Suspended Zanu-PF MPs to attend meetings

ZANU-PF has said that all suspended Members of Parliament and Senators should be allowed to attend Provincial Coordinating Committees as they have not been fired from the party. Party secretary for commissariat Saviour Kasukuwere announced this yesterday while addressing a Matabeleland South Provincial Coordination Committee meeting in Gwanda.

Zanu-PF Insiza North legislator Andrew Langa was last year suspended as Matabeleland provincial chairperson along with his Insiza South counterpart Malach Nkomo.

Senator Alma Mkhwebu and Bulilima West legislator Lungisani Nleya were also suspended from the province for allegedly undermining the authority of the President among other charges.

Cdes Nkomo, Mkhwebu and Nleya were ejected from a PCC meeting early this month amid protests.

Police had to be called in to eject the three along with ex-deputy chairperson of the women's league, Clara Langa, ex-secretary for lands Jabulani Phetshu Sibanda, Tafirenyika Seremani and deposed secretary for legal affairs in the youth league, Nkosiyabo Ndlovu.

Nkomo, Langa and Ndlovu were part of the nine members from Insiza District suspended in November last year following a vote of no confidence passed on them for allegedly working with former Vice President Joice Mujuru to topple President Mugabe.

Cdes Clara Langa and Phetshu Sibanda were also ejected from yesterday's meeting.

Kasukuwere however, said the party position was that only two members Jabulani Sibanda and Rugare Gumbo had been expelled from the party.

"To date, there are only two members expelled from the party. Politburo meetings we held, we considered many issues including dissolutions that hit my friend Langa there. It hit him and we called and told him that he had been removed from the chairmanship," said Kasukuwere.

"We want our MPs, like I said, we only expelled two. We are processing others nicely, they will be coming but so far its Rugare Gumbo and Jabulani Sibanda who were expelled from the party meaning all other comrades were suspended at various stages, some will be given letters."

Kasukuwere said the party would only accept suspensions done before Congress saying those done afterwards would be nullified because they have to be done in consultation with his office.

"We only fired two and took away their cards meaning that everyone else, if there is a meeting in the villages you sit there, listen and chant the slogan but you do not have a position, you sit with others," said Kasukuwere.

"The district or branch chairperson will be your boss but if you are a Member of Parliament or Senator, you come and attend a PCC meeting so that we push the party business because we did not fire our MPs from the party. This is the party position."

Kasukuwere warned that the position did not mean that the suspended legislators were off the hook as they would be taken through disciplinary processes.

"Those that would have been involved in acts of indiscipline, it doesn't matter who you are, the party will still have to deal with the indisciplined cadre through relevant processes. Things must be done in terms of the party constitution," he said.

Kasukuwere said censured members who remained stubborn will be punished.

"Langa said I have been hit and sat down. If you are hit and start going round making noise on top of lorries and buildings then we will deal with you much more. We want disciplined cadres, discipline is part and parcel of politics, you must accept that in our organisation you can be punished," he said.

"If you want to be stubborn like my friend Nyathi (ousted secretary for administration Didymus Mutasa) you will be in trouble, he mustn't do that. His age doesn't allow him to be stubborn. His age alone does not give him the energy to do what he wants to do.

"Fighting young boys like Tyson. Where will that get you? Just say I had strayed and we give you tea. His head does not have much hair, we would just lay our hands on it and pray for him and then give him an apostolic garment so that he continues praying." Kasukuwere said the party wanted its elders to retire nicely.

Addressing the Bulawayo PCC, Kasukuwere said Mutasa failed to accept rejection by the people of Makoni, Manicaland Province in his bid for the Central Committee position.

He said Absolom Sikhosana lost in the Central Committee elections but remained loyal to the party and President Mugabe rewarded him by appointing back in the Politburo.

Meanwhile, Zanu PF secretary for information and publicity Simon Khaya Moyo, giving a vote of thanks, said Mutasa needed to have his head examined for claiming that the former national chairperson surrendered his powers to Vice President Emmerson Mnangagwa then Secretary for Legal Affairs during suspension hearings before congress.