SEVERAL Zanu PF bigwigs, including Cabinet ministers,
survived a nerve-racking and tension-filled process at the weekend as the ruling party chose
candidates for its divisive district co-ordinating committees (DCCs), the Daily
News reports.
Well-placed Zanu PF
insiders told the Daily News yesterday that meetings of the party’s provincial
co-ordinating committees (PCCs) that were held in eight provinces to manage the
process had also been marred by allegations of factionalism, tribalism and
name-dropping.
Things apparently got so bad that some desperate senior
party officials allegedly abused the names of President Emmerson Mnangagwa and
Vice President Constantino Chiwenga in a bid to “force through the names of
their preferred candidates”.
This came as the countdown to the DCC elections was also
soiled by damaging allegations of dirty money changing hands — amid unproven
claims that remnants of the party’s vanquished Generation 40 (G40) faction were
burning the midnight oil to influence the outcome of the elections, in an
alleged bid to engineer their group’s political comeback.
It also came amid reports that the demons of factionalism
that gutted Zanu PF during the last few years in power of the late former
president Robert Mugabe had returned to haunt the party with a vengeance.
Zanu PF national political commissar, Victor Matemadanda,
confirmed the claims of name-dropping in a leaked audio recording during his
address to the Mashonaland West PCC on Sunday.
“When building DCC structures, let us come up with
structures which grow the party. Chinhu chandinokoshesa is Zanu PF. Zvenyu
zvamunorangana zvemaline-up ngazviperere kuhope ikoko (What I hold dear is Zanu
PF.
Your scheming around factional line-ups will not be
tolerated). “We know there are many machinations, but tozvivhara (we will block
that),” Matemadanda is heard saying in the audio clip.
“Some people are running around saying I am related to the
president (Mnangagwa). That must stop. The president is for everyone. “Some
people are using money to destroy the party. The use of money brings the
party’s name into disrepute.
“There are also some who commit crimes and want to cover
them up by publishing their pictures with the president to avoid arrest. “Give
the president space to work, don’t abuse his name,” Matemadanda, who is also
deputy Defence minister, added.
Former Cabinet minister and Chegutu East MP Webster Shamu
and his wife Constance were among some of the candidates who were cleared for
the DCC elections.
Other notable names that sailed through in the province
included former Grain Marketing Board manager Tendai Chasauka, Magunje MP Cecil
Kashiri and his Makonde counterpart Kindness Paradza. In Mnangagwa’s Midlands
home province, tension was said to have been very high as party heavyweights
blocked attempts to bar Gokwe-Mapfungautsi MP Tawanda Karikoga from
participating in the DCC elections — on false allegations that he was resident
in South Africa.
Provincial spokesperson Cornelius Mupereri told the Daily
News yesterday that the province was also worried about the possibility of
infiltration by remnants of the party’s vanquished G40 faction.
“We resolved at the PCC meeting that we must be vigilant
because we noted the interest being expressed by G40 elements to find their way
back into the party using money. “We also resisted attempts by some people to
block bona fide party cadres, including Karikoga, on false allegations that he
was resident in South Africa. “We later realised that there were people who
wanted to sneak in their own candidates on the technicality that at one point
Karikoga was trapped in South Africa during the Covid-19 lockdown.
“Parliament has that record and so we made sure that he
qualified,” Mupereri told the Daily News. Away from the furore, several MPs
including Justice Mayor Wadyajena (Gokwe Nembudziya), Tawanda Karikoga (Gokwe
Mapfungautsi),
Godern Chanda (Gokwe Sesame), Vongaishe Mupereri (former Mbizo MP), Omega
Sibanda (Vungu) and former Chiwundura MP Brown Ndlovu qualified to contest in
the DCCs.
Wadyajena is also set to become the DCC chairperson in the
province as he stands unopposed. Others who qualified were Zanu PF youth league
national executive member Erasmus Jaya and Mberengwa North MP Tafanana Zhou. In Masvingo, deputy Finance minister
Clemence Chiduwa told the Daily News that his CV had been accepted to contest
for the Zaka DCC chairmanship.
“I am a candidate to become DCC chairperson. I am grateful
to the party leadership for giving me the opportunity to contest,” Chiduwa
said.
Another notable candidate who made it in Masvingo was Zaka
Central MP Davison Svuure, while former Masvingo provincial chairperson
Paradzai Chakona was disqualified.
In Mashonaland Central, Energy minister Zhemu Soda, former
Muzarabani North MP Christopher Chitindi and Size Tapera (Muzarabani South) all
qualified.
But Soda was accused of dropping the name of Mnangagwa to
stand unopposed, an allegation he denied. Candidates who made it in Manicaland
were not disclosed at the PCC meeting held at Marymount College, which was
presided over by Education minister Cain Mathema.
In his address, Mathema warned against electoral
malpractices, including vote buying — saying those who lose in the elections
must accept defeat.
“I am here at the behest of the national commissar who
deployed senior politburo members to address provincial structures on the
objectives of DCCs.
“Among some of the reasons for creating DCCs is to foster
internal democracy within the party and increase its support base. “Candidates
must be of the highest integrity in line with pronouncements made by the
president. DCC elections must be held in a transparent manner and all forms of
corruption must be shunned.
“Elections must be held in line with the constitution and
support the candidacy of President Mnangagwa in 2023.
“There is need to remain united and shun tribalism as
Zimbabweans are one regardless of origin. We must be proud of our cultural
diversity and those who perpetuate tribalism are Rhodesian elements,” Mathema
said.
In Mashonaland East, Mutoko North MP Rambidzai Nyabote and
his Mutoko East counterpart Richard Musiyiwa qualified for the elections, while
former Marondera Central MP Lawrence Katsiru was said to have been disqualified for allegedly not being a paid-up
member.
The DCC structures elect Zanu PF’s 10 provincial executives
— from where the party draws members of the 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 30congress.
Daily News
0 comments:
Post a Comment