Zanu-PF Midlands dumps 8 officials

ZANU-PF Midlands province has passed a vote of no confidence on July Moyo, Victor Matemadanda, Owen Mudha Ncube, Goodwill Shiri and Clarisse Mutambisi. The province, led by acting provincial chairman Tapiwa Matangaidze, suspended the group on allegations of gross misconduct, running parallel structures, divisive conduct and promoting factionalism.

A vote of no confidence was also passed on other provincial executive members, the provincial spokesperson Cornelius Mpereri, Justice Mayor Wadyajena and a Chigaba on the same allegations.

Matangaidze and Makhosini Hlongwane were the only provincial executive members who attended the meeting, which was supposed to be a Provincial Coordinating Committee on development.

The rest of the provincial executive members snubbed the meeting, whose date had been set at an earlier PCC meeting held in February. Other officials, including some members of the central committee and politburo from the province, elected instead to hold a rally in Mberengwa.

In a meeting held at Gweru Training Centre yesterday, under the auspices of PCC on development, Matangaidze said that the parallel meeting held in Mberengwa was unsanctioned while the one in Gweru was on the party calendar adopted at the beginning of the year.

It was during the meeting that a Gweru councillor Tiripai Chipondeni interjected and moved a motion that a vote of no confidence be passed on the provincial secretary for security Mudha Ncube, central committee member Goodwill Shiri, the deputy secretary for administration in the politburo July Moyo, the deputy provincial chair for the Women's League Clarisse Mutambisi and Victor Matemadanda, the war veterans association secretary general.

It was also recommended that the provincial executive endorses the vote of no confidence in Mpereri, Wadyajena and a Chigaba. An estimated 3,000 people drawn from all the eight districts — including the chairpersons — attended the meeting.

The Minister of State for Provincial Affairs Jason Machaya gave an update on the food situation in the province, saying the government was mobilising maize to ensure no one goes hungry. At the end of the meeting, which one official said "morphed into an inter-district conference", Matangaidze read the resolutions.

Moyo, Ncube, Matemadanda and Shiri "stand accused of steering the province away from the national leadership", he said, adding: "Further, they're accused of deliberately undermining the authority and good standing of the First Family (President Robert Mugabe and First Lady Grace Mugabe).

"They're accused of patently promoting the factional Lacoste outfit at the expense of the party." He said the matter would be taken to the commissariat which can refer it to the national disciplinary committee.

Mpereri confirmed that the other provincial executive members were in Mberengwa where they had an outreach meeting together with central committee members. He dismissed the votes on no confidence as null and void.

"We're in Mberengwa and the meeting was successful. Those dismissals are null and void," he said. The provincial deputy chairman Daniel McKenzie Ncube dismissed the vote of no confidence saying it was mere mob rule where the members that constitute both the provincial executive and the coordinating committee were not present.

McKenzie said it was a counter-offensive strategy by Matangaidze and Hlongwane after they were both given a vote of no confidence.

"My understanding is that the majority of the provincial members went to Mberengwa for an outreach meeting. Matangaidze and Hlongwane were both given a vote of no confidence and I don't know what they're trying to do.

"Some of the people who attended the meeting were formally members of the 'Gamatox cabal' (supporters of former Vice President Joice Mujuru who was expelled in 2014). People who attended the meeting have no capacity and authority to pass a vote of no confidence on anyone," he said.