ZANU PF national political commissar Munyaradzi Machacha says recently suspended empowerment programmes fuelled divisions within the ruling party, prompting the introduction of new guidelines to curb abuse and restore unity.
The remarks come as simmering factional tensions in Manicaland province spill into the open, with party leaders clashing over the control and distribution of empowerment funds amid allegations of misuse and patronage.
The temporary halt exposed widening cracks within the party’s provincial structures, prompting the leadership to move in with corrective measures.
Machacha made the remarks during Buhera Central victory celebrations held at Dzapasi Assembly Point on Sunday, attended by thousands of supporters. Oppah Muchinguri-Kashiri was the guest of honour.
Addressing the gathering, Machacha said the suspension of the programmes was not a retreat but a necessary correction to safeguard party unity.
“We are creating good guidelines to do our empowerment programmes. We saw that instead of empowerment programmes uniting the party they were dividing the party and people were no longer seeing eye to eye,” he said.
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“If someone gets money those who do not have will not be happy and people are fighting because of money. We saw that if we continued to move the way we were doing we would be killing the party.
“There is a new way which is being prepared. If we are done there are going to be announcement then we will resume our empowerment programmes.
“Empowerment did not start today. It started in Zanu PF long ago in 1964 when Zanu PF was starting to uplift communities.”
Machacha said the party’s empowerment initiatives had produced millionaires, doctors and professors, maintaining that such programmes remain central to its mission of uplifting communities and creating opportunities.
In Manicaland, divisions have intensified in recent weeks, with some empowerment initiatives reportedly linked to projects spearheaded by President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s investment adviser Paul Tungwarara.
Provincial executive members are said to have clashed during a recent meeting over claims that certain leaders were abusing funds meant for grassroots beneficiaries.