Masvingo ZANU PF warlords bury hatchet

Feuding ZANU PF Masvingo province warlords Ezra Chadzamira and Robson Mavhenyengwa have buried the hatchet after a bruising provincial election campaign. The two made peace and pledged to work together at a Provincial coordinating committee meeting.

Newly elected ZANU PF Masvingo Provincial chairman Mavhenyengwa today convened, his first Provincial Coordinating Committee meeting in which he urged unity and cooperation among elected members.

Addressing a full house meeting at the Great Zimbabwe University campus, team leader of the politburo members that supervised the just ended provincial elections, Foreign Affairs Minister Frederick Shava emphasised his mission was to ensure the party remained united after the internal polls and was geared to achieve a record five million votes for President Emmerson Mnangagwa in the 2023 harmonised elections.

Shava was accompanied by Information, Publicity and Broadcasting Services Minister Monica Mutsvangwa and the ruling party Legal Affairs Secretary Munyaradzi Paul Mangwana.

There was a brief halt of activity at the meeting when some names of winners in the elections went missing while those of losers were put forward for the allocation of posts.

There was a commotion when the winning candidate for Bikita South Constituency Advocate Energy Mutodi could not be found on Mavhenyengwa's list.

When it was time for grievances, Mutodi opened the floor, arguing that the names presented included some cadres who had failed to win the elections while excluding those who had won.

"I stand before you Honourable Politburo members, representing myself and many others whose names do not appear on the list presented by the Chairman.

"The Chairman has thrown the cat among pigeons by announcing a flawed list. The announcement purporting Hon Josiah Sithole as the winner of the main wing slot in Bikita South is void abinio, null and void and of no force or effect", said Mutodi.

"I won the elections in Bikita South after polling 583 votes to 287 votes by Hon Sithole. My electoral victory cannot be subject of mob justice, chicanery, or duplicity and cannot be wished away by dissenting voices", added Mutodi.

Mutodi also argued that he had successfully transferred from Mashonaland East to Masvingo province after his transfer documents were received and acknowledged by the outgoing Provincial Chairman Ezra Chadzamira, DCC Chairman Chomunoda Taruona, and an Office Administrator at the Provincial Headquarters well before the dissolution of the past executive.

It was at this stage that Politburo member Hon Senator Mutsvangwa confirmed that Mutodi had indeed won in Bikita South and deserved his seat in the Provincial executive. Many other complaints were raised with some acknowledged while others were thrown out for lack of evidence.

The new Chairman, Zaka North MP Robson Mavhenyengwa extended a warm handshake to the outgoing Chairman Minister Ezra Chadzamira and asked for his cooperation in the discharge of his new duties. Mavhenyengwa also promised to convene another urgent PEC to confirm all positions and post allocations based on the corrected list of members.