ZANU PF Bulawayo province is expected to hold elections for a substantive provincial chairperson today after a number of false starts due to internal fighting and widening factionalism.
Report by Nduduzo Tshuma Staff Reporter
Five candidates, including acting provincial chairperson Killian Sibanda, suspended provincial chairman Isaac Dakamela, Simon Khabo, Dzingai Kamamba and Mkhululi Dube, are expected to battle it out for the position.
Sibanda is reportedly linked to Umguza legislator and Mines and Mining Development minister Obert Mpofu, while Dakamela is reportedly aligned to the party’s politburo member Sikhanyiso Ndlovu.
There has been vigorous campaigning for the post since Tuesday’s meeting in which party national commissar Webster Shamu reportedly read the riot act to the warring provincial leadership and ordered that elections for the province’s chairmanship be held today without fail.
“Politburo members are divided on the candidates that they are backing yet some remain in the middle to see what happens,” said a party insider. “The candidates have been visible on the ground, but the battle will be mainly between Sibanda, Khabo and Dakamela.”
The province has been dogged by fights over the election of a chairman and youth executive, a factor that led to its failure to submit a list of delegates to attend the Zanu PF conference to be held in Gweru next week.
At a meeting held at the party’s Davies Hall provincial offices, Shamu reportedly ordered that the dissolved youth executive should not attend the conference.
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He said the interim 13-member committee headed by Mabutho Moyo would travel to the Midlands for the party’s annual meeting. The youth wing was dissolved early this month following violent clashes at the party offices.
The Zanu PF Bulawayo province has been without a substantive chairman since April when Dakamela was suspended. Zanu PF youths last week disrupted the accreditation process following disagreements over who should be allowed to attend the Gweru meeting.
Last Friday, the election of the provincial chairman was stopped again due to infighting although the province later claimed the exercise had been stopped to allow for the burial of Zanu PF provincial member Josiah Thwala.
