The Insider - ZANU-PF still playing hide-and-seek in Bulawayo

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The Insider - October 2007

ZANU-PF still playing hide-and-seek in Bulawayo

ZANU-PF’s Bulawayo province is still playing hide-and-seek barely a month before the party’s special congress at which it is supposed to elect its presidential candidate for next year’s elections.

Provincial secretary for Information and Publicity Effort Nkomo says everything is in order. The restructuring exercise is almost complete. But sources say the so-called restructuring exercise was a sham.

The man who should have the answers, deputy national political commissar Richard Ndlovu, who was spearheading the restructuring exercise refused to talk saying he had to brief his “boss” in Harare first.

Bulawayo province is the only party province without an elected executive, six months after the exercise should have been completed. It should have elected an executive in April but this was postponed after it was realised that a lot of people, especially those loyal to war veterans, had been left out.

War veterans have won all provincial elections in Bulawayo over the past six years but their executives have been dissolved for one reason or another and an interim executive put in place instead.

The war veterans, some of whose credentials are being questioned, have been on a collision course with the traditional ZANU-PF leadership from the region which includes former military intelligence chief Dumiso Dabengwa, vice-President Joseph Msika and national chairman John Nkomo.

They are also backing President Robert Mugabe in his quest for re-election. They claim that politburo members from the region support the faction led by retired army chief Solomon Mujuru who says Mugabe should now stand down.

President Mugabe had in the past indicated that this would be his last term. He wanted to retire to write his memoirs.

Observers say the problems in Bulawayo reflect those at national level where the party is divided over whether to allow Mugabe to remain in office as there are some who believe there cannot be an economic recovery as long as he is in power.

Effort Nkomo said this week the party was stronger after the completion of the restructuring exercise. He said the party’s districts had increased from 29 to 53 and elections had been held to choose district executives in 43 of the 53 districts. Elections in the remaining 10 districts should be completed by today.

A member of the rival faction, however, said the elections were a sham because in some cases there were not enough people to elect an executive.

“There were only 39 people at District 3 and 25 at District 4,” one of the members of the rival faction claimed. “How then were they able to elect an executive because the executive alone should have 102 members?”

Effort Nkomo said most districts had enough members to form an electoral college that elected the executive. He conceded that there were not enough people in some districts but said these were the 10 where elections were not held.

“The exercise is progressing very well. Yes, we had some before the restructuring exercise because some people felt they had been left out. The doors were opened. Those who did not come in cannot claim now that they were left out,” Nkomo said.

Ndlovu declined to comment on the restructuring exercise or the elections saying he had to brief his “boss” in Harare first. His boss, Elliot Manyika, is the one who stopped the April elections after he was told that the interim executive in Bulawayo as well as politburo members from the region were against Mugabe’s candidacy.

A clearer picture of where the province is heading should come out this weekend if the province is allowed to set up district coordinating committees, which is a prelude to electing a provincial executive. But, the confusion could continue as Bulawayo has been allowed to field two factions at a national conference before.

Posted- 24 October 2007

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