Source: Mujuru launches ‘pungwe’ rallies – DailyNews Live
Fungi Kwaramba 6 September 2017
HARARE – Opposition National People’s Party (NPP) leader Joice Mujuru has
launched her bid for presidency with night vigils – popularly known as
pungwes – hoping to take votes from mainstream candidates in a tight race
that promises a strong turnout.
The 62-year-old was President Robert Mugabe’s deputy for a decade and seen
as the veteran leader’s shoo-in successor until he fired her in 2014,
accusing her of leading a plot to oust him.
She launched NPP this year to challenge her ally-turned-adversary, and has
started to prepare a campaign that will see her stand as a presidential
candidate in next year’s election, promising to revive the economy and
repair strained relations with the West.
NPP secretary-general Gift Nyandoro, who also doubles as her spokesperson,
said the former Cabinet minister and guerilla is launching night vigils,
which date back to the liberation struggle days when freedom fighters
organised them as strategies to mobilise the rural population.
The freedom fighters used the pungwes to solicit for support from
villagers.
“It is a roller-coaster programme that is done on a daily basis. The aim
is for the president to address every single of the 1 958 wards in
Zimbabwe before 2018 elections,” Nyandoro said.
“The aim is to tell Zimbabweans what NPP stands for among many other
important messages.
“Among other important messages is that she is encouraging Zimbabweans to
register in the voter registration exercise and to avoid voter apathy
because Zimbabweans owe it to themselves to liberate the country from
Mugabe hegemony. Remember she is a guerrilla and a war vet.”
The NPP was formed after the Zimbabwe People First split over
disagreements between Mujuru and the party’s founders – Didymus Mutasa and
Rugare Gumbo.
The rebranded party has also been hit by a series of resignations since
then and presently the party’s treasurer-general Wilbert Mubaiwa is
accusing the party’s leadership of having dictatorial tendencies.
In a letter to Mujuru, Mubaiwa – who had provided the NPP with offices –
is accusing Mujuru of stifling democracy and behaving similarly with her
erstwhile comrades in Zanu PF.
“I am at times convinced that the country’s problems are much bigger than
Mugabe and Zanu PF because of a clear testimony of the general and tragic
leadership failure across the entire political divide and spectrum in our
country in general and our party in particular,” said Mubaiwa.
Asked whether NPP will take any disciplinary action against Mubaiwa, who
is being left out from the party’s activities, including the ongoing night
vigils, Nyandoro said he can only comment when his principal finishes
dealing with the contents of the letter.
“His status is now an issue of due process enquiry and hence I am
constrained to comment on it since it might be subjudice.
“I am advised that he has penned a letter to the party president whose
contents I am not privy to,” Nyandoro said.
Several party officials have expressed disgruntlement over Mujuru’s
leadership style as well as failure to whip errant officials into line.
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