As revealed by ZimEye early this week, President Robert Mugabe descends on Chiredzi today.
The province is on record telling Mugabe’s wife, Grace to her face that she is not wanted in the province. Mugabe is set to clash with Minister of State Shuvai Mahofa, ZimEye.com revealed early this week (CLICK HERE TO READ).
Mugabe is meeting the entire Zanu-PF leadership in Masvingo province, including the 26 National Assembly representatives and senators as part of efforts to unite the province, the state media reports saying.
The visit by the Zanu-PF First Secretary follows complaints by some legislators who recently engaged President Mugabe and briefed him on problems affecting the party in Masvingo.
The President is expected to meet the Zanu-PF Masvingo leadership led by Politburo member Josaya Hungwe and ruling party legislators from across the province in a bid to unite the party and make sure Masvingo remains a “one party state’’.
Hungwe yesterday confirmed President Mugabe’s visit saying the entire Zanu-PF leadership in Masvingo will be in the Lowveld to meet the Zanu-PF First Secretary. “We will be meeting President Mugabe in Chiredzi tomorrow after he called the entire Zanu-PF leadership to go there in the wake of complaints by some Members of Parliament who were not happy with certain things. So the President said both parties should be there so that one side can put forward their allegations with the other side defending itself,’’ he said.
“I can’t disclose issues that will be discussed but we will only know the agenda upon attending the meeting. We were just summoned by the President and we are all going there together with the Minister of State for Masvingo provincial affairs (Senator Shuvai Mahofa),’’ he added.
Hungwe said the ruling party in Masvingo was expected to come out of the meeting with President Mugabe strong and united.
Acting Zanu-PF Masvingo provincial chairman Amasa Nhenjana corroborated Hungwe’s statement saying Zanu-PF would emerge stronger from the meeting with President Mugabe.
“You will recall that some Members of Parliament from Masvingo met President Mugabe and raised a number of concerns over the state of affairs in the ruling party in Masvingo so the President is coming to solve the problems so that we work as a united team,’’ he said.
“It’s our hope that after the meeting the ruling party in Masvingo will be pulling in the same direction. There are also other requests that we would want to make to our President as a province and we are looking forward to the meeting,’’ added Nhenjana.
Masvingo has been beset with problems which culminated in the ‘‘demotion’’ of some senior members of the ruling party provincial executive.
Provincial Commissar Jappy Jaboon, Youth League chair Nobert Ndaarombe and Women’s League boss Veronica Makonese were demoted by the ruling party provincial co-ordinating committee but the move was reversed by the Zanu-PF Politburo.
Zanu-PF is a dominant force in Masvingo after it swept all the 26 National of Assembly seats in the 2013 harmonised elections.