ZANU PF factional fights in former President Robert
Mugabe’s backyard, Mashonaland West province, have refused to die down as
tempers reportedly flared at an extraordinary provincial coordinating committee
meeting in Chinhoyi yesterday over control of the proceedings.
Issues came to a head when supporters of President Emmerson
Mnangagwa’s Team Lacoste demanded that the provincial chairperson Ephraim
Chengeta should relinquish the post to Ziyambi Ziyambi.
Chengeta was handpicked by former Zanu PF political
commissar Saviour Kasukuwere, a G40 kingpin, after Ziyambi was elbowed out in a
cloud for being labelled a Lacoste member.
“It’s high time Chengeta knows that he is no longer the
chairperson of the province. He should hand back the power to the legitimate
chairperson, Ziyambi. We were not happy to be chaired by a G40 appointee,” a
Mnangagwa ally, who declined to be named said.
Ziyambi, however, chose to be diplomatic and played down
the standoff, saying Chengeta chaired the meeting with his blessings.
“We are just managing the transitional period. It’s not a
big deal, we are a family. There are some issues that need to be sorted out
besides the most important thing is the success of the forthcoming congress. I
discussed the issue with Chengeta before the meeting,” he said.
Chinhoyi councillor Charles Mutisi nearly traded blows with
Magunje MP Godfrey Gandawa with the former accusing the Higher Education deputy
minister of engineering politburo member Priscah Mupfumira’s expulsion from
government. Mupfumira was dropped from Cabinet in a recent reshuffle largely
seen as targeted at Lacoste sympathisers.
Dexter Nduna proposed that the party accommodates all
expelled members, but his suggestion shot down by Mnangagwa’s hardliners who
insisted that G40 activists be flushed out of the ruling party.
Zanu PF has been facing endless factional fights which have
sharply divided the party and culminated in Mugabe’s resignation last week. The
fights were mainly centred around Mugabe’s succession. Newsday
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