Kasukuwere blamed for chaos

Former ZANU-PF national political commissar Saviour Kasukuwere has been accused of fomenting chaos within the ruling party structures in Chiredzi, where he allegedly created parallel structures in an attempt to manipulate primary elections ahead of next year's harmonised elections. Kasukuwere was expelled from the ruling party during an Extraordinary Central Committee meeting held in Harare on Sunday.

He was fired together with other ruling party officials for taking advantage of his proximity to President Mugabe to sow seeds of confusion in ZANU-PF.

The ousted ZANU-PF Masvingo provincial executive led by acting provincial chair Amasa Nhenjana issued prohibition orders to aspiring ZANU-PF Chiredzi West legislator Farai Musikavanhu and Roy Bhila, an aspiring Chiredzi North Member of Parliament (MP), after the pair were accused of prematurely hitting the campaign trail before announcement of primary election dates and guidelines.

However, in a two-paged response to Nhenjana following his suspension, Musikavanhu claimed that his premature campaign in Chiredzi West had Kasukuwere's blessings.

"I had the opportunity to brief the (then) ZANU-PF political commissar, Kasukuwere, who gave me the guidance on the dos and dont's in respect of my aspirations to be the ZANU-PF candidate for Chiredzi West constituency in next year's elections," he said in his letter.

"Kasukuwere told me that there was nothing wrong in carrying out developmental projects as long as I did this in consultation with the relevant party leadership in my area of interest. This is what I have been doing."

Musikavanhu, who is a former agriculture planning director for Tongaat Hulett, said he was even invited by Kasukuwere to help in the establishment of a multimillion-dollar sugarcane plantation in Mashonaland Central province.

"Last year, Kasukuwere invited me to spearhead revival of the Lower Mazowe Sugar project, which had been initiated in the 1990s. I proceeded to Bindura for the project evaluation exercise,'' added Musikavanhu.

However, Chiredzi West MP Darlington Chiwa rubbished Musikavanhu's claims yesterday, accusing him of trying to cover his own misdemeanour's using Kasukuwere's name.

He accused Musikavanhu of creating parallel structures in his constituency in a bid to wrestle the seat from him next year.

"It's no longer a secret that Musikavanhu started campaigning long before the party allowed us to do so," said Chiwa.

"He gave reference to (Cde) Kasukuwere whenever he addressed people in my constituency. He had created his own councillors who have official stamps to use in their daily work. All ZANU-PF councillors in Chiredzi West have replacements created by him and they are working on the ground to unseat the elected councillors,'' charged Chiwa.

He added: "We can't ignore that when people are violating the party rules and regulations."

Musikavanhu is eyeing to represent ZANU-PF in Chiredzi West during next year's harmonised elections, while Bhila is positioning to replace Robert Mukwena in Chiredzi North.