Zanu PF on collision course

By Fungi Kwaramba

HARARE – President Robert Mugabe’s Zanu PF party faces stiff opposition from his usually loyal supporters who are challenging the expulsion from the party of all persons perceived to be loyal to former Vice President Joice Mujuru.

Already, the axe has descended on former Presidential Affairs minister Didymus Mutasa and his voluble party nephew Temba Mliswa but the two still enjoy support from their constituencies.

Savior Kasukuwere, Zanu PF’s handpicked political commissar, over the weekend told party supporters in Zibagwe-Chirumhanzu, that the faction-ridden party would not hesitate to expel all MPs with links to Mujuru if they do not toe the line.

With more heads likely to roll and by-elections in the offing — the ruling party is likely to be confronted with independent candidates like Temba Mliswa — who still enjoys support from party supporters in Hurungwe West.

On Saturday, party structures in Hurungwe rallied behind Mliswa vowing to take the war to party leaders “in the habit of imposing candidates”.

Pointing to Information minister Jonathan Moyo, Mudzi legislator Jonathan Samkange and Bikita West MP Munyaradzi Kereke —who all challenged Zanu PF and won as independent candidates in their respective constituencies —irate villagers from Hurungwe also exhorted Mliswa to go it alone.

Tafadzwa Zimuto, a youth league representative, told our sister publication Daily News on Sunday that the people in the constituency disagreed very strongly with the decision to expel the popular Mliswa.

“We are the ones who voted for Mliswa and as such we are going to vote for him again, even as an independent,” he said.

Edious Hungwe, a war veteran from Magumwe District, felt so betrayed by the party’s leadership that he regretted the fact that so many Zimbabweans had sacrificed their lives for the liberation of the country — all seemingly “in vain”.

“I don’t even know why I went to war. He (Mliswa) brought so much development here. We have had so many MPs but he is a stand-out guy.

“The constituency also demands a meeting with (party political commissar Savior) Kasukuwere so as to get the clear picture. If they say he has been fired we will then declare him an independent.”

Hundreds of villagers signed an anti-Mliswa-expulsion petition and are also planning to descend at the party’s headquarters for audience with the “out of touch leadership”.

Jackson Chizanga, the youth provincial commissar for Mashonaland West, said the expulsion of Mliswa from the party and Parliament was shocking and ill-timed.

Hardliners in the ruling party — have previously indicated that Zanu PF would survive without those expelled from the party but — insiders say there are fears that the list of independent candidates challenging the party candidates could severely weaken the already weakened movement.

Attempts by the ruling party to impose candidates in Mt Darwin, the parliamentary seat left vacant by Mujuru also hit a snag — as villagers rejected the Vice President Emmerson Mnangagwa and Kasukuwere’s preferred candidates. Daily News