The party won six out of 26 seats in the province in the 2008 elections. Factionalism has threatened to further worsen the party’s grief in the province and in April, a group of Zanu (PF) bigwigs petitioned President Robert Mugabe to rein in Secretary for Administration, Didymus Mutasa, whom they accused of dictatorship and fanning divisions within party structures in Manicaland.
Recently, there was disgruntlement among the party’s members who alleged foul play after they lost in the primary elections. Suspended Provincial Chairman, Mike Madiro, had filed his nomination papers to contest as an independent but however later withdrew from the race.
In a telephone interview with The Zimbabwean, the party’s Provincial Chairperson for Manicaland, John Mvundura, said they were taking the issue of factionalism seriously in a bid to guard against yet another humiliating defeat in the next elections.
He said they had held a series of meetings with senior party officials in the province warning them against fanning factionalism.
“When I took office, I joined the Vice Chairman, General Nyambuya, and we had serious meetings with the party members from Manicaland and we all agreed that there is need to do away with factionalism as it threatens the performance of the party.
“Basically, these meetings meant the dying of the old and the rising of the new. We agreed that united we stand and from that time, we have not been encountering any problems,” said Mvundura.
Mvundura admitted that there were disgruntlements that had threatened to tear the party apart after the holding of primary elections but said the issue had been sorted out.
“After elections everywhere, it’s not all the people that will agree that they were held in a fair manner. However, we held meetings with all the people who had contested and we told them that there were no winners or losers and those who had lost in the primaries understood us very well and as I am talking to you, we are working with them very well,” said Mvundura.
Mvundura expressed confidence that his party would be able to reclaim its lost seats in Manicaland province. “I have no doubts that we are going to retain those seats because it was by mistake that we lost them. Our preparations are going on well and everybody is geared for these elections. We are also telling our supporters that violence is no longer necessary,” said Mvundura.
Post published in: News