Source: Tension, fear as Masvingo votes – DailyNews Live
Blessings Mashaya 2 May 2017
HARARE – Emotions are running high in the politically volatile province of
Masvingo, ahead of this weekend’s re-run of regional Zanu PF elections to
choose a substantive provincial chairperson – amid claims that the party
faction opposed to Vice President Emmerson Mnangagwa is also mobilising
furiously to stop the tension-field election.
This comes as supporters of the embattled Generation-40 (G40) faction are
also making stunning claims that military and intelligence personnel are
allegedly campaigning for former provincial chairperson Ezra Chadzamira,
who is seen as a Mnangagwa ally.
Well-placed party sources told the Daily News yesterday that as a result,
beleaguered G40 bigwigs were now working feverishly to try and mobilise
their supporters not to participate in Saturday’s election – in a
desperate bid to have the crucial plebiscite cancelled.
The faction was said to be operating through an outfit known as “Province
2017”, which had been sending messages to Zanu PF supporters in the
province via social media, warning them not to vote on Saturday unless the
politburo addressed their grievances.
“Josiah Hungwe and Shuvai Mahofa (both alleged to be Mnangagwa allies) are
manipulating the structures. They are doing what they want.
“Unless the politburo attends to previously raised grievances, there is no
need for people to vote in an election whose outcome is pre-determined,”
one of the G40-linked sources told the Daily News.
“We can’t allow Chadzamira to get in under such circumstances. They are
pushing for Chadzamira to win at all cost,” he added.
Saturday’s re-run pits previously sacked regional chairperson and alleged
Team Lacoste kingpin, Chadzamira, against G40-linked bigwig, Mutero
Masanganise.
In the first round, Chadzamira crushed Masanganise – polling 12 393 votes
against his opponent’s 4 888, amid allegations of rigging and failure by
people in Mwenezi and some parts of Chiredzi to vote.
The politburo later nullified the result and ordered a re-run, to allow
districts that had not voted a chance to cast their votes.
With Chadzamira seemingly set to win the vote again, this puts party
bigwigs in a bind, as he has an uneasy relationship with ”Shake-Shake
House” (Zanu PF headquarters), after he was suspended last year on
untested charges of indiscipline, inciting insolence and engaging in
violence within the warring ruling party.
The G40 has for some time now been described as being “at sixes and
sevens”, following the pressure that has been brought to bear on its
leading national figures, as well as the suspension of its alleged
provincial kingpins, including politburo member Daniel Shumba and Masvingo
provincial commissar Jeppy Jaboon – who were both ousted from the regional
executive last month.
Shumba, who was said to be the brains behind the Province 2017 project,
scoffed at the allegations.
“I have only heard about that group. I hear it’s a WhatsApp group … it
doesn’t mean that it’s another political party,” he said.
Province 2017 was said to be so determined to stop Saturday’s election
that it was allegedly spreading “false information” claiming that acting
provincial chairperson and Cabinet minister Joram Gumbo was no longer in
charge of organising the poll.
Gumbo, while confirming to the Daily News yesterday that he was aware of
“the machinations of Province 2017”, dismissed the shadowy group as
“desperate”.
“I know there are some few individuals who are saying negative things
about the upcoming Masvingo elections, but they must know that I am not
going to vote.
“Kana vasingade kuti ndiite voudza vaMugabe kuti ndivo vava nemasimba
ekuisa wavanoda. Ndongonzwa vachipengereka … ini handina interest
nezveMasvingo, handibviko ini. (If they have issues and feel that they
have the power, they must tell president Mugabe that they want to appoint
a person whom they wish to be in charge of the elections. I don’t come
from Masvingo and so I don’t have an interest in the election).
“I also don’t vote … all we want to do is to make sure that the party is
strong in the province. I have nothing to do with Masvingo party
structures.
“People must also understand that the papers we use are the same papers
which were used to accredit people who attended last year’s national
conference.
“We get these papers from (Zanu PF national political commissar Saviour)
Kasukuwere and I am not the one who decides on who is going to vote or
not. My job is simply to organise the elections,” Gumbo said.
Sources have also previously told the Daily News that Zanu PF’s ever-fluid
factional and succession politics were changing gear again, as there was
now an apparent realignment of alliances within the warring former
liberation movement – as Mnangagwa’s allies cranked up their assault on
the G40.
The G40 faction has been receiving deadly blows in recent weeks, in an
unexpected turn of events, which recently saw the women’s league
jettisoning its heavyweights, Eunice Sandi Moyo and Sarah Mahoka after
nationwide demos against the duo.
Mahoka and Sandi Moyo had been among the group of women’s league members
who were aggressively pushing for the revival of the debate about the need
for a woman to become one of Zanu PF’s two vice presidents.
Their calls for a woman to be elevated to the presidency was seen as
directed against Mnangagwa, as the appointment of the other VP,
Phelekezela Mphoko, was part of the conditions of the country’s unity
accord which resulted in the post of the second VP being reserved for
senior former Zapu officials.
Meanwhile, Kasukuwere is now fighting for his political future in the
warring former liberation movement, after the party’s 10 provinces passed
votes of no confidence against him, over a slew of untested allegations
which include creating parallel structures and allegedly planning to
topple Mugabe.
At the same time, it has also emerged that Matabeleland North province has
also put in motion plans to haul over the coals party politburo member and
Higher Education minister, Jonathan Moyo.
The two men are alleged to be kingpins of the G40 faction, although they
both deny it.
Apart from Moyo and Kasukuwere, Manicaland province recently passed a vote
of no confidence in its chairperson Samuel Undenge, while plans are also
apparently afoot to depose his wife, Letina, as the provincial chairperson
of the women’s league.
Insiders claim that the couple is also part of the G40 faction.
Apart from the couple, Harare Provincial political commissar, Shadreck
Mashayamombe, has also come under increasing pressure to leave his post.
Mashayamombe was recently given a stay of execution when Harare province
suspended a prohibition order barring him from conducting party business
that he had been slapped with by disgruntled party members.
Political analysts have said Mugabe’s failure to resolve Zanu PF’s thorny
succession riddle is fuelling the ruling party’s deadly infighting, which
is worsening by the day.
The 93-year-old has studiously refused to name a successor, insisting that
the party’s congress has that mandate: to choose a person of their own
choice.
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