Chaos rocks Zanu-PF provinces

Zanu-PF is battling to conclude its restructuring exercise due to violent clashes among supporters, which have affected several provinces, it has emerged.

Several provinces, especially in Midlands, Mashonaland West, Harare and Mashonaland Central, have been affected by factional fights as the ruling party prepares for provincial elections next month.

In Manicaland, two Zanu-PF youths were dragged to court on Thursday to answer to charges of malicious damage of property after they allegedly stoned a vehicle belonging to Zanu-PF Manicaland provincial chairman Mike Madiro.

The accused youths, Malcolm Masarira (31) and Occasion Chimwendo (33) appeared before Mutare magistrate Langton Kata and were remanded on $10 000 bail each to December 14.

Court papers allege that the two stoned Madiro's Toyota Land Cruiser vehicle in October at the 220km peg along Harare-Mutare Highway.

The vehicle was being driven by Ndava Mapungwana, who is the Transport deputy minister's official driver.

One of the stones allegedly struck the windscreen of the vehicle, hit the driver on the chest and damaged the steering wheel.

In Harare, acting chairperson Godwills Masimirembwa and aspiring chairperson Godwin Gomwe are also embroiled in a legal battle after violence erupted in Epworth last month.

Gomwe is accused of assaulting Masimirembwa, who last week told NewsDay that "body movements" were normal in any contestation.

There were gunshots in Kwekwe two weeks ago when two rival factions clashed at the party district offices as factionalism continued to rear its ugly head in Zanu-PF.

Several people have been appearing in court in the Midlands province on various charges, including violence that engulfed the district since the beginning of the restructuring exercise.

In Mashonaland East, Zanu-PF women's league national secretary for administration Monica Mutsvangwa and legal affairs secretary Munyaradzi Paul Mangwana are in a fierce fight over the party's provincial chairperson post, a development that has irked members of the province.

The chaos in the province started after the reinstatement of provincial co-ordinating member Nyarai Tsvuura as the provincial women's league boss following resolutions made by the central committee at the October national annual conference held in Bindura.

Tsvuura was removed from the top post in 2019 after being accused of "gossiping", but was found not guilty by the national disciplinary committee, leading to a central committee decision to reinstate her. She was, however, blocked from resuming her duties, with Mutsvangwa and Mangwana claiming the move had been overtaken by events.

In a letter addressed to provincial chairperson Michael Madanha dated November 15 and seen by NewsDay, Mutsvangwa said the position taken by both the central committee and the provincial co-ordinating committee (PCC) was incorrect.

"This position taken by your PCC is incorrect, and an abrogation of Zanu-PF procedures. The NDC reinstated Tsvuura in June 2019 which the central committee report correctly captures. However, what the report does not capture is that after NDC reinstated Tsvuura as acting chairperson, this was implemented by the late JB (former Transport minister Joel Biggie) Matiza, who was the provincial chairperson by that time," the letter read in part.

"A team led by the national secretary for commissariat, in the women's league, (Maybe) Mbowa was deployed to the province and held a meeting with the provincial women's league executive on September 25, 2020. During this meeting, an election to choose a substantive chairperson was conducted and the candidates were Tsvuura and Gororo. The results were 25 for Gororo and three for Tsvuura."

Another letter from Mangwana addressed to the Zanu-PF women's league boss, Mabel Chinomona, dated November 16 also said that the central committee could not nullify what was already on the ground.

The provincial members have said they would only comply with the central committee recommendations.

In a letter in response to Mutsvangwa dated November 17, provincial secretary for administration Kudzai Majuru, who recently announced Tsvuura's reinstatement, said only the central committee could reverse the decision.

Majuru claimed that the province was correct in reinstating Tsvuura as the provincial women's league boss.