Flamboyant business tycoon-cum-politician Phillip Chiyangwa says young leaders in Zanu PF must consolidate the party’s gains by guarding against MDC-T leader Morgan Tsvangirai’s electoral victory in the impending polls.
The resurgent politician, who was last month readmitted into the party as an ordinary card-carrying member after years in the political wilderness, reaffirmed his loyalty to the party and its leader President Robert Mugabe.
Chiyangwa said he feared President Mugabe’s exit when the party was in turmoil as evidenced by infighting and dwindling grassroots support would give MDC-T “victory on a silver platter”.
He made the remarks on Saturday while addressing scores of Zanu PF supporters from Chinhoyi’s 15 wards at his citrus farm.
He charged that if Tsvangirai won the elections, he was likely to dispossess Zanu PF loyalists of their business ventures.
“There is no Zanu PF politician or relative of the President with riches who feels safe (if Tsvangirai won) because MDC wants to pounce on us and on our businesses,” Chiyangwa said.
“The game is too close to call and we know that their agenda, principles, virtues and ideologies are Western.
“If we don’t sell the Zanu PF brand properly, I fear President Mugabe losing against Tsvangirai. “The day (President) Mugabe exits, MDC would pounce on us,” said Chiyangwa, who is (President) Mugabe’s nephew.
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Chiyangwa castigated Zanu PF bigwigs who imposed candidates during elections, saying victory should be guided by democracy and strategic planning.
The hard-talking politician said incumbent party office-bearers from ward to national levels should not cling to power if they found the going tough as this militated against reinvigorating Zanu PF.
“One does not have to sleep with their post. Posts are not mere tickets to congress,” he said.
A few weeks ago, Chiyangwa declared himself Zanu PF’s candidate for the Chinhoyi House of Assembly seat, before his bid was shot down by President Mugabe who ordered that the flamboyant businessman must start from grassroots level.
