The Joice Mujuru led Zimbabwe People First party is getting a rude awakening in the Matabeleland regions as it is finding the going tough in penetrating into the region.
The party is particularly finding the going tough in Matabeleland South province where it is riddled in serious factional fights.
While the party is making considerable inroads into Bulawayo Province where it is holding otherwise successful weekly constituency meetings, the same can not be said for the other two Matabeleland Provinces.
In a survey by ZimEye.com, most people interviewed in the Matabeleland North districts expressed ignorance on the existence of the party claiming never to have met any of the party’s officials or representatives.
The few that knew of the party said that members of the Mthwakazi cessation parties have done very well in discrediting the party by linking some of its top leaders to the Gukurahundi atrocities of the early eighties. The smear campaign has incidentally affected the party’s penetration into the province particularly the Tsholotsho and Umguza districts.
The party held its first public meeting in the province in Victoria Falls last month and managed to draw a paltry less than (100) one hundred people. Most people in the resort town claimed not to have been aware of the party’s meeting.
In the Matabeleland South capital of Gwanda, most people interviewed expressed knowledge of the party but were quick to discredit its leadership.
Most of the people interviewed claimed that they cannot subscribe to the party as it was being led by a cartel of former ZANU PF icons who were part of the 2008 election violence.
To add to the struggle, some party members said it was failing to find ground as it is already riddled in serious infighting which has splitting it into two factions. According to the members, the leaders of the party in the province most of them former ZANU PF members are resisting the former MDC members leading to the bitter factional squabbles.
But the exMDC cadres have had better success than their exZANU colleagues. According to the sources parallel structures have since been holding separate meetings all in the name of the provincial executive. Led by Esnath Bulayani a former MDCT executive member, the Bulawayo province of the party has drawn an average attendance of almost a 700 people at ward based constituency meetings figures which have surpassed expectations of many critics.