Zanu-PF launches witch-hunt

ZANU-PF was has launched a witch-hunt on suspected faction leaders, who incited their supporters to engage in violence against fellow party members and caused ugly scenes at the burial of national hero, Sikhanyiso Ndlovu at the National Heroes' Acre on Saturday.

Party commissar, Saviour Kasukuwere yesterday vowed to leave no stone unturned in the search for culprits behind the physical attack on party members who went to the burial wearing campaign T-shirts carrying President Robert Mugabe and the late former Vice-President Joshua Nkomo's picture on the front and a message praising First Lady Grace Mugabe on the back.

This comes amid reports that the T-shirts were printed by a faction against Vice-President Emmerson Mnangagwa, who are taking advantage of his widely condemned gaffe, where he insinuated Nkomo was a "sell-out".

"We will look into it and investigate the circumstances,"  said Kasukuwere.

"We cannot allow violence within out party. If anyone has an issue, they must come forward and not act in such manner. We will go to the bottom of it and establish what happened."

Supporters of rival Zanu-PF camps fought running battles last Saturday as Ndlovu's body was being lowered into the grave, with members of the vigilante National Youth Service, also known as Border Gezi youths, said to have been angered by the messages on the T-shirts.

The Border Gezi youths demanded those wearing the T-shirts to remove them or face the consequences, as they also turned the heat on Harare South MP Shadreck Mashayamombe for distributing the regalia.

Mashayamombe, who is Zanu-PF Harare provincial commissar, defended the wearing of the T-shirts, saying: "What is wrong with having T-shirts that call for unity in the party? What is wrong with having our President and the late Vice-President (on the T-shirts)?"

However, Mnangagwa loyalists, mostly Border Gezi youths, questioned the agenda behind the messages on the T-shirts.