via Kasukuwere fails to douse Zanu PF flames – DailyNews Live 9 November 2015
HARARE – Vice President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s allies in Mashonaland East are still on the ropes despite attempts by Zanu PF national political commissar Saviour Kasukuwere to douse the factional flames raging in the troubled province on Friday.
Following the chaos that saw provincial party leaders from two rival camps, one led by provincial chairperson Joel Biggie Matiza and aligned to Mnangagwa in the Zanu PF succession wars and the other led by secretary for administration Lawrence Katsiru, Kasukuwere on Friday moved in to put out the fires reinstating all officials affected in the fiasco.
But regional sources from both provincial chairperson Matiza and Katsiru’s camps told the Daily News on Sunday that the provincial leadership’s working relationship had irretrievably broken down.
The fight for the control of the province has also sucked in politburo member Sydney Sekeramayi, regional minister Ambrose Mutinhiri, deputy Agriculture minister Paddy Zhanda and his Foreign Affairs counterpart Edgar Mbwembwe who are all accused of plotting Matiza’s ouster.
So bad and delicate are relations in the party that hardly a day after Kasukuwere’s arbitration, the two antagonistic camps are already scheming how to outmanoeuvre each other again.
While welcoming Kasukuwere’s intervention as a “positive move in bringing order to the province” Katsiru, who is accused by Matiza’s camp of being the architect of the votes of no confidence against him, said there were still sediments of mistrust among the leadership.
Speaking in an interview yesterday Katsiru said while “as a disciplined party cadre I am ready to work with all well-meaning party leaders in the province”.
He said he was “a troubled soul as I am in the dark as to what crime I committed that led to a so-called counter vote of no confidence against me”.
“Now there is mistrust and you do not know what they will plan against me in the future so I will watch from a distance but I am ready to defend my territory,” Katsiru said.
“I was far away from the province in Victoria Falls and I was shocked to hear that a vote of no confidence had been passed against me, for what? Is it because I refuse to be an individual’s puppet?” the Marondera central MP queried.
Provincial officials privy to the goings-on in the beleaguered ruling party said the camp that initially passed a vote of no confidence on Matiza had hoped that Kasukuwere would uphold their move.
“Kasukuwere surprised us all because we thought he would deal with the person who is destabilising this province and allowing Gamatox to regroup.
“Whatever strategy the leadership is using may not work because the guys are in control of the structures from the districts,” a provincial executive member said on condition of anonymity.
But other regional executive members sympathetic to Matiza on the other hand accused Katsiru of working with ousted former provincial chairperson Ray Kaukonde to destabilise the party.
“The funding of this clique baying for Matiza’s blood is coming from Kaukonde and suspended MPs who cannot stand in the 2018 elections so by disposing the incumbent chair they reckon they might stand a chance of being readmitted in 2018,” a women’s league executive member aligned to Matiza said.
“The MPs include Phineas Chihota (Seke MP), Felix Mhona (Chikomba Central) as well as Petronella Kagonye (Goromonzi South) and Beatrice Nyamupinga (Goromonzi West), who are eyeing to become women’s league bosses.
“It is no secret that every MP got to the positions through Kaukonde’s favouritism so to whom do the two owe allegiance between Dr Amai Grace Mugabe, whom they purport to be representing, or the master in the shadows?.
“The national political commissar instead of ordering people to work together should know evil when he sees it. Those who violate the constitution of the party should go,” the source said.
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