Zanu PF insiders told the Daily News yesterday that among
the high profile people who were set upon by the crazed youths were the party’s
national political commissar Victor Matemadanda and retired army colonel
Panganai Kahuni.
The youths’ barbaric reign of terror came amid growing
fears in the country of a re-emergence of the notorious machete gangs scourge —
which traumatised Zimbabweans last year before authorities eventually cracked
down on it.
It also comes as Zanu PF is engulfed in deepening factional
fights ahead of the party’s key district co-ordinating committee (DCC) polls,
as well as parliamentary and local by-elections to replace MPs and councillors
who have been recalled by the at-war MDC.
The youths first went on the rampage early this month,
causing the abandonment of a parliamentary primary election to choose a Zanu PF
candidate for Kwekwe Central, following the death of National Patriotic Front
MP Masango Matambanadzo in July.
Speaking in an interview with the Daily News yesterday, a
still-stunned Zanu PF Midlands provincial chairperson, Daniel Mackenzie Ncube,
said the party was in a state of shock over what had happened and what the
youths’ motive was.
This had culminated in the regional party executive
ordering a thorough probe into the nasty events, while also calling for severe punishment to be meted on
the perpetrators.
So far, five people have been arrested in connection with
the violence that also saw the rowdy Zanu PF youths armed with machetes and
iron bars storming the party’s Kwekwe office and beating up everyone there,
including polling agents and police officers.
“It was scary and we are still terrified because we do not
know whether it was a result of genuine dissatisfaction or it was pre-planned.
This has never happened here as far as I know,” Mackenzie Ncube said.
He surmised that the anarchy was meant to embarrass
President Emmerson Mnangagwa who hails from the Midlands province. As a result,
he added, his provincial executive had met last weekend whereupon it resolved
to punish the perpetrators of the violence severely.
“That it happened right at His Excellency’s (Mnangagwa)’s
door step makes it even worse and that explains why we insist that we must get to the bottom of the
matter. We were caught unawares,” Mackenzie Ncube said, adding that the probe
into the matter would not be done at provincial level because “we could be
investigating ourselves”.
“At the end of the day, we must have answers to this and it
is not possible for us to do anything as a province because we might be
investigating ourselves, hence we referred it to the commissariat department
because we cannot pretend it didn’t happen,” he said further.
The extremely violent youths also damaged party vehicles,
including one belonging to Mackenzie Ncube’s deputy, Rabson Nyathi — who was
one of the people presiding over the primary elections. The election was
pitting Kandros Mugabe and Energy Ncube in the battle to replace Matambanadzo.
The two aspiring candidates were said to be backed by
senior party officials — with Matemadanda reportedly rallying behind Mugabe,
while State Security minister Owen Ncube allegedly supported Ncube.
The Kwekwe violence broke out after presiding officers
ordered the use of the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission voters’ roll for the
internal polls, instead of the party list — which had reportedly been
manipulated. It also took place amid reports that the youths were part of the
re-grouping Al Shabaab gang — which was infamous for terrorising opposition
supporters in the past.
The group was named after the dreaded Somali Islamist
militants, and is now allegedly used by some Zanu PF officials against both the
opposition MDC and internal ruling party opponents.
The fiasco in Kwekwe took place as there are growing fears
in Zanu PF that the demons of factionalism that gutted the ruling party during
the last few years in power of the late former President Robert Mugabe have
returned with vengeance.
Confusion has also been the order of the day in the ruling
party’s primary elections in Harare to choose candidates to fill vacancies left
after several opposition MDC MPs and councillors were recalled by their party.
Despite holding primary elections in several constituencies — including in
Epworth, Glen Norah, Harare Central, Highfield East, Highfield West, Kuwadzana,
Kuwadzana East, Mufakose and St Mary’s — the party is yet to release the poll
results, amid claims that the elections were riddled with bribery and rampant
cheating.
This comes as Zanu PF is also preparing for its divisive
DCC polls, which have been marred by allegations of dirty money changing hands
and ugly factional fights allegedly pitting party camps said to be loyal to
Mnangagwa
and one of his
deputies Constantino Chiwenga.But war veterans vehemently denied the existence
of bad blood between the two bigwigs earlier this week, adding that Chiwenga
was solidly behind Mnangagwa.
Matemadanda, the secretary-general of the Zimbabwe National
Liberation War Veterans Association, told the Daily News that Chiwenga had been
at the forefront of endorsing Mnangagwa for a second term.
“Our party constitution provides that the president elected
by congress automatically becomes the party’s candidate. “Even if that was not
the case, President Mnangagwa’s term of office allows him to stand in 2023. So,
that makes him the sole party candidate,” he said.
“In any event, party wings, including some affiliate
organisations of the party, have already endorsed him as the candidate … that also includes Vice President
Chiwenga. If you remember in Esigodini, he (Chiwenga) said the party
is not going to
disturb his (ED’s) second term. So, that is what the party membership agreed,”
Matemadanda added. Speaking in December 2018, at the Zanu PF annual conference
in Esigodini, Chiwenga pledged his total support for Mnangagwa. Then, he chanted the conference
slogan, “2023 ED Pfee” when he introduced Mnangagwa to party supporters.
“On behalf of all delegates who have come from the four
corners of the country, I want to thank you … I also want it heard here and
far; from now until 2023, when the next elections fall due, that you are our
one and only presidential candidate. In
that plebiscite, our national Constitution allows you two full terms which you
shall have so that the party Zanu PF continues to draw from your wise,
compassionate leadership.
“We will not wait for 2023. We start now to prepare for
your victory which we know is sure to come,” Chiwenga said. Zanu PF’s DCC structures elect the
party’s 10 provincial executives — from where the former liberation movement
draws members of its central committee and the politburo.
The party’s DCCs were disbanded in 2012 after they were
deemed to be fanning factionalism during Mnangagwa and former vice president Joice Mujuru’s
battles to succeed Mugabe.
Then, Mnangagwa’s group had gained control of most regions,
including Mujuru’s Mashonaland Central province — putting him in a strong
position ahead of the party’s 2014 congress. Daily News
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