Shamu faces Zanu-PF axe

OUSTED Zanu-PF national political commissar, Webster Shamu, is still in the line of fire despite having been reduced to an ordinary card-carrying member of the revolutionary party.

Bulawayo24 News can report that Shamu who fell from grace towards the end of last year is the next to be elbowed out of Zanu-PF.

Party insiders claim that Shamu has already been notified of the impending action. Shamu is said to be lining a lady candidate in Zanu-PF that he will fund to contest the Zanu-PF leadership in Mashonaland West. If the lady wins the elections, Shamu's faction will then leak the information that the candidate is linked to Shamu so that the elections will be nullified to create more confusion in Zanu-PF.

Zanu-PF insiders said there is a groundswell of anger against Shamu for his role in propping up Mujuru, the biggest casualty of the purge.

They said, given a choice, the Zanu-PF leadership would not hesitate to expel Shamu from the party in order to completely remove his influence.

Shamu is also the primary target of an internal investigation into the flawed distribution of Zanu-PF membership cards and party regalia unearthed in the past two years.

The party, shaken to the core by internecine infighting, wants to unravel the mystery behind about 300 000 membership cards that have not been accounted for.

With each card costing US$2, indications are that over $600 000 could have been embezzled by officials in the commissariat department.

Zanu-PF is also under pressure to act on allegations that the party's secretariat, headed by Shamu at the time, made a killing from selling party regalia sourced from the Far East, which should have been distributed for free ahead of the July 2013 polls.

While the investigations are still underway, party hawks are eager to build a strong case against Shamu, whom they still view as a potential threat in Mashonaland West Province, which happens to be President Robert Mugabe's home area.

Despite losing his position in Zanu-PF, Shamu, also previously known as Charles Ndlovu having changed his name during the liberation war (1972–1980), as did many others who used pseudonyms to mask their identities, is still the Member of Parliament for Chegutu.

In the last six months, Zanu-PF has shown the door to four of its members, who had remained vocal, protesting their "unfair" treatment.

These include Rugare Gumbo, former national party spokesperson; Jabulani Sibanda, former head of the war veterans; Didymus Mutasa, former secretary for administration and Temba Mliswa, former chairman of Mashonaland West province.

All these officials were linked to Mujuru, accused of plotting to oust President Mugabe from power through unconstitutional means.