DOTITO, Mt Darwin — Zanu PF national political commissar Saviour Kasukuwere yesterday said opposition MDC-T leader Morgan Tsvangirai was a “Zanu PF political commissar” who had done well in campaigning for the ruling party and ensure that they won elections.
BY MOSES MATENGA/ BLESSED MHLANGA
Speaking to journalists during the Mt Darwin West by-elections, Kasukuwere said Tsvangirai, who was in the Zanu PF structures in Bindura during his days at Trojan Mine, has shown his undying love for Zanu PF by donating 14 seats to the party.
“He is our commissar. He has been since his days in Bindura and now he did exactly what commissars do. That is what PCs do. He gave us 21 (14) seats recently and we now want to readmit him in the party,” Kasukuwere said.
Tsvangirai’s party wrote to Speaker of Parliament Jacob Mudenda recently asking him to recall 21 renegade MPs who jumped ship and joined Tendai Biti’s MDC Renewal Team.
However, after they were fired from Parliament, the MDC-T said it would not take part in the by-elections before electoral reforms, creating ground for President Robert Mugabe’s Zanu PF to bag all the contested 14 seats.
Seven of the 21 seats were held under Proportional Representation.
The former Premier’s decision attracted a barrage of criticism, with analysts saying he should not have caused the recall of the MPs if he was prepared not to contest the seats as this was tantamount to donating the seats to Zanu PF, which already has a two-third majority in Parliament.
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Kasukuwere said Zanu PF had no dog in the MDC-T’s internal squabbles and Tsvangirai had no one to blame, but himself for the loss of the seats.
“Betrayals are in their DNA. They betrayed us and the country, now they are betraying themselves. Why turnaround and say you can’t participate and why make a U-turn? These are confused people,” he said in reference to the MDC-T’s threat to boycott the by-elections.
Observers have accused Zanu PF of causing the ouster of the MPs since the motion to have them recalled was moved by Zanu PF Buhera West MP Oliver Mandipaka.
“They never stood for anything. Their departure will not be painful. They kicked themselves out of Parliament. It is not Zanu PF that wrote the letter to Parliament. In our case, we wrote to Parliament on Didymus Mutasa and Temba Mliswa and not about MDC,” Kasukuwere said.
“We have always said the MDC was like a cold, it comes and goes. It was not a political party, but a movement created by whites to safeguard land. They never stood for anything.”
Kasukuwere said Zanu PF would win all the seats even if either of the MDCs decided to participate.
He said Zanu PF would reclaim all lost ground in urban areas.
Mashonaland Central provincial elections officer Thenjiwe Mkandla said by mid-day, 9 904 people had voted in Mt Darwin.
There were 1 197 assisted voters, while 561 were turned away.
Generally, the elections were marred by a poor turnout.
In Chirumanzu-Zibagwe, Vice-President Emmerson Mnangagwa, who was the MP for area before his appointment to the presidency, said he was sure his wife, Auxillia, would win in the one-party horse race after main opposition parties pulled out.
He said he would discuss with Auxillia on their political moves come 2018 when both Parliament and the Executive was dissolved.
Speaking after casting his vote at Sherwood Primary School, Mnangagwa said: “In 2018, we are going to be dissolved both Parliament and the Executive. Then we will have to seek a fresh mandate. We will have to sit down with my wife and discuss who goes where.”
Auxillia, who is also a Zanu PF politburo member, said she would not hesitate to ask tough questions to her husband, who is the leader of government business in the National Assembly as she represented the people of her constituency.
Results of the two by-elections are expected to be announced today.
In Chirumanzu-Zibagwe, Transform Zimbabwe leader Jacob Ngarivhume did not have polling agents at all stations.
The National Constitutional Assembly, led by Lovemore Madhuku, also had no agents at any of the polling stations visited by NewsDay when voting started. No cases of violence were recorded in the two constituencies.
