Mavhaire chairs Masvingo PCC meet

George Maponga in MASVINGO
THE Zanu-PF Masvingo provincial co-ordinating committee meeting to set up committees to prepare for the forthcoming National People’s Congress was finally held yesterday and chaired by Politburo member Cde Dzikamai Mavhaire in the presence of riot police.

Cde Mavhaire, the most senior Politburo member in the province, was appointed to lead in the preparations for the congress in Masvingo.

The meeting was attended by ousted provincial chair Retired Brigadier General Callisto Gwanetsa who sat at the high table with Politburo members Cdes Nelson Mawema and Kudakwashe Bhasikiti despite the a recent vote of no confidence.

Acting provincial chair Cde Paradzai Chakona and other Politburo members among them Cdes Josaya Hungwe and Ottilia Maluleke did not attend.

The deployment of the riot police followed demonstrations by party members and war veterans at the aborted meeting on Sunday against Cde Gwanetsa, whom they accused of causing discord in the province.

The riot police officers with a water canon, besieged the venue of yesterday’s meeting at the Chiefs Hall just before 9am, sealing it off to block potential protesters.

Cde Gwanetsa yesterday maintained in an interview that he was still chairman for Masvingo and mocked those who passed the vote of no confidence as “dogs barking at the moon hoping that it will fall down’’.

“I am still the legitimate Zanu-PF chairman in Masvingo and I was voted by more than 13 000 people in a free and fair election and a few people cannot just remove me from my position,” he said.

“I am guided by the constitution of the party. They may howl and bark, but the elephant will still go.’’

In his address during the PCC meeting, Cde Mavhaire accused some party officials in the province of spreading lies that there were some opposed to First Lady Amai Grace Mugabe’s ascension to the helm of the Zanu-PF Women’s League.

“Let me make it very clear that we have already said as Zanu-PF in Masvingo that as we go for our Congress, we are fully behind President Mugabe who is our party leader and candidate in the 2018 presidential elections,” Cde Mavhaire.

“We have also said everyone fully supports that Cde Amai Dr Grace Mugabe should be our secretary for Women’s Affairs.’’