POLITICAL temperatures remain high in Zanu PF as party bigwigs jostle to lead the former liberation movement’s provincial structures, the Daily News On Sunday reports.
The polls for the
influential positions will take place soon after the pending and keenly-awaited
district co-ordinating committee (DCC) elections have been completed.
Speaking to the Daily News on Sunday yesterday, acting Zanu
PF spokesperson Patrick Chinamasa cautioned party heavyweights against
launching their campaigns now for the positions.
“That decision (election of provincial chairpersons) will
be taken after the completion of the DCC elections. I will answer that question
on the provincial chairpersons after the DCC elections. One step at a time and
for now all efforts are on DCCs,” he said.
This comes as the countdown to the highly-divisive DCC
elections has been marred by allegations of dirty money changing hands — amid
unproven claims that remnants of the party’s vanquished Generation 40 (G40)
faction are burning the midnight oil to influence the outcome of the polls, in
an alleged bid to engineer their political comeback.
Amid the fierce
tussling over the DCCs, Zanu PF insiders told the Daily News On Sunday
yesterday that ambitious bigwigs were fighting to influence the outcome of the
internal polls which, when fully constituted, would elect the ruling party’s
provincial executives.
In Mashonaland Central, current provincial chairperson
Kazembe Kazembe was said to be under pressure from several party officials —
including Zimbabwe National Liberation War Veterans Association (ZNLWVA)
provincial
chairperson Sam
Parirenyatwa and telecommunications mogul James Makamba, who is back in the
country after spending years living in self-imposed exile in neighbouring South
Africa.
So intense is the heat on Kazembe that war veterans in the
province have accused him of allegedly being sympathetic to G40 members. In a
letter leaked to the provincial leadership, including politburo members, the
war veterans demanded a probe against Kazembe and other senior members who
stand accused of working to bring back G40 elements.
The ex-combatants also accused Kazembe and others of
liaising with the ruling party’s national headquarters without the mandate of
the province.
“We understand there is an ill constituted and unsanctioned
team of provincial members of our party which went to Zanu PF HQ and
misrepresented themselves that they had been sent by the province to clean out
G40 elements from our province.
“The first secretary and president had met provincial
chairpersons on the 12th October 2020 and advised them to ensure clean members
participate in the DCC elections.
“A well-constituted team was then supposed to carry out the
directive from the president. However, we understand that about four members
aligned to one of the factions in the province decided to carry out the mission
themselves for their own benefit,” the war vets said in their letter.
The war veterans further alleged that the team which went
to the national headquarters had removed many ‘‘deserving’’ names and replaced
them with those who were allegedly aligned to the G40.
“Consequently genuine and deserving party members were
corruptly and unfairly removed from the list, leaving well-known G40 members to
participate. “These have remained link persons of the exiled G40 kingpins, yet
they are left to participate in the DCC elections against the directive from
the president,” the former freedom fighters further claimed. “In the interest
of the party, we request that further investigations be carried out and
disciplinary action be taken in line with our constitution.
“May I also remind you of our complaint against the unfair
and uncalled for removal of war veterans from the provincial leadership chat
group, whose audio evidence was given to you by the undersigned. “We wait to be
apprised of the outcome of the investigations and follow up action,” they added.
Kazembe was not reachable for comment. Other Zanu PF
sources also told the Daily News On Sunday that in Mashonaland West, the
incumbent chairperson Ziyambi Ziyambi was also facing a stiff challenge — ahead
of the elections to choose the new provincial executive.
Ziyambi, who is also
the current Justice minister, is said to be facing competition from Provincial
Affairs minister Mary Mliswa-Chikoka and youth league chairperson Vengai
Musengi.
“The battle in Mashonaland West is not only about DCCs, because
interested parties have their eyes on the bigger picture. “The faction that
wins the most influential position in these elections will determine who
becomes the provincial chairperson.
“That is why Mliswa has a keen interest in the DCCs. She
has plans to challenge Ziyambi. Now she is in conflict with Musengi because
they are both eyeing the same position. “Their ambitions have made life
difficult for the chairman who is now fighting on two fronts,” a provincial
executive member said.
On the other hand, DCC elections in Masvingo have all but
become a battle for supremacy between chairperson Ezra Chadzamira, former
chairperson Paradzai Chakona and Bikita West MP Elias Musakwa.
In Mashonaland East, former deputy minister of Transport
Michael Madanha is mounting a concerted bid to dethrone the current chairperson
Biggie Matiza.
In Harare province, Godwills Masimirembwa faces a serious
challenge from perennial provincial chairperson aspirants Justice Zvandasara
and Godwin Gomwe.
Speaking in an interview with the Daily News on Sunday,
Masimirembwa brushed aside claims that
some bigwigs in the
province were already pitching bids for the provincial chairperson elections.
“There are no camps or factions in Harare Province. We are
united and solidly behind President (Emmerson) Mnangagwa. We are currently busy
with branch elections.
Thereafter, we will proceed to district elections. “The
provincial executive is united and focused on the task at hand, which is to
restructure the party at cell, branch and district levels — as directed by the
national commissariat.
“We cannot afford to be divided at the moment. We want to
reclaim all constituencies from the opposition,” Masimirembwa said.
This comes as Vice President Constantino Chiwenga has
warned Zanu PF bigwigs against namedropping and fuelling factionalism in the
ruling party. Addressing a special Zanu PF Mashonaland East provincial
coordinating committee (PCC) meeting in Marondera recently — which was also
attended by Mnangagwa — Chiwenga spoke strongly against factionalism, saying he
and Mnangagwa were inseparable.
“Let us unite as we prepare for a resounding victory come
the 2023 harmonised elections with our flagship, none other than the president
of the Republic of Zimbabwe, Emmerson Dambudzo Mnangagwa.
“He will be there and those who dream otherwise must
realise that it was just but a dream after all,” he told the gathered Zanu PF
bigwigs.
“There is no room for factionalism at any level in the
party. We are a party that cannot be undermined by being defined in the
confines of individuals.
“I repeat, no to factionalism in the party. Those engaging
in factionalism and name dropping are on a selfish, lonely and self-destructive
path.
“We are one and we shall remain one. Hapana kuti uyu
ndinomuda, uyu handimudi. (You cannot choose which leader to follow or not to
follow),” Chiwenga told the meeting further.
Daily News
0 comments:
Post a Comment