News / National
Zanu-PF plots new MDC-T city siege
10 Jul 2015 at 13:37hrs | Views
ZANU-PF is plotting to put MDC-T-led local authorities - particularly Harare and other major municipalities - under siege as part of a grand plan to reclaim control in the 2018 general elections, while also pushing to recover lost political ground from the main opposition party in urban constituencies, it has emerged.
According to the Zimbabwe Independent, senior Zanu-PF and government officials said this week that President Robert Mugabe's cabinet reshuffle this week, apart from dealing with the ruling party's internal leadership succession dynamics, was a grand plan for the 2018 general elections.
The machination resolves around aligning Zanu-PF national commissar Saviour Kasukuwere's party duties with his government responsibilities as the new Local Government minister.
In the party Kasukuwere is responsible for organising the structures and mobilising support. In government, he will preside over a massive bureaucratic structure which has a national footprint as he will be in charge of rural and urban councils countrywide. He will also oversee provincial and district administrators, as well as traditional chiefs - Zanu-PF's electoral kingpins in its rural strongholds - and headmen, among others.
Provincial ministers - who are a new version of the old governors who represent Mugabe in the regions - will also work hand-in-hand with Kasukuwere leading to the 2018 polls.
Another minister said Zanu-PF already had a pedestal to fight back after grabbing 16 seats previously held by MDC-T, including in the opposition party's strongholds of Harare and Bulawayo.
In an interview with the Independent on Tuesday, Kasukuwere said it was the local authorities' responsibility to clean up the cities and towns. He warned that if the MDC-T councils fail to act they might be booted out and possibly be replaced with ministerial commissions reminiscent of his predecessor Ignatius Chombo's era.
According to the Zimbabwe Independent, senior Zanu-PF and government officials said this week that President Robert Mugabe's cabinet reshuffle this week, apart from dealing with the ruling party's internal leadership succession dynamics, was a grand plan for the 2018 general elections.
The machination resolves around aligning Zanu-PF national commissar Saviour Kasukuwere's party duties with his government responsibilities as the new Local Government minister.
In the party Kasukuwere is responsible for organising the structures and mobilising support. In government, he will preside over a massive bureaucratic structure which has a national footprint as he will be in charge of rural and urban councils countrywide. He will also oversee provincial and district administrators, as well as traditional chiefs - Zanu-PF's electoral kingpins in its rural strongholds - and headmen, among others.
Provincial ministers - who are a new version of the old governors who represent Mugabe in the regions - will also work hand-in-hand with Kasukuwere leading to the 2018 polls.
Another minister said Zanu-PF already had a pedestal to fight back after grabbing 16 seats previously held by MDC-T, including in the opposition party's strongholds of Harare and Bulawayo.
In an interview with the Independent on Tuesday, Kasukuwere said it was the local authorities' responsibility to clean up the cities and towns. He warned that if the MDC-T councils fail to act they might be booted out and possibly be replaced with ministerial commissions reminiscent of his predecessor Ignatius Chombo's era.
Source - Zim Ind
