ZANU PF has reportedly organised a counter-rally in a bid to scupper Zimbabwe People First (ZimPF) leader Joice Mujuru’s rally in Chinhoyi on Saturday.
BY JAIROS SAUNYAMA/NUNURAI JENA
Mujuru is set to address her maiden Mashonaland West rally at Gadzema Grounds in Chinhoyi on Saturday, but it has emerged the ruling party plans to hold its own meeting just 200 metres away.
ZimPF provincial leader Marian Chombo confirmed the development yesterday, describing it as a “recipe for violence”.
“It is true that Zanu PF had a provincial co-ordinating committee meeting on August 30 in Chinhoyi at which it was agreed that (party secretary for administration Ignatius) Chombo and (national commissar Saviour) Kasukuwere would be guests of honour at a rally on August 6 at Chinhoyi Stadium. They will be supposedly dishing out non-existent stands to youths. This is their modus operandi just to disrupt the ZimPF rally,” Marian, Chombo’s estranged wife, said.
Former Zanu PF Chinhoyi MP Philip Chiyangwa confirmed the ruling party was planning to meet in the town on Saturday.
“Yes, we went to Shackleton in Chinhoyi with Comrade Chombo and promised people stands, but the area hasn’t been serviced up to this day . . . remember people are supposed to pay for these stands, there is nothing for nothing,” Chiyangwa said.
Zanu PF Chinhoyi youth leader Tapiwa Chitate said his party had “a standing calendar of activities” which had coincided with ZimPF’s rally, adding it was now too late to reschedule it.
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But, ZimPF youth provincial chairperson Prosper Gavanga scoffed at the counter attraction, urging youths to first demand their share of the stands they were promised during the 2013 election campaign.
“During the 2013 general election campaigns, the then minister of Local Government Chombo and Chiyangwa launched a fake programme to give stands to youths to buy votes, but no one benefited. I challenge youths, especially those in Zanu PF, to ask for the stands they were promised in 2013,” Gavanga said.
Zanu PF has been doling out stands countrywide in what critics have argued is a ploy to find its way into hitherto opposition-dominated urban constituencies ahead of elections expected in 2018.
