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decision to suspend her from holding party positions for the next five years.
He said this period would give Cde Mutinhiri “time to learn and appreciate the party’s operations and values.”
Cde Mutinhiri queried the late delivery of the suspension letter at her Government offices at Compensation House.
She said the letter was delivered on Friday August 12, at 4:45pm when she had knocked off.
The legislator has also accused a senior Politburo member in Mashonaland East of trying to destroy her political career.
Zanu-PF provincial chairman Cde Ray Kaukonde yesterday said Cde Mutinhiri’s suspension was part of the provincial leadership’s efforts to curb indiscipline.
“There are some people who have been appointed into Government through the recommendations of the party at grassroots level and think they have grown bigger than the party.
“This move would show the ministers that they were deployed by Zanu-PF and cannot grow bigger than the party. They could be recalled to the party.”
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Cde Kaukonde said some ministers wanted to be in Government, but did not want to work for the party.
“This should be a lesson to MPs and they should know that they are employed by the party. They are representatives of constituencies for the party not as individuals or their families,” he said.
Cde Kaukonde said President Mugabe appointed MPs into Government to represent the province and the nation in general.
“They are deployed from the provinces and they can easily be recalled if there is indiscipline,” he said.
Cde Kaukonde said the party will soon write to Parliament announcing Cde Mutinhiri’s recall.
If Cde Mutinhiri is recalled by the party, it means she also loses her post in Government as Deputy Minister.
According to the Constitution, a minister has to be a legislator representing a constituency or an appointed non-constituency MP.
Cde Kaukonde reiterated that Cde Mutinhiri will not lose her farm as she was a beneficiary of a Government programme.
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In an interview yesterday, Cde Mutinhiri vowed to fight her suspension and expose all the people behind her ouster.
“The letter was only delivered late into the afternoon, giving me no time to respond to the suspension. This is a clear sign that there are people trying to destroy my political career.”
Cde Mutinhiri believes her problems were being stirred by people who wanted her constituency and farm.
“I stayed in Yugoslavia for eight years. It was unfortunate that when we came back that was the same time that Cde Rufaro Gwanzura died in a tragic accident.
“My husband who comes from Mhondoro was chosen to represent the party in the by-election and people in Marondera West appreciated him as a son-in-law.
“I worked hard with my ex-husband and the people appreciated my work until I became a Senator.”
Cde Mutinhiri was, however, redeployed to represent Zanu-PF in the 2008 harmonised election in Marondera East constituency.
She said efforts to destroy her led to her constituency officer, Cde Shepherd Kaserera, turning against her.
Cde Mutinhiri appeared before a disciplinary committee chaired by the party’s provincial vice chairman Cde Chiurayi on August 5.
She was found guilty of contravening Article 3, Section 18 (1) for failing to be loyal to the party, failure to conduct herself honestly and honourably in her dealings with the party and public and bringing the party into disrepute and ridicule.
Cde Mutinhiri was found guilty of failing to discharge her duties as a party representative. She was found guilty of failing to attend party meetings.
Sources in Mashonaland East Province said Cde Mutinhiri allegedly boasted to party members that MDC-T leader Mr Morgan Tsvangirai would be the next Head of State as President Mugabe was old.
She is also accused of working with MDC-T functionaries in utilising the Constituency DevelopmentMutinhiri faces ouster from Parliament Funds.
Cde Mutinhiri stands accused of gearing herself to work with the opposition including MDC-T or Mr Simba Makoni’s Mavambo-Khusile-Dawn.
“It is an open secret in Marondera that she approached Simba Makoni while she told people that she could stand as an independent in Marondera West if the worse comes to the worst.”
Cde Mutinhiri denied working with MDC-T councillors in the constituency.
Witnesses against her included her former assistant Cde Shepherd Kaserera, DCC chairman Cde Robert Gudo, Cde Albert Tarwirei (District 5 party chairman) and the Zimbabwe National Liberation War Veterans Association.
Cde Mutinhiri, however, said she stopped disbursement of CDF because of irregularities at her constituency office.
She accused Cde Kaserera of threatening her and that she was trailed by men who were acting funny.
Some witnesses at the hearing accused Cde Mutinhiri of banning party slogans in the constituency, declaring that she could work with any president, displaying Mr Tsvangirai’s portraits in her office and coercing them to help her stand as an independent in the next election.
The witnesses told the committee that they had been summoned by Cde Mutinhiri to her offices in Harare to discuss a “Plan B” because she was not wanted in the party.
One witness claimed that Cde Mutinhiri had arranged poultry projects for youths and women in the constituency to drum up her support.
She was also accused of abandoning the constituency.
Cde Mutinhiri, however, told the meeting that Cde Kaserera was being used against her by Zanu-PF councillors who were shunning her.
She said she was never invited to any meeting in the district and province and denied holding meetings with MDC-T functionaries at her farmhouse.
She told the committee that she had lost confidence in the party after getting news that secretary for security Cde Lawrence Katsiru was interested in her constituency.
She also admitted withdrawing from politics in 2008 at the Women’s League congress.
Cde Mutinhiri lost the Women League’s national commissar post to Cde Olivia Muchena.
The committee alleged that Cde Mutinhiri had been rejected by her constituency and had opted to be an independent candidate, while mobilising support from party members.
It said she was working with MDC-T in her programmes, had high disregard for party regulations and openly admitted losing confidence in the party.
The committee also questioned Cde Mutinhiri’s loyalty to Zanu-PF, while showing no remorse for the damage she caused to the party.
It also described her abduction attempts as “more imagined than real” as they were never reported to the police.
Responding to the allegations, Cde Mutinhiri said the disciplinary hearing was null and void as she was supposed to be a member of the National Consultative Assembly and cannot be tried at provincial level.
She requested to know at what level of insubordination this amounted to, whether, an oral reprimand, written reprimand, fine, suspension or removal from holding a party office or expulsion from the party.
” . . . I feel strongly my suspension does not warrant the petty allegations leveled against me without substantive evidence.
“All people who came to testify were coerced and to some extent out of fear of being harmed, but still their evidence was not authentic.”
She said the August 5 hearing had cleared her as the allegations did not warrant the hearing.
“We had even agreed to have a meeting, myself, Cde (Bright) Makunde (commissar) and Cde Chiurayi (vice-chairman) as a basis towards doing damage control in the constituency.
“Cde national chairman, I respect party protocols and love Zanu-PF as it is the only party that I know and grew up in.
“I appeal that the judgment be set aside. It has been my desire to work in the constituency until the next election when I am going to retire from active politics in view of the problems I am experiencing and encountering now,” she said.
Cde Mutinhiri said her problems were affecting her family.
“As already mentioned in this paragraph, my wish is to leave in a clean sheet and not dirtified (sic) as is the case hence my appeal.
“No more disturbances and disruptions on my farm, no more mental harassment, as I am a single parent with a health to look after.”
She said she “loved and respected” President Mugabe as a founding father of Zimbabwe and the good he has done for the country.
“Dedicating his entire life for the people of Zimbabwe and most important his respect towards the less muscular and vulnerable – women and children who are sometimes exposed to unbearable environments.”
Online Reporter