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ZimPF formation triggers Zanu PF, MDC-T war of numbers

Politics
THE formation of former Vice-President Joice Mujuru’s Zimbabwe People First (ZimPF) has triggered a war of numbers between Zanu PF and the Morgan Tsvangirai-led MDC-T, with the former saying ZimPF was only harvesting more from the latter.

THE formation of former Vice-President Joice Mujuru’s Zimbabwe People First (ZimPF) has triggered a war of numbers between Zanu PF and the Morgan Tsvangirai-led MDC-T, with the former saying ZimPF was only harvesting more from the latter.

by Everson Mushava

People-First-leader-Joice-Mujuru

Zanu PF Harare provincial political commissar Shadreck Mashayamombe yesterday said his party would not lose sleep over the ZimPF project, claiming Tsvangirai was the biggest victim of the new political outfit’s membership drive.

He said ZimPF would suffer the same fate as many opposition political parties that have disintegrated before dislodging President Robert Mugabe from power, judging by the numbers of people attending district rallies in Harare.

“ZimPF is raiding MDC-T, not Zanu PF. They have even failed to attract all the purged members. In Harare, 25 were purged and only three joined ZimPF. The rest of its supporters are coming from MDC-T,” Mashayamombe said. “It is not going anywhere. Look at her (Mujuru’s) rallies in Harare, they are poorly attended. In fact, the party has no direction and as the Zanu PF commissar for Harare province, I will mobilise to make sure that it will not pick a single seat in Harare come 2018.”

ZimPF has rolled out district rallies in Harare and many parts of the country to introduce itself to the electorate ahead of its congress in a few months’ time. In Harare, it has held rallies in high-density suburbs such as Mabvuku, Glen View and Warren Park.

Mujuru’s party is widely believed to be fishing from the Zanu PF pond. Last week, suspected Zanu PF supporters were arrested in Glen View after attempting to disrupt the ZimPF rally, which observers say showed that Zanu PF feared losing ground to Mujuru.

But MDC-T spokesperson Obert Gutu denied that Mujuru was fishing from his party’s pond. “The MDC is on the rebound and we have since grown our membership database to about two million people and still counting. No other political party in Zimbabwe can match us in terms of popular support,” Gutu said, adding the violence against ZimPF showed Zanu PF was actually the biggest victim of Mujuru raids and was in a panic mode.

ZimPF Harare provincial spokesperson Jealousy Mawarire said his party’s meetings so far had been well attended, considering that they were mere district meetings.

“The last time I checked, Mashayamombe was not a prophet, therefore, does not know what the future holds,” Mawarire said. “He should rather talk about the fights in Zanu PF, his ageing leader and the missing diamonds and land baron loot that the thieving and unscrupulous leadership is known for.”

Mawarire said the violence that Zanu PF was unleashing on ZimPF supporters showed his party was drawing much more support from former Zanu PF members.

Political analyst Vivid Gweshe said: “Although a number of supporters from other political parties have joined Mujuru, the greater chunk has been taken from Zanu PF, including the maverick war veterans.”