By Terrence Mawawa | Three ministers linked to Grace Mugabe ‘s G40 faction in the Midlands Province face expulsion for perjury after raising false or unproven allegations against members of a rival political faction.

The three, Makhosini Hlongwane(Sports minister), Tapiwa Matangaidze(Deputy Labour) and Anastacia Ndlovu(Deputy Tourism), are in hot soup following the dismissal of their harassment allegations against Zanu PF Midlands youth chairperson Edmore Samambwa, Gokwe -Kana MP, Owen Ncube and Gokwe-Nembudziya MP, Justice Mayor Wadyajena-all linked to a faction led by Midlands godfather and Vice President Emmerson Mnangagwa.
The development comes as the battle between Grace’s G40 team and Mnangagwa camp intensifies.
Party sources said the three ministers are likely to be charged and face expulsion as Mnangagwa hawks seek to block the trio from defending their parliamentary seats. It will see the three ministers face court with Sports Minister Hlongwane first in the queue. He will be tried for perjury which is the offence of wilfully telling an untruth or making a misrepresentation under oath. A court ruling against the minister will empower the President to take action, sources said.
“The charges were totally fabricated for the purpose of creating factionalism and tension in the party.As such the three ministers are facing serious charges that may lead to their expulsion.The fact is that they raised false allegations of harassment -against fellow party members .As it appears they are likely to be blocked from defending their parliamentary seats,” said a party official.
Zanu PF Midlands Spokesperson Cornelius Mpereri said no charges had been preferred against the trio but he said the ministers’ conduct was sad and unfortunate.
The factional battles in Zanu PF have seen Vice President Emmerson Mnangagwa or his accomplices being rumoured for allegedly staging crimes for the sole purpose of gaining social traction by playing victim. It comes as the VP had six (6) intrusions at his offices at various times and one of them the latest one has seen not a DNA trace being “found”. The tradition of playing victim is not new to ZANU PF and even President Robert Mugabe has been publicly fingered for the same repeated act which saw several of his opponents including MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai being jailed for treason. It later turned out that the government had simply set the man up having forked out hundreds of thousands of dollars to alleged Israeli secret Ari Ben Menashe who staged a dodgy video recording for the purpose of incriminating Tsvangirai. The MDC leader was eventually cleared of the charges through the help of the late Nelson Mandela’s lawyer.