CHINHOYI — The Zanu PF probe team, which is on a whirlwind tour of provinces to assess the party’s preparedness ahead of elections, will today descend on Mashaonaland West province.
Report by Own Correspondent
Just like other provinces, Mashonaland West has not been spared the scourge of factional fights as two warring sides allegedly led by Vice-President Joice Mujuru and Defence minister Emmerson Mnangagwa jostle to succeed Mugabe.
“The information that I have is that the team is indeed coming today. Unless there are new developments, that is what I know. The team has been going around the provinces and it is now our turn,” Zanu PF Mashonaland West provincial chairman John Mafa said.
The team, led by national chairman Simon Khaya Moyo, has in recent weeks visited Bulawayo, Harare, Masvingo, Manicaland, Masvingo and Mashonaland Central and has put in new executives in Bulawayo and Manicaland.
Mafa, a former Zimbabwe People’s Revolutionary Army (Zipra) cadre believed to be aligned to the Mnangagwa camp, has been under pressure to quit since reclaiming the post in 2011 in a tightly-contested chairmanship race which also pitted him against war veteran Moffat Marashwa and Mugabe’s nephew Walter Chidhakwa, perceived to be loyal to the Mujuru faction.
Zanu PF politburo members, Ignatius Chombo and national political commissar Webster Shamu, perceived provincial god-fathers, are believed to be behind machinations to depose Mafa from the post to consolidate the Mujuru camp in the province.
Following his appointment to the chairmanship, Mafa has survived many attempts to remove him.
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Last year, he resigned as a manager at the Grain Marketing Board (GMB) after he was transferred to head a GMB depot in Mashonaland Central, in a move aimed at frustrating his political career.
However, Mafa was diplomatic when it was put across to him that the Khaya Moyo team’s mission was to deal with divisions rocking the province.
“There are no problems in Zanu PF Mashonaland West. The team is merely coming to see whether we are ready for elections,” he said.
