PRESIDENT Emmerson Mnangagwa has fired Victor Matemadanda from the post of party political commissar and assigned him to a less glamorous role of heading a diplomatic mission.
The outspoken Zanu PF bigwig was demoted at a politburo
meeting held in Harare on Thursday and now awaits his re-assignment.
Matemadanda, who was also War Veteran deputy minister, is
reported to have been fired over incompetence after he presided over chaotic
Zanu PF district coordinating committee (DCC) elections in December.
He was also punished for publicly bragging that his party
was behind the decimation of the opposition MDC Alliance.
MDC Alliance leader Nelson Chamisa has accused Mnangagwa of
sponsoring divisions in his party, an allegation Zanu PF denies.
Presidential spokesperson George Charamba yesterday
confirmed that Matemadanda was no longer the party’s political commissar or
deputy minister. He said Matemadanda would be reassigned, but downplayed
reports that he had been demoted.
“(Cde) Matemadanda was not fired, but he has been
reassigned for a higher responsibility out of the country,” Charamba said.
“A number of our embassies have no representatives, hence
there is a need to fill in those vacant posts. But it’s up to His Excellency
(Mnangagwa)’s discretion on assigning the individuals. There are a number of
reassignments that are going to be taking place.”
This week, following the recall of Tendai Biti and five
other MPs from the MDC Alliance, the United States government accused Mnangagwa
of abusing State machinery to annihilate the MDC Alliance through illegal
recalls of its MPs, arbitrary arrests, asset seizure as well as denying it
space to campaign freely.
The US State Department said the developments in Zimbabwe
were worrisome as they confirmed the Zanu PF regime’s determination to close
the democratic space and create a pliant opposition which poses no threat to
the ruing party ahead of the 2023 general elections.
Charamba yesterday denied Zanu PF was engineering divisions
in the MDC Alliance. He also denied that the ruling party was behind the recall
of Chamisa’s MPs.
Matemadanda, who took over from Engelbert Rugeje in June
2019, reportedly fell out of favour with Mnangagwa over the chaotic manner he
handled the DCCs.
Chaotic scenes characterised the DCC elections last
December amid allegations of vote-rigging, burning of ballot papers and
violence in most parts of the country.
Some Zanu PF members boycotted voting in the elections
after names of their preferred candidates were removed from ballot papers under
controversial circumstances. The voting also commenced very late in most parts
of the country because of delays in the delivery of voting materials.
Matemadanda led the crusade against the late former
President Robert Mugabe and his family, leading to his dismissal from Zanu PF
in 2016.
He later bounced back and was initially appointed commissar
just after Mugabe’s ouster, before being replaced by Rugeje, seen at the time
as Vice-President Constantino Chiwenga’s appointee. Newsday
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