Politburo to decide Mutsvangwa’s fate

By Mugove Tafirenyika

HARARE – The Zanu PF politburo will at its next meeting decide the fate of War Veterans minister Christopher Mutsvangwa who was recently banished from the Zanu PF Mashonaland West Province, party national spokesperson Simon Khaya Moyo has said.

Khaya Moyo told the Daily News on Sunday that while the Mashonaland West provincial executive had done everything above board when it passed a vote of no confidence against Mutsvangwa, it was the politburo which had the final say.

“The provincial executive has confirmed to me that they have since submitted their recommendations to the national disciplinary committee which will look into the matter and make recommendations to the politburo which will then make the final decision,” Khaya Moyo said.

He added that there were some in the party who had assumed that “because we okayed the provincial process as having been above board, then his fate was already sealed”.

“The party has procedures to follow in such circumstances because we also believe that someone is innocent until they are proved guilty and that is what the national disciplinary committee is looking at after the provincial report”.

In the aftermath of the announcement of Mutsvangwa’s no confidence vote and the subsequent recommendation for his expulsion from the party and recalling from Parliament, there were groans from the Norton legislator’s sympathisers who quickly pointed to the possibility of  a breach of procedure.

Mutsvangwa’s backers argue that the move by the provincial coordinating committee  (PCC) to eject him could have been at variance with the Zanu PF procedures as he was not a member of the provincial executive but a politburo member who cannot be reduced to the PCC.

“Mutsvangwa is not a member of the Mashonaland West provincial executive. He is a politburo member and a minister appointed by the president.”

Former Mashonaland West governor Peter Chanetsa, a member of the  PCC who said he did not participate in the no-confidence vote told the state media that Zanu PF was infested with “crooks” hell-bent on elbowing out senior members “for self-enrichment”.

“If you say you are passing a vote of no confidence in such a person you are literally passing a vote of no confidence in the president who appointed him,” he said.

But Khaya Moyo in an earlier interview with our sister paper the Daily News maintained that the province’s decision was in order and that Mugabe’s authority had not been challenged.

The ruling party information tsar said Mutsvangwa’s suspension was one of “several other cases that were outstanding and needed to be brought to finality”.

“There is no defiance of the president because all the cases of votes of no confidence had been outstanding for quite some time. It must not be seen as if the issues came about after the president’s conference speech about the need for unity. These are issues that were only waiting to be concluded and that is what is happening now,” Khaya Moyo said.

He was also adamant that the current goings-on in the ruling party did not reflect the turmoil that the former liberation movement is going through.

“This is a mammoth party and there are bound to be misunderstandings in a party as big and democratic as ours. The party is as intact as ever”. Daily News on Sunday