adminHarare Bureau
Zanu-PF national spokesperson Cde Rugare Gumbo is no longer fit to continue in that capacity after he put out his own statements biased on factional lines on Friday last week purporting that it was the outcome of a Politburo meeting held the previous day, the Midlands and Matabeleland North provincial coordinating committees have resolved.
In Matabeleland North, the province’s coordinating committee also attacked Cde Gumbo on Saturday for abusing his position to speak on behalf of his faction at the expense of the official party position.
The Midlands province’s PCC also met over the weekend and took Cde Gumbo, who hails from the province and was in the meeting, to task for saying that allegations of corruption, subversion and abuse of office levelled against Vice-President Mujuru were false.
Cde Gumbo was also asked to explain what he meant by saying that there was Tsholotsho 2 in the making.
Provincial spokesperson Cde Cornelius Mupereri said in a statement that throughout the meeting, Cde Gumbo constantly referred to VP Mujuru as the President.
“The Midlands PCC, therefore, unequivocally established that Cde Rugare Gumbo is no longer fit to be the spokesperson of the party given his deliberate factional bias on issues,” he said.
“In fact, it is public knowledge that the Politburo resolved to set up a commission to look into the allegations (against VP Mujuru).
“Before the commission is even set up, Cde Rugare Gumbo is already pre-empting it by publishing his findings. Cde Rugare Gumbo failed to answer for himself the questions raised by the PCC on him contradicting the President and the First Lady.
“As a province, we resolved that Cde Rugare Gumbo was and is not speaking on behalf of the party, but instead is speaking on behalf of a faction. He was given an opportunity and failed to explain himself why he was speaking on behalf of a faction rather than the party.”
Cde Mupereri said the PCC felt that as a party cadre, Cde Gumbo had failed the most basic test of following the party, its principles and ideology and instead was bent on constantly following an individual.
“In the meeting, Cde Rugare Gumbo consistently referred to VP Mujuru as the President, proving beyond reasonable doubt that in Cde Rugare Gumbo’s world, VP Mujuru is already the President of the Republic of Zimbabwe,” he said.
“By defending VP Mujuru against allegations raised by the First Lady and accentuated by the President himself, Cde Rugare Gumbo implied that the First Family was not telling the truth, deciding instead to take sides with the faction led by Cde Joice Mujuru.”
Cde Mupereri said the PCC noted that when the public media was savagely attacking Cde Emmerson Mnangagwa in the last few years for what later became baseless Tsholotsho allegations, Cde Gumbo’s principle of defending party cadres against the media did not apply in the case, raising a double standard approach.
derick.khumalo