PRESIDENT Robert Mugabe is today set to visit Gutu district in Masvingo ostensibly to pay his condolences to the Masanganise family and later address a rally at Chamisa Primary School, three weeks after opposition MDC-T leader Morgan Tsvangirai (pictured) addressed a fully-subscribed public meeting in the area.
By Tatenda Chitagu
Tsvangirai recently held a rally at Man’a Business Centre in Gutu South, where he urged the rural folk to vote Mugabe out in the 2018 polls, citing the harsh economic environment engulfing the country.
After the rally, Zanu PF activists and some traditional leaders in the area allegedly summoned MDC-T supporters and threatened them with violence during election time.
Party and government sources said Mugabe will pay his condolences following the death of his uncle, Chief Gutu, born Anos Kasirai Masanganise, who died in 2013 aged 87. Then Local Government minister Ignatius Chombo, graced the occasion.
“He is killing two birds with one stone — from paying his condolences to the Masanganise family — to meeting traditional leaders then addressing party supporters at Chamisa Primary School,” a Zanu PF insider said.
“The visit seems to have been prompted by Tsvangirai’s rally recently and so Mugabe wants to assert authority and reclaim his space in the district, which was an MDC-T stronghold.”
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Zanu PF Masvingo provincial acting chairman, Amasa Nhenjana could not be reached for comment yesterday.
