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NewsDay

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Zanu PF youth leader blasts Kasukuwere

Politics
ZANU PF Harare youth chairman Godfrey Gomwe has blasted the party’s commissar Saviour Kasukuwere accusing him of insulting the province when he threw his weight behind Terrence Mukupe in the Harare East by-election.

ZANU PF Harare youth chairman Godfrey Gomwe has blasted the party’s commissar Saviour Kasukuwere accusing him of insulting the province when he threw his weight behind Terrence Mukupe in the Harare East by-election.

BY OBEY MANAYITI

A new wave of factionalism is rocking the ruling party with senior officials hurling insults at each other just five months after the purging officials linked to ousted Vice-President Joice Mujuru in a brutal campaign.

In an interview with NewsDay yesterday, Gomwe urged the Zanu politburo to rein in Kasukuwere and withdraw Mukupe’s candidature to allow the other candidate, Mavis Gumbo, to go unchallenged.

Gomwe accused Kasukuwere of running parallel structures in the party and causing “unnecessary divisions”.

“The provincial elections directorate which vets the CVs rejected that of Mukupe and so did the provincial co-ordinating committee,” Gomwe said.

“There were about 12 candidates whose CVs were rejected and we are surprised why the PC (political commissar Kasukuwere) is fighting for Makupe alone.

“To him, it means the PCC (provincial co-ordinating committee) which comprises central committee members and politburo members from Harare, as well as the provincial executive are not important at all.

“The problem lies with Kasukuwere. We don’t know why he is doing that.

“This is not about individuals. The secretary for administration (Ignatius Chombo) wrote a letter, but it was ignored. “Does it mean Kasukuwere is now senior in terms of the party hierarchy?”

Gomwe said the politburo should deal decisively with the matter and bring the commissar to order.

The Harare East fiasco has brought a lot of uneasiness in Zanu PF as officials accuse each other of playing factional politics and trying to build other centers of power, an accusation that led to Mujuru’s downfall.

Kasukuwere could not be reached for comment as his mobile phone went unanswered.