By A Correspondent- Zanu-PF Midlands Provincial Chairperson Edson Chiherenge has said the party lost the Kwekwe Central seat in President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s backyard due to the “bhora musango” campaign where disgruntled members sabotaged candidates.
Addressing party supporters at Zanu PF offices in Kwekwe recently Chiherenge vowed to reclaim the seat from Citizens Coalition for Change’s Judith Tobaiwa.
Tobaiwa was re-elected Kwekwe MP after trouncing Zanu PF’s Energy Ncube in the August polls.
Chiherenge attributed Ncube’s defeat to internal strife.
“We know they are people in the party who used money to decampaign our candidate. We know that they are people who bribed our supporters to vote in favour of the opposition. We are aware of those shenanigans,” he said.
Chiherenge said the ruling party would soon hold disciplinary hearings to deal with the sabotage.
FAZ and the CIO are alleged to have rigged Zanu PF’s internal elections in favour of anti-Mnangagwa candidates and G40 members a move which saw several party bigwigs losing their seats and angered the electorate.
Philip Chiyangwa, Joseph Chinotimba, Ziyambi Ziyambi, Fortune Chasi, and Dexter Nduna are some of the former MPs who suffered surprise defeats in the internal polls.
“We are going to deal with those people, disciplinary hearings will be undertaken. If you are found to have wronged the party in such a way then definitely we will deal with the issue decisively,” he raged.
In the 2008 elections, bhora musango was an underground campaign where party members did not vote for then Zanu PF leader Robert Mugabe as president as a form of punishment. It was a counter to the ruling party’s official bhora mugedhi campaign.
The Zanu PF chairperson added that the sabotage was also experienced in other parts of the country and slammed ‘opportunistic’ party members who only protect their interests.
“This issue of bhora musango was a plague across the country but as a party, we are going to deal with the issue decisively. We cannot continue having a situation where we lose Kwekwe despite the fact that this is the President’s hometown. As a provincial chairperson, I am going to make sure that we reclaim the seat. We are aware that there are people who voted for a councillor but skipped on the MP and President or vice versa, that must stop.
“We have people within our midst who are opportunistic who joined the party not to build but to defend their interests, we have people in the party who are only concerned about their welfare, that’s not the Zanu PF way of operating,” he said. NewZimbabwe