Zanu-PF implodes

ZANU-PF National Secretary for Transport and Welfare Oppah Muchinguri-Kashiri was yesterday hauled over the calls by the revolutionary party's Women's League representatives in Manicaland for sowing hatred and fuelling factionalism in the province. Muchinguri-Kashiri also stands accused of blocking other women in the ruling party from occupying leadership positions in the province.

This emerged at the ZANU-PF Manicaland Provincial Extraordinary Coordinating (PEC) meeting held in Mutare yesterday. The women have also recommended the expulsion of Muchinguri-Kashiri from the revolutionary party for being Vice President Emmerson Mnangagwa's accomplice in trying to unseat the President. Similarly, Manicaland unanimously agreed to have Mnangagwa chucked from his position as the country's Vice President. First to dig into Muchinguri-Kashiri was Provincial Affairs Minister Mandi Chimene who said she once warned the politician for supporting Mnangagwa.

"When Mai Muchinguri was removed from the position as the Governor, I later met her in Penhalonga. She was driving, so I went to lean on the window of her car and there were some light showers. We exchanged some greetings before she started castigating the President..' People should not just follow others without knowing the direction they will be taking. Those people will be having their agendas," she said. Mutasa South legislator Irene Zindi had no kind words for Muchinguri-Kashiri either, vowing to "fight" her to the end. Zindi accused Muchinguri-Kashiri of calling her names.

"During the liberation war, I was a political commissar. I trained as a political commissar. When I came here in Manicaland, I was harassed by some of my comrades. I suffered a lot when I came here. Ndakaenda paChimbetu, ndakaona moto. I remember when we were at a conference in Harare, there is a woman called Mai Mugabe. She spent the whole night crying after being harassed for supporting me," said Zindi.

"I was not on talking terms with Mandi (Chimene) when this woman (Muchinguri) was here. We only started seeing each other when she was removed from the position of the Governor. She would go to the Politburo meeting to say I am the daughter of a prostitute. She would go all the way saying my mother was a prostitute as a way of decampaigning me. Today, I am a living testimony. I wish my mother was alive. I wish my father was alive. I was going to ask her because I was not there when she conceived and I am very emotional about that.

"Ari kuti ndakamurambidza kushandisa surname yekumusha kwedu nokuti mwana wehure. I don't hold any influential position; I am just a party cadre. It will not end like that. I know where my father and mother were buried. I will go for DNA tests," she said. Zindi also accused Minister Muchinguri-Kashiri of plotting to unseat her in Mutasa South constituency by supporting a candidate who wanted to contest against her in the forthcoming elections. Mutare South MP Nyasha Chikwinya also castigated Muchinguri-Kashiri for her actions, particularly of sidelining women, saying Section 17 of the Constitution gave equal opportunities to both women and men.

"As we go towards the 2018 harmonised elections, equal opportunities are going to be given on a 50-50 basis. We are going to start with those women in positions and we move in with other women and not remove them (sic). Even in Zanu-PF as a party, we are going to promote each other in that matter. The issue of removing a woman is a non-starter," she said. Zanu-PF Women's League secretary for administration Letina Undenge also joined the onslaught, saying Muchinguri-Kashiri must stop working against (Irene) Zindi.