Zanu-PF will chase away 'big headed' individuals - Kasukuwere

ZANU-PF will not hesitate to take action against power-hungry individuals working to topple President Robert Mugabe before he sees his mandate through, the party's secretary for indigenisation and economic empowerment Saviour Kasukuwere said yesterday.

Kasukuwere said this while addressing a Zanu-PF inter-party district meeting at Nzvimbo Growth Point in Mazowe District.

He said the suspension of the Zanu-PF secretary for information and publicity Rugare Gumbo, the expulsion of war veterans' leader Jabulani Sibanda and the no-confidence votes passed on some provincial leaders should serve as a warning to other members.

"President Mugabe is the founder of our party and nation and was elected on July 31 last year overwhelmingly, beating much younger opponents like Morgan Tsvangirai and Welshman Ncube," Kasukuwere said.

"We should, therefore, let him continue with the work that we mandated him to do because he has a vision for this country, a vision to see the empowerment of us the black majority. He has sustained the fight against the British and their allies in the past 14 years in a way no-one of us could have done.

"I'm saying all these things because there're some among us who're getting excited, that's why we chased away Gumbo and Jabulani yesterday (Thursday). It's not about how long you've been in the party, but it's about whether you observe discipline and the guidelines of the party or not."

Kasukuwere said the provincial chairpersons that had also been booted out had become arrogant and thought they owned the people.

The Politburo upheld the suspensions of Temba Mliswa (Mashonaland West), Amos Midzi (Harare), Jaison Machaya (Midlands), Kalisto Gwanetsa (Masvingo) and Andrew Langa (Matabeleland South) for fanning factionalism and subverting the constitution, among other charges.

"Some chairmen had lost direction, that's why we chased them away," said Kasukuwere.

"They had become big headed and were now claiming that they were untouchable because they had followers. What they didn't know is that the people belong to the party, they don't belong to individuals.

"People were now talking of succession. Who do they want to succeed when the President was just voted in a year ago? That's why we now want the President to appoint his deputies so that we do away with these various centres of power that we now had."

The 52 Zanu-PF districts in Mazowe nominated President Mugabe as their sole candidate for President and First Secretary at the 6th National People's Congress in December, while also endorsing the resolution by the Women and Youths conferences to elevate First Lady Grace Mugabe to Secretary for Women's Affairs.

Kasukuwere notified the meeting that Mashonaland Central had been allocated 34 Central Committee seats based on its performance in last year's harmonised elections and urged them to prepare for the provincial conference that will be held at a date yet to be announced.