again with a more organized uh uh

form of of an opposition party uh but we

uh but right now you can tell that uh

there is um sort of uh the opposite

politics in Zab in dis way because of

this announc Nasha Nasha Chon thank you

so much for giving that giving us that

break down there from Harari in

Zimbabwe well three soldiers are amongst

six people sentenced to death in Ghana

over their connection to a 2019 cou plot

the men were arrested in 2021 while

testing weapons at an old shooting range

in Acra our Justice Buu has

more despite several cool attempts this

is the first time that Ghana is

successfully going through a TR trial

since the 1960s when its first president

drq Kuma was overthrown the six who have

now been convicted are supposed to die

by hanging they are part of an initial

10 who were arrested in a suburb of AA

the capital while testing weapons that

they were allegedly going to use in this

cool plot all 10 of them initially

pleaded not guilty in a trial that

captured the attention of the entire

country and went through the country's

court systems for 2 years they included

three soldiers and one senior police

officer who along with two others were

released because the prosecution failed

to produce enough evidence to show that

they were actively involved in the plot

the prosecution showed in court

communication between those who have now

been convicted that showed that they

were plotting to embark on this activity

those who have been convicted and their

defense say they would appeal the case

in the country's highest court the

Supreme Court Ghana hasn't used the

death penalty System since

1992 when the country returned to

constitutional

rule this conviction comes at the time

when Ghana has had a heightened security

environment as The Wider West African

sub region has experienced a series of

successful cool plots Justice by by

there for us now 55 people have been

killed in clashes between nomadic and

settled communities in Nigeria's Plateau

State despite a 24-hour curfew brought

in on Tuesday in the district of mangu

schools homes and churches were torched

and destroyed just a day later as

tensions between the two communities

continue to deepen camps for the

displaced have been set up for about 1,

1500 people in the region intercommunal

violence in Plateau has worsen

since 200 villagers were killed in raids

over the Christmas

period and Britain will return a

selection of gold artifacts to Ghana on

Loan in an historic deal that's not gone

down well with many campaigners for the

restitution of African Heritage looted

during colonialism the 32 objects are

regalia taken from an Asanti King in the

19th century now they're currently with

London's British Museum and Victorian

Albert Museum but will be loaned to the

Mana Palace Museum in Ghana's Kumasi now

critics of the deal say that it sends

the wrong message and they should just

be sent

back the metaphor is I you know someone

comes into your home and steals

something from your house keeps it in

their house and then you know x amount

of years later comes and says I'm going

to lend you your thing back I mean it

doesn't make any sense because I've been

working you know with I know the kind of

politics that surrounds it and also the

kind of attachment to the idea of

Empire well finally we're going to take

advantage of a momentary lull in what

has been a delightfully for me at least

turbulent start to the Africa Cup of

Nations in Ivory Coast there have been

some he ups and some heartbreaking downs

but as the competition reades itself for

the last 16 I've got Ellen tobl our

sports editor coming on set set to join

me for a bit of a breakdown hi Jo hi

Ellen thanks for coming on so first of

all what for you are some of the

highlights for this first part of what

has been literally I mean I feel okay

about football it doesn't move me that

much but I have been moved what what

were the big moments for you the big

moment was I think Cabo Verde I can talk

about so this team of Namibia the brave

of Namibia those team we didn't expect

them to uh to uh to play this well

during tournament and they change

everything and they give us that um

unbelievable uh like sentiment during

all the this first this first part of

the of the of the afcon and it's so

tremendous to have a kind of um this

kind of competition for now like like

you always say star always come from

unexpected places during saon and

actually it's like every minor teams

during this competition is able to win

big and that is why this competition is

so interesting right now when you see

like I say namia we can also talk about

even though they get eliminated Tanzania

the way they play they this change

everything so we really look forward for

the next step because those teams we

hope can make things much more better

for the for for the next part of the

competition yeah it does look like

they're no longer any like small teams

in Africa um so a lot of a lot of

surprises very exciting surprises

um but the next uh the last 16 kicks off

on Saturday exactly what are you going

to be looking out for in this next stage

you know outside with the two games of

Saturday because these those games for

me sum up all this first part of the

competition because we have uh we

started with um Sagal I co that be on

Monday but on this side we have a game

between namia and equatoria if I if I

didn't um uh Miss on it's like having

small teams big teams and you have also

a Nigeria against um Cameron those two

those two country have eight um eight

fcon five for camon three for Nigeria oh

the first game on Saturday excuse me was

Angola with um namia so those game is

the first time they are on that stage so

it's changed everything to see those

teams but we have other big games like

Morocco against South Africa they are

used to play game but cab against

morania is those brings new life to this

competition I think at the beginning of

the competition people were complaining

about the fact that there is too many

teams and too many small teams but now

those small teams makes this tournament

a new and great tournament and that's

why I assure you you have to watch those

game every of them so exciting I'm you

know I'm professional but generally a

casual Observer but literally I've been

in the office up upstairs being like go

the that Garner game sent me mental I

was like what happened I looked away for

two seconds I looked back and it was

complete reversal that's why we love

ifon I'm going to we I and I hope our

viewers will continue to follow the

tournament Elam thanks so much for

coming on and talking us through that is

though all the time we have for for iron

Africa at the moment please do join us

again though when you have a chance till

then take

care

[Music]