A leopard will never lose its spots so goes the old saying.
Founding member of the Joice Mujuru led Zimbabwe People First party and former ZANU PF Secretary For Administration Didymus Mutasa, might soon be thrown out of the party on allegations of fanning and leading factional fights in the party.
Mutasa who was fired from ZANU PF for creating and leading a ZANU PF factionĺ tagged Gamatox which was accused of wanting to overthrow President Robert Mugabe, has now emerged at the ZANU PF splinter, now leading a faction tagged Chirenje which is fighting to overthrow Mujuru from leading.
According to very reliable sources within the party, Mutasa who claims to have founded the organisation, wants Mujuru deposed because she has become more popular than him.
Backed by senior party leaders all formerly with ZANU PF, the Chirenje faction also accuses Mujuru of aligning herself too much with members who joined the party from other opposition parties which according to them is against the objectives of their forming the movement.
The sources claim that Mutasa’s faction is heavily against people who came from opposition parties holding key positions which on the other hand is what Mujuru is advocating for on claims that some former ZANU PF members “have a soiled history” from their activities while at ZANU PF and cannot effectively lead the party.
The sources revealed to ZimEye.com that Mutasa’s Chirenje faction is being coordinated by former ZANU PF members Brighton Matonga, Jabulani Sibanda and ex-ZANU PF warlord Jimmy Kunaka.
The faction is reported to be going around the provinces creating parallel structures composed only of former ZANU PF members in a bid to neutralise the former opposition parties’ members.
As the parallel structures are being set up, the Chirenje faction structures are made sure to be the party’s official structures in the provinces and is fed with all the information on the activities of the party making sure that the other faction remains isolated.
According to the sources, Mujuru has immediately despatched a task team to visit the provinces to try and solve the factional fights. The task team will be led by newly elected women’s wing chairlady, Margret Dongo and party Secretary for Administration, Dzikamai Mavhaire.
According to the sources, the task team is going into the provinces to make sure that there is equal representation of members in the leadership between those former ZANU PF and those former opposition movements.
The team will also investigate the existence of the Chirenje faction with a possibility of eventually leading to the removal of Mutasa and his colleagues from the party.
Telephone calls to Mutasa were fruitless after it emerged he has since changed numbers.
Provinces said to be hit most by the alleged Chirenje infiltration are Mashonaland West, Mashonaland East, Harare, Bulawayo and Matabeleland South where the party had managed to recruit mostly from the opposition parties.