A DELEGATION led by Zanu PF national chairman Simon Khaya Moyo will soon descend on the faction-riddled Bulawayo province following incidents of violence that resulted in the arrest of five party members two weeks ago, a senior official has said.
Report by Nduduzo Tshuma
Observers said the party was in panic mode over the widening divisions as the country heads for elections sometime this year.
Zanu PF spokesperson Rugare Gumbo said Khaya Moyo would be accompanied by party national commissar Webster Shamu and secretary for administration Didymus Mutasa.
Gumbo said the three would visit Bulawayo and other problematic provinces after the referendum, which was held over the weekend. But Bulawayo provincial party chairperson Killian Sibanda yesterday said they were yet to be informed about the visit.
The delegation was recommended by the Zanu PF politburo which met in Harare last week.
On the day of the violent clashes Matabeleland South governor Angeline Masuku reportedly suggested in a meeting of senior party members that the entire provincial structure be dissolved.
It was also agreed after a vote that the resolution would be passed at the politburo meeting last Wednesday. Gumbo, soon after the politburo meeting, said the three would seek to find solutions to the intensifying factional fights.
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“Yes, indeed they will be visiting Bulawayo, but not there alone,” he said.
“They will visit all other provinces that are facing problems. It is their duty to attend to such issues and they will be going to the provinces to resolve those matters.”
Some Zanu PF supporters last week travelled to Harare to seek audience with President Robert Mugabe over the deepening divisions in Bulawayo.
The group, accusing some senior party members bent on removing Sibanda from office of sponsoring violence, camped outside the Zanu PF headquarters for the entire duration of the politburo meeting. “I heard about them, but I did not see them,” said Gumbo when asked about the group.
Violence broke out two weeks ago when party officials traded blows over alleged smuggling of “outsiders” into the Zanu PF provincial coordinating committee meeting at Davies Hall in the city.
