Another acid test for Mujuru

Source: Another acid test for Mujuru – DailyNews Live

Blessings Mashaya      27 January 2017

HARARE – Former Vice President Joice Mujuru and her fledgling Zimbabwe
People First (ZPF) party face another big political test when they square
up against Zanu PF in yet another by-election – this time in Mwenezi East.

This comes as Mujuru and ZPF are still smarting from the brutal electoral
hiding they received in last week’s Bikita West by-election where their
candidate, Kudakwashe Gopo, lost heavily to Zanu PF’s Beauty Chakabva.

Although the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (Zec) is yet to announce the
dates for the Mwenezi by-election, which fell vacant in December last year
following the death of Zanu PF legislator Joshua Moyo, ZPF says it will
participate in the poll.

The seat has attracted the attention of senior party officials, including
Kudakwashe Bhasikiti – who was expelled from both Zanu PF and the
government for supporting Mujuru.

Bhasikiti confirmed to the Daily News yesterday that he was keen to
participate in the by-election, if his party selected him as its
candidate.

“People are going to decide. If they want me to contest, I will do so.
Although I am available, that doesn’t mean I am positioning myself as the
suitable candidate for Mwenezi.

“I have the interest to serve my people so that their lives improve, but I
will wait for the party and people to decide,” he said.

“We formed our party to contest in elections, so that we can provide
solutions to the current economic woes. For Mwenezi, we are going to
contest as a party so that we fulfil our mandate.

“Zanu PF knows that we are a strong party. The Bikita West defeat doesn’t
stop us from participating in any election. We have to fight as a party.

“Although Zanu PF terrorises people, we want to put a spirited fight
against all these anomalies. Our party was formed to offer solutions and
stop Zanu PF’s misrule,” the former Masvingo Provincial Affairs minister
added.

In the wake of ZPF’s heavy shellacking in Bikita West, analysts have said
Mujuru has been left with “a huge mountain to climb”, regarding her
capacity to defeat President Robert Mugabe and his warring ruling party in
next year’s keenly-anticipated elections.

But Mujuru received a huge boost on Wednesday when opposition leader
Morgan Tsvangirai asserted that he would form a coalition alliance with
her, despite ZPF’s crushing defeat to the ruling party in Bikita.

“The president (Tsvangirai) said one swallow does not make a summer and
Bikita West is the swallow. It was a farcical election that cannot be used
to measure someone’s popularity,” Tsvangirai’s spokesperson Luke
Tamborinyoka said.

“Yes, there are some people who want to use it to undermine the coalition.
However, we will not allow that because we have already decided to do a
cow-horn formation on Zanu PF. There is a national sentiment out there
that we should form a coalition and that is what we are going to do. It is
Zimbabwe against Mugabe,” he added.

Since Mujuru joined hands with Tsvangirai and marched with him on the
streets of Gweru in August last year – in a rare public display of unity
among the opposition – there have been growing calls by fed-up citizens
for the formation of a grand opposition alliance.

Tsvangirai, the only opposition leader to have defeated Mugabe in a poll,
has been holding secret talks with Mujuru and leaders of other smaller
opposition parties to form the much-talked about pact, which they say will
be in place before the end of this year.

Analysts have also consistently said that a united opposition, fighting
with one purpose, would bring to an end Mugabe’s long rule – especially at
this time when the country’s economy is dying and the increasingly frail
nonagenarian is battling to keep his warring Zanu PF united.