Zanu-PF battle for Harare gets ugly

Published: 14 October 2019
THE Zanu-PF battle for control of Harare province is getting uglier by the day amid allegations of vote-buying by bigwigs seeking to influence the outcome of ongoing district coordinating committee (DCC) elections, the Daily News On Sunday can report.

The DCCs, when fully constituted, have the responsibility to elect the party's provincial executive.

Two aspiring candidates for the position of provincial chairperson, Harare South parliamentarian Tongai Mnangagwa and Justin Zvandasara, have been accused by rivals of illegally parcelling out land to ruling party supporters in return for votes for their proxies in the DCC elections to enhance their own chances when provincial elections are held.

Mnangagwa is accused of leading party supporters in grabbing land belonging to Chinotimba Housing Cooperative and that of listed agro group CFI Holdings Limited.

Contacted for comment, Mnangagwa accused the previous Zanu-PF provincial executive of tarnishing his image ostensibly because they were scared of his candidature.
"I know this is a smear campaign against me by the previous leadership because they know I will automatically win the chairmanship owing to the support I have on the ground but they must be warned that I am ready to face them in the ring. I am going to become the Harare provincial chairman whether they call me a land baron or not," Mnangagwa said.

He dismissed claims that the land in question belonged to CFI and Chinotimba Housing Cooperative, saying it is owned by Karimanzira Housing Co-operative.

While Zvandasara was not picking calls, former provincial chairperson Godwills Masimirembwa denied allegations that he is behind the smear campaign against Mnangagwa.

"I am not aware of what he (Mnangagwa) is talking about when he says the previous executive is fighting him because for now, we are focusing on the DCC elections as directed by the party," Masimirembwa said.

This comes as Zanu-PF political commissar Victor Matemadanda recently threatened to expel bigwigs allegedly working to influence the outcome of the elections along factional lines as the ruling party reconstitutes its Harare and Bulawayo provincial structures.

In February, President Emmerson Mnangagwa set up teams led by his deputies Constantino Chiwenga and Kembo Mohadi to oversee the restructuring of the two metropolitan provinces to address factionalism, which he blamed for Zanu-PF's failure to win urban constituencies.

Former deputy minister of Finance, Terrence Mukupe, former provincial youth league chairperson Godwin Gomwe, and former Mount Pleasant MP Jason Passade are some of the officials reportedly eyeing the position of provincial chairperson.
- dailynews
Tags: Zanu-PF,

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