Mohadi in no show

Zanu-PF vice-president Kembo Mohadi, who was supposed to be the guest speaker at Chinhoyi Agricultural Show, failed to turn up last Friday amid reports that Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC) supporters had planned to ambush him with demonstrations.

However, Mohadi, Zimbabwe's former Vice-President, delivered a speech at a clean-up event at the Chinhoyi Provincial Heroes Acre held in the morning.

Mashonaland West Provincial Affairs minister Mary Mliswa-Chikoka read Mohadi's prepared speech during the official opening of the show, which marked 75 years of its existence.

Mliswa-Chikoka played down the incident saying the guest speaker, Mohadi, could not honour the invitation to grace the event because he was called to another important assignment in Harare.

"I'm reading the guest of honour's speech because he had to rush back to Harare as duty calls. When duty calls, one has to answer. That is what our party vice-president did," she said.

A CCC councillor, who refused to be named for fear of victimisation, said the choice of Mohadi to officiate at the event was misplaced because the former VP was no longer a public official after he resigned as VP due to a sex scandal.

"It was as good as politicising the event," the CCC councillor said.

Another CCC councillor said inviting Mohadi to officiate at the clean-up event was misplaced.

But Chinhoyi Show Society chairperson Godfrey Mavhangeni was unapologetic about Mohadi's invitation as guest of honour, saying there was nothing wrong with it.

"We invited him as a senior citizen," he said.

Another CCC councillor felt that the clean-up exercises were being politicised.

"As CCC, we thought such national events should not be politicised so that they embrace everyone. We will be forced to boycott such clean-up events if Zanu-PF continues to politicise them," the councillor said.