Chronicle EditorGeorge Maponga Masvingo Bureau
Masvingo was back in the spotlight at the eight leg of the Presidential Youth Interface rallies in Bindura on Saturday, with President Mugabe bemoaning factionalism and tribalism afflicting zanu-pf in the province. First Lady Amai Mugabe also strongly spoke out against deep-seated factionalism in Masvingo, chiding the party leadership for pretending as if everything was fine.
In his speech, President Mugabe said problems bedevilling the ruling party in Masvingo went beyond factionalism.
“Masvingo yataurwa naMhamha ndakaita meeting naVaMahofa vachiri vapenyu mbiri tanzi naVaMzembi vakomana vekuMasvingo maMPs vakumbira kuti vakuonei ndakagara navo kuState House vakati tirikunyunyuta nevanhu vaviri VaHungwe naVaMahofa,” he said.
“Tibisirei ava vaviri ndovanyonganisa province yedu ndovanoda kuti tifunge kuti whole province ine factionalism, haasi mafactions itribalism,” President Mugabe said.
President Mugabe said they held two successive meetings with the Zanu-PF Masvingo provincial leadership in an attempt to solve the problems that were affecting unity in the party.
The Zanu-PF First Secretary and President said he was also opposed to the takeover of Tongaat cane fields for re-distribution.
He said he favoured a situation where indigenous beneficiaries would develop virgin land into irrigable cane plots with Government assistance.
“Vaviri ava (Cdes Mahofa and Hungwe) vakanganisa zvakati zvakati ndakati aiwa ndazvinzwa vaMzembi vakatipawo pfungwa dzavo asi pameeting iyoyo havana kutaura.
“Vakati ngatisanganei zvekare nekuti kune nyaya yeTongaat Hulett iripo yekuti vamwe vari kuda kupihwa ndima dzkarimwa kare dzine nzimbe asi veSouth Africa vakange vachema nesu vakange vati makutorera vanhu vedu ndima yavakange varima kare.
“Musangano uyu takati toupamhidza saka takazoenda kuChiredzi takaupamhidza zvekare ava vakomana ava maMPs vainditi tanetswa nevaviri ava dai matigonera vaviri ava province yedu yaimira zvakanaka zvekuti munzwe zveG40 izvi neLacoste hazvisirizvo.
“Chiriko ndechekuti matongerwo eprovince ndiwo ari kuunza gakava vamwe vari kuti aihwa vamwe vari kuti vanaHungwe kudivi ravo risingade maMPs akawanda.”
He added: “Saka takange tisati tanyatsopedza hurongwa uhu, neniwo ndakange ndichinyatsozvitarisa ndakati okay tichaita reshuffle tigadzirise. Handina kumboita pfungwa yekuti it’s a question of Lacoste neG40, ndiyo nyaya iriko kuMasvingo iyoyo nanhasi.”
President Mugabe said the problem of tribalism could also lead to factionalism.
He also chronicled the genesis of intra-party fights in Masvingo which started after the late Vice President and national Dr Simon Muzenda changed his political home from the Midlands to Masvingo province.
The President also revealed that the late VP Mzenda told him that he had been chased away from the Midlands and ordered to go to his home in Masvingo where he found another late national hero Dr Eddison Zvobgo who claimed to be in charge of the province.
“Ndakataura pane meeting yapfuura iyo kuti vaMuzenda vakange vari kuMidlands for a long time vakazoti ndakuda kuenda kuMasvingo ndatandwa kuMidlands nevakomana ivo anaEmmerson(Mnangagwa) ava nanaHove.
“Hatingambozvirambe izvozvo handidi kunyepa vakazvitaura pachena ivo vananhingi vachiramba ivo anaEmmerson vachiti hazvisirizvo vachiti ndatandwa. Ko dai vakange vakafanana vaigoda iyo Lacoste zvakange zvisati zvauya izvo munguva yavaMuzenda.
“KuMasvingo ikoko vakaonawo Zvobgo akati tanana akamirawo achiti ndini mukuru kuno achiti mavingei kuno. Uyo akange ari tribalist akange asingarambe.”
He said the late Dr Zvobgo never hid his tribal inclinations.
“Akanzi navaMsika ari Minister weLocal Government ko Zvobgo zvauri kungozadza nevanhu vekuMasvingo kwese kwese akati Vice President ndiwo unonzi mudyanehama.
“VaMsika vakangozunza musoro vakati aaa anotobvuma zvake saka chaaiseka kuti ndiZvobgo uyo mukoma wavaVice Chancellor veMasvingo — he is a very, very nice person,” he said.
“Ndozvaaitaura Zvobgo akange asingavanzeka, yaa, ndozvaaitaura. It’s tribalism not factionalism but of course tribalism can lead into factionalism as well,”said the President.
President Mugabe said even Zanu-PF deputy national secretary for legal affairs Cde Paul Mangwana even left his former political home in Mashonaland West after claiming to have been hounded out because of tribalism.
He said it was difficult to understand how Zanu-PF ended up having two distinct factions namely Lacoste and G40.
Addressing the same gathering, First Lady Amai Mugabe, who is also the Zanu-PF Women’s League national secretary for women’s affairs said Masvingo together with the Midlands were now well-known outposts for factionalism.
“Vanoda zvefactionalism endai kuMasvingo kana kuMidlands ndiko kunoitwa factionalism munoumu(Mashonaland Central) hatidi factionalism, munomu it’s a one party state.
“Ndozvaichagara iri ka, anoda zvefactionalism wopacker mabag ako wakananga Masvingo, wakananga Midlands. You choose between the two,” she said.
“Hatidi kunyeperana kuti zvinhu zviri ok zvinhu zvisiri ok zvinhu
hazvizi right ngazvigadziriswe.”
President Mugabe had, during the seventh leg of the Zanu-PF Presidential Youth Interface Rally held in Gweru, also admonished Masvingo party leadership for allegedly allowing the peddling of falsehoods intimating that VP Mnangagwa fell sick after eating poised ice cream.
There were also problems during the late Minister Mahofa’s funeral wake after some senior Zanu-PF officials were reportedly chased away over allegations they were behind late Masvingo provincial affairs minister’s alleged poisoning last year.
Online Reporter