Mugabe, who has ruled Zimbabwe since it gained its independence from Britain in 1980, is making endeavours to stand in next year’s watershed elections as his party’s Presidential candidate and has already begun to purge the party of his perceived stumbling blocks.
The 83-year-old leader, whose bad governance policies, politics of patronage and intolerance for dissenting voices even within his own party, have been blamed for the country’s current economic and political crises, has even dipped his hand in the party’s recycle bin for previously discarded material to prop up his chances.
One such is former Zanu (PF) Bulawayo Province Chairman, Jabulani Sibanda, who has re-emerged with much vigour and organised war veterans to hold solidarity marches in all provinces to mobilise support for the embattled Mugabe.
Sibanda was expelled from the party in 2004, after being accused of assisting in organising the infamous Dinyane Declaration, together with disgraced former information minister, Jonathan Moyo, which sought to install Emmerson Mnangagwa as President.
Party bigwigs celebrated the fall of Sibanda and labelled him an “ill-disciplined young man” lacking respect for the party’s old horses. But he has broken into the Zanu (PF) campaign hall and seized the pulpit to sing praises to Mugabe, who he claims has re-instated him.
However, senior party leaders – including Vice President Joseph Msika, national Chairman John Nkomo, Information Minister, Sikhanyiso Ndlovu and fellow politburo member, Dumiso Dabengwa, have opposed Sibanda’s re-instatement, which they say is in total disregard of the party’s provincial authorities’ reservations.
“We are very angry because we were not consulted when Sibanda was re-instated and thus, as far as we are concerned, he remains expelled from the party. The President should have consulted us before secretly re-instating him single-handedly. This shows how desperate he is to get this candidature, but we were not opposed to this. What he has done has made us think twice,” a senior member told The Zimbabwean this week.
The source revealed that party cracks have further widened in the province, with some members now aligning themselves with the Mnangagwa faction, while others, mostly the Provincial leaders, are fighting alongside the Mujuru faction.
“The party leaders are planning to oppose the President’s candidature at the congress to be held in December, unless he comes to them to apologise on the Sibanda issue. They want him to show them respect,” said another source.
Bulawayo province spokesman, Effort Nkomo, downplayed the rift when he told The Zimbabwean that the party’s division was not as bad as it has been reported in the press.
“We have our differences but they are not as bad as you guys have portrayed them. All we are saying is that as the provincial leaders, we know better what is happening in the party and should be at the forefront or be consulted in every decision that concerns the party, not be surprised by certain decisions,” said Nkomo.
On who they would vouch for to emerge as the party’s Presidential candidate, Nkomo put a veil.
“I cannot say because the party has its procedures of selecting candidates for each election and that will come from congress in December. Whoever will be the winner will get our support. For now that candidate remains anyone,” he added.
However, Sibanda maintains that he was re-instated by Mugabe and is now the party’s provincial chairman.
“I was re-instated by the President and that stands. Mugabe is also our Presidential candidate because he is the most qualified man to lead us, not anyone else. Those who think otherwise are just daydreaming. Congress will only confirm him, just wait and see,” he said.
However, the split within the party’s leadership widened on Thursday as the provincial executive are said to have frantically tried to stop state media journalists from covering a march staged by war veterans in support of the candidacy of Mugabe.
As the 5 000 war veterans, led by Sibanda, marched through the city from Stanley Square in Makokoba suburb and back, chanting revolutionary songs, the executive hastily deployed youths to guard the party’s provincial headquarters at Davis Hall, thereby managing to repel the war veterans from congregating at the party offices.
Sibanda and his deputy, Joseph Chinotimba, then led the war veterans through the city and avoided Davis Hall.
Sources in the government-controlled media said Nkomo, who is the Zanu (PF) provincial secretary for information and publicity, telephoned all newsrooms trying to order editors to ignore the march.
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Salary hikes not reflected in payslips
BULAWAYO – Zimbabwean civil servants are complaining that the new salary hike they were given by the government last week remains insignificant because of the country’ current hyper-inflationary environment.
Zimbabwe’s runaway inflation figure, the worst in the world, officially stands at around 6 500 per cent, while analysts say it could be around 20 000 per cent when considering the parallel market, where most people get most basic commodities.
President Robert Mugabe’s government, which is largely blamed for this economic rot, two weeks ago agreed to award all its workers a 422 per cent increment on their basic salaries, 300 per cent on housing allowance and 250 per cent on transport allowance.
This was after a crippling strike by teachers had brought education at most government schools to a standstill for more than three days.
The new salary hike, which was accepted whole-heartedly by Zimta and grudgingly by the PTUZ, would see the lowest paid civil servants earning close to Z$13 million and getting $4,8 million and Z$900 000 in housing and transport allowance respectively, with effect from September 1 this year.
However, civil servants, who received “the remainder” of their September salaries between Tuesday and Friday last week, complained to The Zimbabwean that the government had in fact given them less than the agreed amount.
“The government is just not serious. The new salary together will allowances should give one at least Z$18 million. If you subtract the round figure of Z$3 million from that you are left with around Z$15 million and we got half of that. I personally had $7 million deposited into my bank account,” said a junior policeman on Tuesday afternoon in the country’s second biggest city of Bulawayo. No payslips accompanied the shortfall.