ANALYSIS – The assassination of General Solomon Mujuru in 2011, part of the incessant factional and succession wars threatening to tear Zanu PF apart are all an indication that internal democracy is well and alive, party spokesperson Simon Khaya Moyo has hinted.
What ZANU PF has persistently said were assassination attempts on President Robert Mugabe also resulted in the evidential assassination of Gen Solomon Mujuru and then the subsequent ouster of the late General’s wife, Joice, all culminating in spiral removal of party members nationwide along faction lines (Mujuru and Non-Mujuru).
Khaya-Moyo made these revelations while commenting on the suspensions and counter-suspensions blighting provincial structures countrywide.
Moyo quoted by the Daily News, said the deadly infighting was emblematic of a thriving political party.
“The revolutionary party is the embodiment of democracy and differences are bound to be a common feature in any democratic environment as ours in Zanu PF,” he said.
He accused the media of being obsessed with what is happening in the ruling party.
“You have seen it even in the opposition parties and some have even gone on to split but you do not talk about it,” he said.
In Manicaland, chaos reigned supreme at the weekend as Zanu PF women’s league national spokesperson Monica Mutsvangwa openly traded insults with politburo member and youth league deputy secretary Kudzanai Chipanga.
The clash occurred during a special provincial coordinating committee meeting to resolve the issue of a vote of no confidence recently passed on women’s league boss Happiness Nyakuedzwa.
Mutsvangwa and Nyakuedzwa are both linked to a faction led by Vice President Emmerson Mnangagwa in the race to succeed President Robert Mugabe while Chipanga is aligned to First Lady Grace, who is also said to be eyeing the presidency.
Nyakuedzwa’s vote of no confidence was allegedly at Grace’s behest as punishment for the provincial chairperson’s “insubordination”.
Khaya Moyo said the quarrels playing out should not be viewed from a factional point of view.
“In the end, when we have such differences, we are members of one party, we need each other so there is need for those involved in the fights to realise that there are rules in the party. We must amicably resolve our differences guided by the values and virtues of the party which emphasise unity. There is need for unity of purpose,” he said.
The Zanu PF information tsar revealed that the party would be launching an investigation into the disturbances in Manicaland and Mashonaland East provinces in particular.
“We are awaiting detailed reports to the politburo of what is transpiring in the provinces and from there, investigations will begin after the politburo has given direction,” Khaya Moyo said.
“The provinces will have to compile reports which the politburo will look at before dispatching an investigation team.”
He spoke as factionalism exploded in Mashonaland East where the provincial chairperson Joel Biggie Matiza, an alleged Mnangagwa ally, was ousted in a no-confidence vote before regrouping and turning the tables against his rivals believed to be led by a Grace loyalist Lawrence Katsiru.
Even the intervention of party political commissar Saviour Kasukuwere could not douse the flames as the working relations among the party leadership had “irretrievably broken down” as the fiasco left sediments of mistrust, according to Zanu PF insiders.