Zanu PF Implodes
25 August 2016
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Fingaz – THERE is growing acrimony between ZANU-PF cadres whose suspensions were lifted by the party’s National Appeals Committee (NAC) and those who assumed their positions in the wake of a ruthless purge in 2014 that targeted former vice president Joice Mujuru and her allies.
Dozens of ZANU-PF officials were either shown the door or suspended for varying periods for throwing their weight behind Mujuru as their preferred candidate to succeed President Robert Mugabe who, at the age of 92, is now in the twilight of his political career.
Fifty-two officials have lodged their appeals with NAC, created specifically to consider pleadings from cadres who felt they were unfairly treated. The committee has so far reviewed 25 cases of which seven cadres had their suspensions lifted.
Jason Machaya and Chiratidzo Mabuwa, from the Midlands, had their penalties overturned, while Nicholas Goche from Mashonaland Central had his suspension rescinded as well.
In Masvingo, Killian Gwanetsa, Paul Chimedza and Tongai Muzenda — son of the late vice president Simon Muzenda — saw their appeals sailing through.
NAC, chaired by Vice President Phelekezela Mphoko, is still to go through a thick file of pending appeals from several other ZANU-PF politicians who were punished for being too close to Mujuru, whose association with the ruling party ended in 2014 after she was accused of plotting to unseat her boss, unconstitutionally.
Among those with pending appeals are Webster Shamu, Tendai Savanhu, Francis Nhema and Flora Buka.
A precedence that has induced friction between the returnees and those who orchestrated their downfall has been set in the Midlands after Machaya bounced back as provincial chairman.
He is however, still to chair a single meeting in the region a month into his reinstatement. Soon after his suspension was lifted in early July, he got involved in a horrific car crash along the Harare-Gweru road while on his way from a NAC meeting that presided over his appeal.
He is currently recuperating in a Harare hospital amid lingering suspicions among his family that his top-of-the-range Land Rover Discovery 4 vehicle could have been tampered with, resulting in one of the wheels coming off while cruising towards the Midlands provincial capital of Gweru, hence the accident.
ZANU-PF insiders said the possibility that cadres being thrown a lifeline may revert to their old positions has created tensions between the returnees and people who benefited from their demise.
The latter are fearful of losing their positions as well as being victimised for persecuting the so-called allies of Mujuru who, at the time of their censure, commanded influential positions in the ruling party.
In order to preserve their positions, they would want the returnees to start all over again from the cell, which is the lowest structure in the party.